Was in the Chinchilla Tourist Info Office this morning and couldn't help but overhear some people chatting with the bloke behind the counter.
They spent last night at Chinchilla Weir and they said there were about 40 other vans there as well and that there were too many people there for their liking.
They came into town this morning to book into a van park and were asking which one was the better of the two. The bloke behind the counter said that both parks in Chinchilla had taken out nearly 100% of their van sites and put in cabins.
He said the only place you can go to in town is the showgrounds which ARE NOT run by council but by private persons and that would cost $25 per night.
Makes Doug's place sound even better if you are set up for free camping.
Oh, BTW, the bloke who stayed at the weir wasn't really impressed so he pushed on to Miles.
Cruising Granny said
03:15 PM Sep 8, 2011
It's happening everywhere. Van parks transformed into tourist parks, offering high-priced cabins. Some even hire out linen. This park where I am now does this. It seems caravan money is too slow, so they'd rather invest, build and install all those cabins, and to hell with caravan money. Everyone wants to make a million every day in the tourism industry. It's about the money not the service they could be providing for those who want to pay for it. The park people complain about free camps but then there are no sites for vans in the parks. It's like we just don't exist.
gillyb said
04:20 PM Sep 8, 2011
I guess you can't really blame them, running a business is all about making money so if the cabins make for a bigger income then thats the way it will go.
Cruising Granny said
04:29 PM Sep 8, 2011
At the end of the day the cabins are much higher maintenance than we vanners. All we use is a site, a bit of power and water, and the amenities, included in the tarrif. The cabins have to be built with services installed, as well as airconditioning. Then they have to be serviced. The 2 cabins next to me are occupied for a couple of nights and then new people come. Some are used by workers for a few weeks. In that time the staff come and service every 3 days or so, change the linen. If the cabins have new tenants every night, then they have to be stripped and cleaned every day. It's expensive, high maintenance. However, they attract a "higher class" of clientelle, although this is not always the case either. Then the maintenance is much higher. This park is planning a tourist park area with a few short-term van sites. It's taking a while to get off the ground, but to begin with they have to have the paddock surveyed to sort out the road configuration, the water supply, plumbing and electricity. The frames are already here ready for assembly, but there are some technical glitches imposed by the local council. This park doesn't have slabs, but they have gravel everywhere, which is low maintenance. So cabin money is not the instant profit you'd imagine. It's a big investment and expense before you even start collecting income.
Beth54 said
04:31 PM Sep 8, 2011
The weir isn't a very big area, so 40 odd would be very tight.
I stayed in one of those cabins in Chinchilla last year. They are extremely busy with blokes who work on the gas. That's probably why they've gone to cabins.
My son was out there last week on business. He needed accommodation at Chinchilla or Roma..couldn't get anything! So he just took pot luck and got a cancellation in Roma.
jimbo said
04:38 PM Sep 8, 2011
would like to ask! Is there any Govt body looking out for our (The grey Nomads) Interest in this up and coming battleAnd believe me I think something is brewing
From various stories I've heard along the way up north and back it appears that a lot of the local councils aren't interested in us grey nomads because apparantly we don't spend enough money........I was even told in Hervey Bay that the nomads were to blame for sending a lot of their businesses broke by heading there in droves but spending very little especially on tourist attractions and local restaurants, they much prefer to cater to bigger spending foreign tourists including backpackers
Cruising Granny said
06:55 PM Sep 8, 2011
That's all very well, but in the off season our dollars are good enough. In the quiet times, we Nomads, who continue to travel, become their bread and butter, as do long-termers who park up for extended periods. The tourist-dependant parks would not exist without our menial $'s. Some communities really value the GN $ and recognise our value to their towns and businesses. Then there are others who just call us free-loading bludgers who FREE camp. But we still have to fuel up, stock up and eat up. I'm sure it balances out, but we don't cost them much either. As for representation, I don't know. CMCA represents its members of course, but for those of us who don't belong to a club or organisation, we don't really have any representation. The CMCA doesn't seem to even acknowledge caravanners, which is very disappointing.
Pejay said
07:48 PM Sep 8, 2011
Hmm, having covered some 10,000 Kms, and spent just over $6,500 (not as bad as I thought) on our recent trip to Tassie & back, have to say we put some dollars into quite a few towns coffers. However, we try to look for the 'value for money' things, and no, we are not cheap-skates, just prudent; to date we have not free-camped, we have used caravan parks and ask (politely I might add - unlike some comments we have heard from some parks) if we are entitled to a discount eg 7 nts for 6 etc. Yes, we chose to bake our own yummies for mornos and had bbq sausage sizzles or cup a soup for lunches - hey, it was chilly in Tassie, but we still had to purchase our food items in various towns. Perhaps what is needed is for some of these 'tourist' places not to be so greedy - some of the prices for some 'attractions' and/or accomodation was really over the top - and yes, I know that all busiesses are doing it tough, but we all have to make the dollar go round and round.
Gerty Dancer said
09:27 PM Sep 8, 2011
Pejay wrote:
Hmm, having covered some 10,000 Kms, and spent just over $6,500 (not as bad as I thought) on our recent trip to Tassie & back, have to say we put some dollars into quite a few towns coffers. However, we try to look for the 'value for money' things, and no, we are not cheap-skates, just prudent; to date we have not free-camped, we have used caravan parks and ask (politely I might add - unlike some comments we have heard from some parks) if we are entitled to a discount eg 7 nts for 6 etc. Yes, we chose to bake our own yummies for mornos and had bbq sausage sizzles or cup a soup for lunches - hey, it was chilly in Tassie, but we still had to purchase our food items in various towns. Perhaps what is needed is for some of these 'tourist' places not to be so greedy - some of the prices for some 'attractions' and/or accomodation was really over the top - and yes, I know that all busiesses are doing it tough, but we all have to make the dollar go round and round.
I agree absolutely!!
Cruising Granny said
09:42 PM Sep 8, 2011
You got it Pejay. Whether we live on WeetBix and boiled eggs or steak and champers, we all have a budget. If we live a little frugally we have a bit extra for a treat, a tour, or some other feature. Tourism is a very expensive venture for the travellers and holidaymakers. Admissions here, fees there, fares on a cruise or bus or train. We have to balance it. I don't indulge in too many tours. If I can get myself there I'll have a look. If it's special I'll take the trip and I don't buy too many sourvenirs. I collect hat pins only from places I've stayed. It's a ballancing act, but I believe we deserve more respect from some operators.
pauline said
08:54 AM Sep 9, 2011
CG i see you collect hat pins, we collect fridge magnets, when i add them all up there is quite a lot of $$$$$ involved.
barrie said
08:43 PM Sep 9, 2011
Just spent 6 months touring WA and sure left some $$$$$$$$$$$ there and i was fed up of hearing traders say ypur paying miners prices grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ,how long will it be before travellers stop heading over there???????????????????/
Cruising Granny said
10:01 PM Sep 9, 2011
Only certain regions of WA charge miners prices. Karratha, Port Hedland and Broome, of course. Not everywhere is charging like the wounded bull. Even those living in those towns pay astronomical rents for a site in a park. Renting a house if it's not company subsidised, is a major investment in someone else's pocket. I found the Roebourne Van Park to be reasonable and well positioned to explore the entire region for 100kms in any direction. You can shop in Karratha and get out of town. Basic shopping isn't really more expensive there, but accommodation is awful. I don't know about Kalgoorlie etc, and I know Kunnunurra has isolation to consider. In fact there was a time I considered going into the "freight" business when I was in Broome. Charging $1 freight for every newspaper was what did it for me. I wasn't going to sell anything or carry anything, I was just going to go into the freight business. It seems to be the most lucrative sector of the regions which depend on road trains for everything. There is a small coastal freight service for some building materials and other heavy articles.
Was in the Chinchilla Tourist Info Office this morning and couldn't help but overhear some people chatting with the bloke behind the counter.
They spent last night at Chinchilla Weir and they said there were about 40 other vans there as well and that there were too many people there for their liking.
They came into town this morning to book into a van park and were asking which one was the better of the two. The bloke behind the counter said that both parks in Chinchilla had taken out nearly 100% of their van sites and put in cabins.
He said the only place you can go to in town is the showgrounds which ARE NOT run by council but by private persons and that would cost $25 per night.
Makes Doug's place sound even better if you are set up for free camping.
Oh, BTW, the bloke who stayed at the weir wasn't really impressed so he pushed on to Miles.
It seems caravan money is too slow, so they'd rather invest, build and install all those cabins, and to hell with caravan money.
Everyone wants to make a million every day in the tourism industry. It's about the money not the service they could be providing for those who want to pay for it.
The park people complain about free camps but then there are no sites for vans in the parks. It's like we just don't exist.
I guess you can't really blame them, running a business is all about making money so if the cabins make for a bigger income then thats the way it will go.
The cabins have to be built with services installed, as well as airconditioning. Then they have to be serviced.
The 2 cabins next to me are occupied for a couple of nights and then new people come. Some are used by workers for a few weeks.
In that time the staff come and service every 3 days or so, change the linen. If the cabins have new tenants every night, then they have to be stripped and cleaned every day.
It's expensive, high maintenance. However, they attract a "higher class" of clientelle, although this is not always the case either. Then the maintenance is much higher.
This park is planning a tourist park area with a few short-term van sites. It's taking a while to get off the ground, but to begin with they have to have the paddock surveyed to sort out the road configuration, the water supply, plumbing and electricity.
The frames are already here ready for assembly, but there are some technical glitches imposed by the local council.
This park doesn't have slabs, but they have gravel everywhere, which is low maintenance.
So cabin money is not the instant profit you'd imagine. It's a big investment and expense before you even start collecting income.
The weir isn't a very big area, so 40 odd would be very tight.
I stayed in one of those cabins in Chinchilla last year. They are extremely busy with blokes who work on the gas. That's probably why they've gone to cabins.
My son was out there last week on business. He needed accommodation at Chinchilla or Roma..couldn't get anything! So he just took pot luck and got a cancellation in Roma.
would like to ask! Is there any Govt body looking out for our (The grey Nomads) Interest in this up and coming battleAnd believe me I think something is brewing
Some communities really value the GN $ and recognise our value to their towns and businesses. Then there are others who just call us free-loading bludgers who FREE camp. But we still have to fuel up, stock up and eat up. I'm sure it balances out, but we don't cost them much either.
As for representation, I don't know. CMCA represents its members of course, but for those of us who don't belong to a club or organisation, we don't really have any representation. The CMCA doesn't seem to even acknowledge caravanners, which is very disappointing.
I agree absolutely!!
Tourism is a very expensive venture for the travellers and holidaymakers. Admissions here, fees there, fares on a cruise or bus or train. We have to balance it.
I don't indulge in too many tours. If I can get myself there I'll have a look. If it's special I'll take the trip and I don't buy too many sourvenirs. I collect hat pins only from places I've stayed.
It's a ballancing act, but I believe we deserve more respect from some operators.
Not everywhere is charging like the wounded bull.
Even those living in those towns pay astronomical rents for a site in a park. Renting a house if it's not company subsidised, is a major investment in someone else's pocket.
I found the Roebourne Van Park to be reasonable and well positioned to explore the entire region for 100kms in any direction.
You can shop in Karratha and get out of town. Basic shopping isn't really more expensive there, but accommodation is awful.
I don't know about Kalgoorlie etc, and I know Kunnunurra has isolation to consider.
In fact there was a time I considered going into the "freight" business when I was in Broome. Charging $1 freight for every newspaper was what did it for me. I wasn't going to sell anything or carry anything, I was just going to go into the freight business. It seems to be the most lucrative sector of the regions which depend on road trains for everything.
There is a small coastal freight service for some building materials and other heavy articles.