South Australia - Rest Stops and Free Camps in general
jules47 said
02:12 PM Oct 14, 2014
Kimba, on the Eyre Highway before Iron Knob is a terrific little town, catering to the travelling public (especially free campers). There are three areas to camp, the Lions/Apex Park, small, has toilet and bbq shed, donation box and book exchange; an area near the highway, just next to the rail crossing, very close to town; and the recreation reserve, which has dump point, toilets and a shower for $1 for three minutes. Also rubbish tins, nice gravelled area to park on, and picnic table nearby.
The town has an two small supermarkets, pub, post office, newsagency, other shops, hardware etc., and a great café with all day breakfasts, very cheap!!!
sandsmere said
07:38 AM Oct 15, 2014
Spot-on Jules. Kimba is a top spot.
We stayed at the recreation ground. $1 for a shower. Donation box if you care to throw some tin in. Please do.
Dickodownunder said
08:21 PM Feb 14, 2016
It is now 2016 and unfortunately for travellers and truckies, things have not changed on the Eyre Peninsula.
I lived at Arno Bay for 20 years and was a member of the Progress assoc and the Hotel Social club at the time and we as a community found very little State government support for things like toilet facilities. We performed many fund raisers to have the toilets at the creek built with little support from the local council and no support from the state government. These fund raisers were in the form of raffles, donations and the like and involved many hours of work by volunteers. When all you G N's visit these small towns please dont blame the locals for lack of facilities. And in this case no point blaming Rowan Ramsay the local member. He comes from the opposition camp and was not our member when the money was being allocated. It is probably similar in other country communities that have a supporter base of libs and national country party voters and the state is controlled by the other group that "buy" votes by developments and improvements in the capital cities and larger centres than the smaller villages where most of us travellers prefer to stay.
I can vividly remember the pressure we suffered as a group within our area just trying to get the picnic type tables that most rest areas have these days.
The blame lay with state governments entirely and not local people or even most of the time not the local member when he or she comes from the wrong side of the political camp.
In defence of the local council the town now has state of the art public toilets at the foreshore by the beach and the surrounding grounds have undergone a massive rebuild in recent years.
I have traveled most of our vast land over the years as a truck operator and more lately as a Nomad looking / hoping to retire shortly and agree with your comments entirely....South Australia is disgraceful with facilities once you leave Gepps Cross heading north or Handorf heading to the south east.
I wish to point out that these comments are not politically motivated nor do I live there any more but are purely my observations and frustrations from the time we all, as a community, tried to gain improvements.
Dicko
-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Sunday 14th of February 2016 08:26:56 PM
-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Sunday 14th of February 2016 08:29:25 PM
Hewy54 said
09:09 PM Feb 14, 2016
We are South Australians and have travelled extensively to WA, NT and Qld, as well as many trips within SA. Yes our facilities for free camping are below par compared with some other regions. However I believe that Sa is comparable with other regions for low cost camping. We have found that the National Parks are outstanding and that there are many low cost, good quality caravan parks.
Not a Grey Nomad yet and may be opening a can of worms, but I do not expect free camping with facilities. If I want facilities I would go to a caravan park and pay. If I want free camping I do not expect facilities.
In my opinion if anyone is unhappy with Pildappa Rock they are pretty hard to please. If travellers choose large vans and motorhomes then there will be restrictions on the places they have access to.
The town has an two small supermarkets, pub, post office, newsagency, other shops, hardware etc., and a great café with all day breakfasts, very cheap!!!
Spot-on Jules. Kimba is a top spot.
We stayed at the recreation ground. $1 for a shower. Donation box if you care to throw some tin in. Please do.
It is now 2016 and unfortunately for travellers and truckies, things have not changed on the Eyre Peninsula.
I lived at Arno Bay for 20 years and was a member of the Progress assoc and the Hotel Social club at the time and we as a community found very little State government support for things like toilet facilities.
We performed many fund raisers to have the toilets at the creek built with little support from the local council and no support from the state government.
These fund raisers were in the form of raffles, donations and the like and involved many hours of work by volunteers.
When all you G N's visit these small towns please dont blame the locals for lack of facilities.
And in this case no point blaming Rowan Ramsay the local member.
He comes from the opposition camp and was not our member when the money was being allocated.
It is probably similar in other country communities that have a supporter base of libs and national country party voters and the state is controlled by the other group that "buy" votes by developments and improvements in the capital cities and larger centres than the smaller villages where most of us travellers prefer to stay.
I can vividly remember the pressure we suffered as a group within our area just trying to get the picnic type tables that most rest areas have these days.
The blame lay with state governments entirely and not local people or even most of the time not the local member when he or she comes from the wrong side of the political camp.
In defence of the local council the town now has state of the art public toilets at the foreshore by the beach and the surrounding grounds have undergone a massive rebuild in recent years.
I have traveled most of our vast land over the years as a truck operator and more lately as a Nomad looking / hoping to retire shortly and agree with your comments entirely....South Australia is disgraceful with facilities once you leave Gepps Cross heading north or Handorf heading to the south east.
I wish to point out that these comments are not politically motivated nor do I live there any more but are purely my observations and frustrations from the time we all, as a community, tried to gain improvements.
Dicko
-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Sunday 14th of February 2016 08:26:56 PM
-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Sunday 14th of February 2016 08:29:25 PM
Not a Grey Nomad yet and may be opening a can of worms, but I do not expect free camping with facilities. If I want facilities I would go to a caravan park and pay. If I want free camping I do not expect facilities.
In my opinion if anyone is unhappy with Pildappa Rock they are pretty hard to please. If travellers choose large vans and motorhomes then there will be restrictions on the places they have access to.