It’s an issue that drives grey nomads round the bend – and often out of town – but the lack of parking for long vehicles is a problem that is still not being adequately addressed by many tourism-dependent communities across the country.
At a time when struggling rural towns are increasingly looking to the ‘grey dollar’ for economic survival, there are signs however that the importance of offering caravanners and motorhomers a convenient place to pull up for an hour or two while they shop up or just have a look around is dawning on local councils.
For example, Tamworth in New South Wales is all too eager to advertise the fact that it has four separate parking areas suitable for vehicles towing caravans.
But it’s not the same story everywhere. The Tasmanian port town of Devonport should be reaping the rewards of its proximity to the ferry terminal, but there are new claims that the lack of adequate parking for grey nomad vehicles means it is largely missing out on the opportunity.
Alderman Alison Jarman says a lot more should be done to encourage grey nomads to stop, and she warned that the city was in danger of being blacklisted if other places offered better parking access.
The Devonport Advocate reports that Alderman Jarman has successfully called for a council report into the provision of parking for larger vehicles, including caravans and motorhomes in the Devonport and East Devonport business districts.
She slammed the existing Pay As You Leave car park as being ‘dreadful’ in its design to cater to larger vehicles, and said that there was also no provision at either Coles or Woolworths, and there was a general lack of parking at East Devonport.
* Have you been forced to ‘drive on through’ a town because of a lack of larger vehicle parking? Which places are particularly bad in this regard … and which are particularly good? Comment below.
It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of council’s fail to see, understand, or indeed make the effort to fully explore this aspect of provision of amenities to the travelling public. They are often mislead by council officers information which often looks for the easy way out or to appease a certain section of the business community which has and continues to fail to come to terms with the changing face of the visitor.
Many do not see the economic benefits of having “grey money” in town, and in many cases put their heads in the sand and carry on with a failing economy. Certainly more needs to be done and long vehicle parking needs to be Increased at least by 100% in most towns, be well signed, listed and indicated on maps and brochures dealing with caravanning and camping, and the business community and visitor centres able to have that information readily to hand. Finally the location of these sites needs to be close to shops and cafes, and not out in the back blocks, as many of the grey fraternity are not as mobile on their two pins as many.
Victor Harbour is not an easy place to park when you are not staying in the town, when one wants to do some shopping.
Also getting into service stations with a large van in tow can be an adventure. A few that I refuelled at the van is across the foot path.
Some Woolworths and Coles service stations are good examples of the problem.
Gympie is good example of this lack of long RV parking. Aldi at Gympie is the furthest north Aldi store but parking is a nightmare for caravans. The long vehicle park near Woolworths was full of short tradies’ vehicles the last time we tried to park there.
Gympie has a similar problem. The Aldi store is currently the most northerly in Queensland but the carpark is horrendous for caravans. The long vehicle carpark next to Woolworths was full of tradies’ short vehicles the day we were there. So much for an RV friendly town.
Port Macquarie has the main beach, just up from the town centre, which is a five minute walk. There’s ample parking there for big/long vehicles.