Josephina and Rohan McDonald welcomed travellers who had no homes to go to.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. And when grey nomads found themselves suddenly stranded by ever-more rigorous travel restrictions, there was no shortage of people willing to open their hearts – and their doors.
While this past week has seen some ugly headlines about rural communities making travellers feel unwelcome and unwanted, that is certainly not the whole story, or the real story. The real story is about people like Donna Walmsley who wasted no time in offering a place to stay for three or four self-contained RVs on her farm near Waroona area in Western Australia.
Although it is for pure bush camping, it offers shaded areas, farm views, bushwalks, kangaroos and birds to see, and a small dam. The cost to campers? Zero dollars. “We had the Waroona Yarloop Bushfire go through our farm in January 2016 and many grey nomads turned up in our little town to help us farmers out,” said Donna. “So, I am try to pay it forward a little bit.”
The real story is about people like Len Prossor, a motorhomer who has spent much of the past 23 years travelling Australia.
“I have often looked for somewhere friendly to park up even if just for a short period,” he said. “Sometimes it was for a week and other times for a month … and I was deeply impressed by the kindness of so many people.”
Like Donna, Len decided it was time to pay it forward. He offered his property near Renmark in South Australia to be used by up to five vans.
“We will have a toilet, shower and washing machine available for all to use,” he said … and then almost apologetically. “The only problem is power as I cannot give them all power without a small charge, maybe $40 per van per week … but if it will help some, then they will be most welcome.”
The real story is about caravan park owners like Josephina McDonald. Having spent the best part of the last decade building up the Halls Gap Tourist Park in Victoria to a thriving enterprise, she and husband Rohan then had to watch as it all started to unravel.
The impact of coronavirus was sudden and brutal.
The pair lost $500,000 in forward bookings in days. However, once the shock had sunk in, they quickly recognised that there were still desperate people who needed help. Responding to the government’s appeal for all non-essential travel to end, the couple closed their doors to holidaymakers and only allowed people who had nowhere else to go to stay.
They decided on a weekly rate of $140 for a powered site. Grey nomads and foreign tourists unable to get home began to arrive, grateful for a place to sit out the crisis. Josephina says that although the park, now to be known as Halls Gap Lakeside Village, is When grey nomads needed help, there were plenty of people who stepped up not as bustling as usual, there is still a special atmosphere created by people coming together at a challenging point in their lives.
“When I drive through Halls Gap itself it feels eery, but when getting back to ‘The Village’ it feels alive and well, with a positive energy,” she said. “We all just have to accept the current situation and get ready as best we can for when we are finally allowed to properly open our doors to all visitors again.”
The real story of the last few weeks is of Australians coming together to work together through a once-in-a-generation health crisis. It’s the story of Donna, Len, and Josephina and the many people like them who were there to offer help and support when help and support were so desperately needed.
Yes when times are hard it unfortunately it brings out both
Polarities in people
The way that small towns reacted made nomads feel “unclean ”
Not welcome many forgetting when the towns needed help after fires floods etc nomads helped them recover
Hundreds if not thousands turned up to help
Please help those now in need
We are all in this together
Yes & amen to comments re accomm. for grey nomads at this tricky time.
Owner & Ucamp host of Blombery Rd property near Arno Bay on Eyre Peninsula also providing accomm. for nomads. At this stage just room for 5 I believe The
property is on undeveloped land and is still a work in progress just in its early stages , with a goal to set up small
caravan park for grey nomads.
From a very grateful nomad, many thanks.