I am surprised at the lack of posts re the article on the Gray Nomad Home Page re the rather scary reaction to a proposal to build a smallish motorhome/caravan park in a spot called Plainlands, in Qld.  The business  proposal included a on site caretaker to oversee things.
Locals seemed to be totally up in arms about the proposal because they seem to think that caravanners/motor homers will bring crime and drugs into the area?!!!

I have never been to this place but there is a dire need for a few long term caravan parks for people to call 'home' all over Australia and as I see it a lot of the people who choose to stay in such places will be age pensioners who love to travel but do not want to stay on the road the whole year, also many pensioners will be doing it very tough now their super has shrunk so badly and with the job losses no one will want them as workers either.

What do others think?  If you are in the area perhaps you could visit with Shire Council and locals to show them what an honest and sober lot we are!

Annie

One word PERMANENTS caravan parks in the area of Ipswich do not have good track records fill with permanents very quickly maybe someone maybe able to tell us one good park in the area , but this could be the first but you cant blame the local for seeming to not wanting a park in the area the local police like the parks thats were they go to pick up there badies

well Annie the simple fact of the matter is that these people have had little to no dealings with us travellers, and probably for a very good reason, 

they are obviously a backward anal retentive mob of rednecks who do not deserve our visitation and I for one will be giving the town and area a wide berth it doesnt really bother me what they build, 

they are simply on a downward spiral (moneywise) and are grasping at straws to try and raise some more, and with the attitude on life that they have I am not surprised, 

they are on an ever decreasing inward spiral and will no doubt dissapear up their own backsides before too much longer
 
there is plenty of camps and parks with towns that back them that are camper freindly and outgoing, they realise we are big fat walletts on wheels, 

we dont need them, they need us, time they learnt that bloody hick towns are a dime a dozen, full of hick people who have never left home and wouldnt know what is going on in the real world, why would you go there in the first place, 

a shining opposite example is tasmania, take a look at the dying towns and how they are turning themselves around simply by making the towns "motorhome freindly" free showers, some powered sites, clean easy dump points, great people, very freindly, bakerys everywhere

these towns are now booming bustling living towns when once they were dying
 
I am surprised that our columnist even gave this town and its story the light of day, it is simply a waste of my time reading and or writing about them, let the town die a lonely death as it deserves

 I agree that the long termers are a right pain in the proverbial but that has more to do with the greed of mangement than any thing else, if one allows any more than two or three couples as long termers then one is begging for trouble, 

they fight amongst themselves, cause vandalism, skip out without paying and yes are lawless

however if this is controlled by imediate expulsion and turned over for due process then it is stomped out, but the greed of park owners lets it continue, it is not the park, it is the owners at fault  ALWAYS

I have managed a few parks and do know what goes on, some not pretty but most quite enjoyable, the owners MUST have long termers to get them through the quiet periods and therefore must be accountable for the actions of those people, they live amongst us already

but all long termers are not like this, the vast majority are great people, each with a story to tell, some travelling, others homeless but not lawless, each must be taken on his/her merit

dont label all long termers as lawless or you are as bad as the lawless themselves (not aiming this at ANYBODY, it is a non specific generalisation only)



-- Edited by dave06 at 15:13, 2009-03-01

G'day,

Only time I have ever had anything stolen whilst travelling around was in a caravan park, but if the people of Plainland do not want a CP then that is their business, they won't be getting any of my dollars.  They have obviously tarred all caravanners with the same brush.

John

my thoughts edzachary!!

yep I tend to agree with you locky, bit too much of a risk heading into backward towns like that, plenty more towns where "our kind" are more than welcome as I stated earlier the residents of the park are only allowed to go as far as the attendant of that park will let them, just the same as a towns police force will allow the "bad element" to continue I have yet to find a bad element amongst the nomad society, I have found them in parks but I find that reflected in the town that is close by I prefer free camps or low cost camping, dont like the parks, but thats not the bad element it is just that I feel caged in and cant wait to get my washing done, showers out the way, water topped up, fridge resupplied and get the hell away from there most towns are learning that grey nomads + free amenities = $ into the local community a survey was held recently and the discovery was that we spent on average $100 per day per vehicle in towns, it doesnt take much brainpower to work out that half a dozen nomads would very quickly refire a small town such as is taking place all over Tassie

The standard of living within a caravan park is up to the management and no one else. If they're prepared to tolerate drop-kicks in their paddocks with power points, then they deserve what they get. More ratbags, car bodies, noise, rebellion and feral kids. I was a long-termer in a Broome park, Vacation Village, for 9 years, and there were a few riffs and raffs living within in the boundary fence when I first moved in, but they were soon sorted out when the park changed hands. The park is well-maintained, and hosts a huge number of seasonal regulars from June to Sept. Most of Broome's parks are run the same. Now by chance and medical conditions, I have been a long-termer in a park in Cairns, since last July. The park only has 5 "permanents" and a couple of other "long-termers". The park needs sprucing up but generally it's clean, and well maintained and friendly. There is plenty of space now, until the tourist season begins again. I have asked for long-term rent rate, but was not successfull, even after appealing through a rental tenancy advocate. That's the way it goes. So I pay $200 per week, subsidised with some rent assistance. I don't have a choice, as the other parks are overcrowded with too many permanents and the problems they bring, as seen on the local news. To start again at another park is a pain as I've settled in here. The rent is the same at the other parks. My policy is to go where I'm wanted. If they don't want my money, I won't spend it there. Cheers Granny

hi annie i have a b&s inlaw living in plainlands and have often  remarked this place is ripe for a park as it is growing so fast
                                                            brian