Camping Away From The Edge

Many of us who endeavour to stay away from the edge, do so by living on the road. Living on the road means finding somewhere to camp. It's not hard if you don't mind moving on very regularly, but sadly the days of budget campsites are fast dwindling.

I notice articles about caravan parks closing down on near monthly basis. Invariably they fall into the hands

of developers and up go the apartment blocks. Sydney, our biggest city is now down to four caravan parks in the metropolitan area. One is preceded by a reputation that suggests that guests take their lives in their hands. One costs an arm and a leg to stay at. One is always booked out and the other is in Dural, so it's barely within the metropolitan area.

Coastal towns aren't fairing much better. Just 20 or so years ago, hundreds of coastal towns around Australia boasted cheap and cheerful council campsites, which made a family holiday an affordable prospect for working class families. In this era of local governments adopting corporate structures, they promote their profitability as a strength by which to garner public support. Something as public minded and intrinsically unprofitable as a camp site, simply isn't on the agenda.

Where the land that council campsites sat on could be sold off for development, it was. In

the case of sites that can't be re-zoned, most of them have been leased out to private operators. The average cost of staying in a privately run caravan park on the coast is upwards of $35 per night. That applies to caravans, camper vans and tents. Throw kids into the equation and you're looking at an extra $10 per head. On average, you're looking at upwards of $350 per week, for a family of four to stay in their own tent. It's quite literally exorbitant and those figures are based on average caravan parks and not in peak season. Mention school holidays and you'll be quoted over $100 per night in many coastal campsites and caravan parks.

Long gone are the days of paying $10 per night for your site, regardless of how many trips you've made to the maternity hospital over the years. In 2017, camping with kids is an expensive pastime.

There's been three major divisions in the caravan / RV market for decades and innumerable minor ones. There are long term travelers who free / budget camp, long term travelers who gravitate towards caravan parks and there's the short term holiday makers. The third group has grown significantly over the past ten years. Middle class, double income families with kids are investing in expensive new vans and embracing the gypsy lifestyle. Well, for up to four weeks of the year!

The caravan park industry put a lot of their eggs in that basket. After all, caravan registrations rose from 424,153 in 2011 to 554,344 in 2016. That's a significant increase in just five years. Caravan parks saw the potential in the family market. In went the jumping pillows and water parks and up went their prices. In their excitement they failed to consider that their new target market comprised of very low volume users.

Long term travelers who had been the bread and butter for caravan parks for years, were put off by the prices. The worst knock on effect is that those long term travelers who formerly gravitated towards caravan parks are now dropping their standards and slumming it with the rest of us at free / budget camps and showgrounds. The more affordable camps are being inundated. 

Most caravan parks fail to get it. They're offering no price incentives to bring their old market back. Prices range from un-affordable at most times of the year, to extortionate during peak times. Of course double income middle class families don't really care what they pay. They only use the parks for a few weeks of the year. They're a shit load cheaper than a resort. Their flash caravans are pretty luxurious anyway and there's a jumping pillow to shut the kids up.

This suits a lot of caravan park owners down to the ground. Many of them are either semi-retired or getting to that stage in life. They can make the bulk of their annual income during peak times and sit back and relax the rest of the time, when they'd prefer an empty park to having to work hard. Competitive prices aimed at bringing their old market back, aren't even an option. They get a lot of complaints on internet forums, to which they usually reply to by blaming local council rates for their price structures.

So where does that leave the budget camps and showgrounds. They're busier than ever, which makes it hard for us budget conscious travelers. To add insult to injury, caravan parks and their industry body the CIAA (Caravan Parks Association of Australia) frequently protest their existence, often resulting in their closure. It seems that despite being at far from full occupancy out of peak season, they'll go to extreme ends to get rid of competition that might pose a threat during the good times.

It's interesting that one never reads of caravan parks or the CIAA lobbying local government to subsidise their council rates, allowing them to drop their prices and boost the local tourism market. Unfortunately one does frequently read about councils pressured to shut down their competition.

We still manage to travel up and down the east coast of Australia, spreading our time between our favourite budget camps. Sadly it's becoming more and more difficult, especially if we want to stay put for a while. Most budget camps impose very restrictive time limits. 

Showgrounds and sports ovals that offer camping, range in price between $10 and $20 for a powered site. Unpowered sites are often cheaper, but seldom less than $10. It makes little difference to us whether a site is powered or unpowered, given our solar set up. We generally go for the cheapest option. The most we ever pay per week for accommodation is $150, but we often stay in free camps for nothing. In general, our movements are very much determined by where we can afford to stay.

On the up side, a lot of councils are waking up to the fact that budget travelers do actually spend money. There are a lot of us, so that constitutes a lot of money. Wherever we stay, we will spend around $400 a week, every week. There are many businesses that travelers like us use when staying in small towns. Butchers, bakers, supermarkets, green grocers, fuel stations, camping stores, fishing stores, mechanical repairs workshops and so on. A budget camp with 50 spaces, contributes at least $20,000 per week to the economy of a town, when full. To small towns that's a highly significant contribution to the economy. 

Caravan parks that fail to achieve decent occupancy rates, contribute significantly less to the overall economy. Even when they're full, during peak times, it's arguable that they contribute less than the budget camps. Short term holiday makers tend to bring a lot of their supplies with them and have less need for local services. Whilst the caravan parks themselves indeed rake in the cash during peak times, it doesn't always reach the broader economy. 

So what does the future hold? That's a very good question. The current situation is becoming somewhat of a crisis. With over 500,000 registered caravans in Australia, the market is bigger than ever, yet there are less facilities catering to the the biggest demographic. Add backpackers in campervans to the mix and things start getting very tricky indeed.

Personally I think we'll see a move back to more council and community run facilities, such as showgrounds and ovals. Councils that don't see the benefits will eventually be hit with a shot of economic reality. Those facilities will sadly be somewhat "back from the seafront." The net result will be that Australia's long love affair with beachside camping will become estranged from our reality, or at the very least, take the form of a small exclusive industry.

From my point of view, a cheap stay in a small coastal town has long been as Australian as

getting pissed and fighting with a random stranger on ANZAC Day, but infinitely more satisfying and acceptable. Generations of families from around the world have come to this country, established new lives and enjoyed regular escapes to uncomplicated coastal towns that provide a relaxed affordable haven. It's one of the common threads that modern Australia has been built on.

I keep hearing right wing sentiment about non European migrants representing a risk to the "Strayian way of loife." The way I look at it, migrants are far more tuned into the relaxed lifestyle that we pride ourselves on, than the current European descended middle class. The quest for a seafront dotted with bars serving unaffordable beverages in vessels other than glasses and unpronounceable meals on things other than plates, has fucked it up for future generations