Councils curb progress of low-cost RV parks

Many of us love the idea of free-camping – getting off the road, perhaps in an organised area with others, or sometimes away from the crowd, out of sight and sound of the road.

But many Australian travellers are still understandably nervous. Recent random attacks on sleeping strangers in Canada and New Zealand certainly haven’t helped.

At the other extreme, some of the fully-featured holiday parks with a coded and gated entry feel a bit like holiday prisons for kid-free travellers. Water parks and bouncing castles for seniors? I don’t think so...

Australia’s largest RV club – the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia – offered an ambitious mid-way option in 2015 when it opened its first no-frills RV Park at Ingham in North Queensland.

The 50 site park was (and remains) only open to CMCA members with self-contained recreational vehicles that meet the requirements of the club’s Self Contained Vehicle (SCV) Policy.

The Association, which is targeting up to 100,000 members that would each pay an annual fee of $44, plus $4 per caravan or motorhome per night, says the new initiative was “in response to the growing need for basic accommodation for self-contained vehicles that can generate their own energy needs”.

But, nearly four years on, the number of these parks (most of which are open to the general public as long as they have a suitably self-contained RV) has fallen well short of the ambitious initial target of as many as 80 sites by 2019.

At last count just six CMCA RV Parks exist, of which four are in Queensland. (For the full list click here.)

“We were a bit optimistic,“ explained the man behind the establishment of the Bundaberg CMCA RV Park, local member and businessman Arthur Bugden. “The idea is very much alive and progressing; it’s just that the wheels at many of the Regional Councils that we are talking to turn quite slowly.”

Bugden said many of the councils needed convincing that the cut-price ‘no frills’ CMCA RV Parks would bring more money into their community.

“We have verified data to prove that CMCA Parks have been responsible for contributing more than $900,000 per year additionally to local business where they are located," he said.

“Childers, which is better known as a Backpackers’ town, is a model example. Despite already having established caravan facilities, we have shown that the free camp we established off the main street has brought extra money into the town.

“Many people are travelling through to somewhere north and it’s a convenient travelling distance from Brisbane to stop for the night. ‘Overnighters’ don’t want to pay for all the bells and whistles of a regular caravan park. They just want somewhere safe, secure and affordable within walking distance of shops and places to eat, so they don’t have to un-hitch.”

Bugden said the growing interest in secure, low or no-cost sites was growing as an increasing number of caravans are now designed to be self-sufficient for several nights at a time, with cassette toilets, on-board batteries charged by solar panels, a good fresh water capacity and often grey water tanks, so they can literally leave no trace.

The one at Bundaberg has a five-day stay limit and is in a dedicated area at the edge of a community reserve within walking distance of two major shopping centres, one with a big brand supermarket.

Like most of the CMCA parks, it has a black and grey water dump point installed and serviced by the local council, regular and recyclable rubbish collection and fresh water on tap near the entrance.

Like other CMCA Parks established to date, there's also a shade shelter where those staying can bring a chair and share ‘sundowners’ with other residents.

With everyone greeted into the fenced park on arrival and checked in, it also means you can safely leave valuable items like generators, portable fridges and Webers outside and unlocked while you are away for the day.

While CMCA members pay $4 per night/site, it costs non members a still reasonable $15 per day for a large level site, as long as they qualify under CMCA's Self Contained Vehicle Policy.

Meanwhile, the CMCA hasn't given up on its dream of an extensive, nationwide network of no-frills, low cost RV parks, with CMCA CEO Richard Barwick recently announcing "promising results" from this year's Western Australia Local Government Convention, in light of attempts to develop a number of CMCA parks across not only Australia's biggest state but one of its most popular RV destinations.