Glad I found this site it has very interesting and diverse people with a great deal of knowledge and differing points of view . Just great

I am concerned at the number of van/ camping parks on the Mid North Coast of NSW that have closed or in the process of closing to make way for highrise development of for  cabin style holiday units . The number of casual sites in the Port macquarie area  for travellers has deminished dramatically in recent years  to the point where if yiou haven't pre booked  then you chance of s casual site for an O/n or a few days is becoming very slim .  With so many Grey Nomands on the road and growing daily  I would've thought that  vcan and camping sites  would be a growth area.   Not all families can afford to stay in a cabin of self contained appartment at upwards of $120.00P/N on standby which seems to be the trend up here .

 Has anyone noticed the same in their area developers and council seem to be in bed with one another .

This has been going on for some time but is possibly more apparent as more & more caravanners are on the road. When we went right round the block in 2000 we only had to book at Broome & Longreach. They tell me that you need to book at most places thesedays. But that is probably a function of numbers rather than the cabin problem that you raised. One that really anoyed me is one of our favourites at Kiama Blowhole. What were once possibly the best sites on the coast have been replaced by cabins. I think that it is now even called a cabin park. We don't stay at Kiama these days. At Port Macquarie, we stay at the Sundowner Breakwall park & always get a site. Of course we avoid school holidays (except when we take our grandchildren & then always book well ahead). I suppose that the issue is as for most things in our society thesedays - the need/desire to maximise returns on investment & both private & councils work out that there's more profit in cabins than sites. The ultimate annoyance for us is where those sites with views become cabins relegating vans to the rear. As we prefer views to any other feature of the parks, we vote with our feet (& pass the info to the park operators - makes us feel better but maybe doesn't have any effect). cheers .. G ps.. I also like this particular forum with it's friendly & helpful members. Some forums are not so good & the regulars take every opportunuty to bag those who have different views to theirs.

I have noticed a few sites closed down, and read about others, but i suppose at the end of the day these people are in it to make a quid, and if we were in there position many would do the same thing.Most of these sites are on the coast where land is at a premium. I do get fed up with people who write to the caravan magazines complaining about the price of some sites, if you want to rent a piece of coastal real estate to put your van on then be prepared to pay for it. Going inland a few ks will often find you a cheaper and more often than not better site, run by people who enjoy having you there. Happy travelling Keith

what a shame about the coastal camps but I guess thats progress, me and the dragon drive along the coast, when we have to, but find a camp back in the scrub, cupie all views are welcome here, the ones that are ready to bag others for their view will quickly be told in no uncertain manner, this is a website (or at least we are trying to make it) that is open to all travellers and all theories, plenty of info here, but trying to keep the "experts" to a minimum, plenty of advice, but only from fair dinkum travellers, not armchair discovery channel wannabies, we also encourage just general chit chat, I was extremely pleased ( but also saddened) to see the listing that Basil put forward about his dog, I wish to encourage banter about anything that may be of a bother to anyone, male or female, what was it that martin luther king said, I HAVE A DREAM, yeh, yeh, O.K. off my soapbox

What gets up my nose is that I am always so cynical... Yep everyone these days is only in what ever they are in for the money. Chivalry, ettiquette, et cetera went out the door along with common sense. If you have a caravan park and you are offered money for it you take the money, likewise you get big incentives to cover all your sites with cabins and just become a "resort" where you can charge whatever you can get away with.....

You are not wrong wombat...I found that a fair few council people had a very big interest in Parks.Meaning they owned or part owned them expecially along the East Coast.If they had their way we would all be forced into caravan parks....Which are not Caravan Parks anymore due to thoes hidious refugee style unites

Well gidday - my first EVER post here - I have travel Oz, many times, and what I see written here is disturbing - has all the "pull off's" basically camping sites along the road gone?? Not "official" sites - just enough to get away from the traffic and enjoy the stars. OR Is what posted to do with the Mid/South East Coast, where the population is. I am close to ending working, and plan to just go. Living in Rocky now, but do expect that there are plenty of "sites", just need to revisit them. Is the modern "Nomad" getting soft, are all the out of the way spots, with the Million dollar view gone - I know not - ie Clearview (approx 20km south of Camilla, 120km south of Sarina, Qld). There you camp for free (or at my mates Caravan park) right on the beach. Possibly this is what is needed here - people to "list" the good spots. A list of good, cheap, fantastic spots. Why I am at this first post - what i want to know is - internet communications, while traveling - I prefer Satellite - is there a forum? Well, over to you - fly the flag

well G'day to you bob and welcome to the forum, I think the problem with the camping sites and caravan parks closing down and reopening as a "resort" is just a matter of so called "progress" when did you see a caravan park called a caravan park, it is now a resort of some kind or other, now it's been a while since I did the east coast but that is where it seems to prevail, if you stick to the coast you will pay, it's always been that way and only getting worse, within probably 100 years it will be just one big city from melbourne to cairns, as is happening with northern tasmania, if one diverts say 100kms off the strip then free and or low cost camps abound, now I know I am always on about this, but grab yourself a copy of "camps australia wide" in that you will find there are heaps of free camps just back from the well travelled road and the scenery is (to me) a lot nicer anyway, I get sick of ocean views, nice as a change but after a day or two I WANT A BIG OLD GUM TREE, australia is a fantastic country but it is developing in to a cosmopolitan metropilis especially on the east coast, more reason, for me, to stay away from there, top end west coast will always be my destination, nearer my god to thee

Dave

I think you missed the point - THERE ARE SPOTS, on the coast, and as you say, inland, is easy. It is all to do with populated area's.

I was suggesting a list - whats good, economical, and worthwhile. Bloody hell, we "Grey Nomads" have enough life experience, to find the best, just we need this forum to "pass" the word.

Lets turn this into a positive, by pulling together to find the sites -= all in - beat the bastered's

My earlier post may have sounded like gloom and doom with the developers moving in and parks becoming resorts or residential villages. One thing I have noted is , places that were only fly dots on the map reserved for the hardest of fisher persons to access have now taken on the task of opening up camping and caravaning sites. While the larger population areas along the coast are heading into a tourist slump due to a lack of facilities for the Grey Nomad fraternity and seem more determined to catering to the apartment and cabin dwellers, the smaller towns are experiencing a boom, so don't overlook the fly dots along the coastal strip, great spots top people

I bow to your greater knowledge of the east coast and would apreciate the idea of a camping spot listing, I will need all the help I can get regarding camp spots in a couple of years, especially for larger rigs, such as the mazda t4600 or isuzu npr 250 running at about the 6-7 mtrs length