People complain about NT van park prices

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Originally Posted by weeds

Hey Mr Whippy

Had an interesting chat to my mum and dad who are on the road.....they are about to stay in a caravan park charges for electricity I.e. There is a base rate for the site and on checkout the read the meter for your site.......I can only assume so e the massive vans and motor homes chew some electricity? My parents aren't to worried as they rarely turn on their air-con and use bugger all in lighting

Will this become more and more common..........

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We run a system for when people want to stay for a while. First two weeks are a daily rate which includes power. Pay for six nights get seventh free.

After two weeks they then go on a much reduced weekly rate and then they pay for power.

What your Mum has experienced I have not heard of, but I reckon with soaring electricity prices it might one day become more common.

It is a good idea though, because the ones that come and are fugal with power, end up subsidizing the ones that come and leave their air conditioners on 24/7. When power is included people will waste it. I am guilty of it myself.

Many years ago I had a permanent caravan in a park as a holiday destination. (we call them annuals) Our yearly site fees included power.

This park also allowed camp fires. We would be there in winter sitting by the fire, with two heaters running, one in the caravan and the other in the annex.

Most park around here charge permanents for power by meter. Redlands Mobile Home Village has new owners who are also installing water meters.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Most park around here charge permanents for power by meter. Redlands Mobile Home Village has new owners who are also installing water meters.

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We do the same here for the permanents.

This reminds me of how, every winter, there's a letter in the local paper from some caravanner about how they've just found out that in Broome they can't stay for longer than about a week or whatever it is, and they can't come back sooner than after a certain time, and so on and so forth with all these restrictions. And the poor letter-writer had come up to stay for a good deal of the winter, seeing the sights and spending their money, only to find they're not allowed . . . and then the Broome tourism industry seems to wonder why times aren't so good anymore.

Why do they have these restrictions? Why can't they stay for a month?

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Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

Ean. If you travel from Brissy to Melb you almost go past my place(about 15KM out of your way)

I own a caravan park, the cheapest you will find, it is free.(conditions apply, see below)

To qualify for and receive free site fees, applicant must join park owner for a beer.

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I can confirm that a better park and hosts you will not find :)

Unless the rules have changed recently, Qld. caravan parks have to offer a Residential Tenancy Lease after six weeks stay. The tenant may not wish to take up a lease but by law the offer has to be made. The idea was to give security of tenure to permanent residents of van parks. Before this they could be ordered out on a minimum of notice. I was a Social Security field officer for a while and we spent a lot of time in caravan parks chasing liars, cheats, ferals, determined dole bludgers etc. Other than the Relocatable Home Villages, most van parks that had a lot of permanents were pretty bloody grotty. A match for the residents.

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Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

Why do they have these restrictions? Why can't they stay for a month?

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I haven't paid too much attention to it, but it seems that every year every caravan park is full, and then they open the "overflow" areas, which are big fenced paddocks or something, (we've driven by these shadeless places and they look like upmarket refugee camps), so I'm guessing it's to do with overcrowding. Now, why they haven't organised to build more parks with even basic facilities, and welcomed everyone to stay as long as they can, within reason, is beyond me . . . oh no, wait, this is Broome we're talking about.

They also have trouble with people setting up in carparks until they're kicked out. I'd imagine that lots of cheap camping areas would help stop that, or at least give people fewer excuses. It's a funny town.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Unless the rules have changed recently, Qld. caravan parks have to offer a Residential Tenancy Lease after six weeks stay. The tenant may not wish to take up a lease but by law the offer has to be made. The idea was to give security of tenure to permanent residents of van parks. Before this they could be ordered out on a minimum of notice. I was a Social Security field officer for a while and we spent a lot of time in caravan parks chasing liars, cheats, ferals, determined dole bludgers etc. Other than the Relocatable Home Villages, most van parks that had a lot of permanents were pretty bloody grotty. A match for the residents.

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In Vic it is 60 days. To get around this is you kick em out at 59 days and let them back in on a different site, start again, day one.

We have a lot of permanents but we are very fussy who we let in, and usually we have found that people that can afford to own a van are not to bad. It is the one that want to rent one of our vans/cabin that can be problems. The ferals(trailer trash) all go to the other park in town.

In Vic the above law only applies, if the park is the tenants principle place of residence. In other words, if they own a home somewhere and are on an extended holiday, their van and site in a park is not principle place of residence.

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Originally Posted by Davo

I haven't paid too much attention to it, but it seems that every year every caravan park is full, and then they open the "overflow" areas, which are big fenced paddocks or something, (we've driven by these shadeless places and they look like upmarket refugee camps), so I'm guessing it's to do with overcrowding. Now, why they haven't organised to build more parks with even basic facilities, and welcomed everyone to stay as long as they can, within reason, is beyond me . . . oh no, wait, this is Broome we're talking about.

They also have trouble with people setting up in carparks until they're kicked out. I'd imagine that lots of cheap camping areas would help stop that, or at least give people fewer excuses. It's a funny town.

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Yes, got me stuffed why you would bother. I particularly dislike the practice of the locals in putting prices up once the tourist season commences. I prefer Kunnunurra to Broome, and it is a far better base to jump off to other places.