We are grey nomads, and we, along with thousands of other grey nomads travelling Australia, do not visit the towns in your shire if there is no free or low-cost camp sites.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rockhampton has put in a free camp near a major shopping centre to catch the 28,000 grey nomads and help businesses in these struggling times. It is full every night. Bundaberg and Maryborough have done the same.
We were in Western Australia recently and cities like Geraldton and others all have free or low-cost camps. Port Lincoln in South Australia has done the same, and they are reaping the benefits.
Home Hill in north Queensland was almost broke with shops closed everywhere. They opened up a free camp and they took $7000 in four days, the shops are open again and a Super IGA has been built.
Condobolin has a big camp and the town runs a free bus to take people to the club for a meal. Most nights there are 60 or 70 vans and it has created a lot of employment.
Why can’t your council do the same, as most grey nomads won't stay in caravan parks, so we pass through or don’t visit the area and go to a town where we are made welcome.
Spending six months in Victoria and NSW over Christmas we bypassed Orange as we don't stay in caravan parks. Our camping fees were around $2.50 because Victoria has free or donation camps in most of their major towns.
One councillor told me grey nomads are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to Colac each year with the unlimited free camp near town. Ararat is the same – an unlimited donation camp with around 300 Grey Nomads every night through summer, all spending money in town.
The councillor also said caravan parks are no longer needed in the modern world. He said we need to cater for the modern-day traveler in a different way as they bought all their amenities when they bought their caravan or motorhome.
The overseas backpackers need to be catered for as they are worth millions to the economy through hire of vehicles like campervans, along with food and other things. They can’t afford the high charges of caravan parks, and we need them in Australia. But they need to be told when they arrive in the country they can’t leave a mess or do the wrong thing or they will be deported. In other words: lay down the law by the company who hires them the campervans.
Grey nomads don’t just travel for two or three weeks – we travel seven or eight months or more, and a big percentage of grey nomads live on the road full-time and have no home. We couldn’t afford to travel if we had to stay in caravan parks every night, it would cost us thousands of dollars.
Think of what it would do if we stopped. The caravan-motorhome industry, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, would stop, and hundreds of towns who survive on the grey nomads would suffer.
Grey nomads are not all rich, a lot like us do it only on the pension with little other money. We are not free-loaders as some say, we will pay $5 a night or so to park somewhere a few days so we can look around the area and buy a meal, fuel, groceries, etc.
Some councils seem to be out of touch with what grey nomads need in today’s world, and the benefits they bring to a town. If you want the grey nomads you need free or very low-cost camps in your shire.
Thanking you,
