Gawler Caravan Park will have its entranceway and sheds upgraded in a $200,000 project

In a year when it has been devastated by COVID-19, the Gawler Caravan Park has had some welcome news with plans for an upgrade approved by Gawler Council.

Ali Eberhard, owner of the Gawler Caravan Park, is excited by plans for a new entranceway. Picture: Matt Turner

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After a year where it has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, the Gawler Caravan Park is set for a significant upgrade to its entranceway.

The upgrade will also include the removal and replacement of storage sheds in accordance with existing obligations under the current lease.

For Ali Eberhard, who owns the park along with her husband Simon, it’s a massive boost following a tough year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It has had a massive impact on us, started with many cancellations, there were a lot of refunds,” Mrs Eberhard said.

“There was a lot of uncertainty, so we didn’t know how long things were going to last.

“We had two lots of staff leave as they didn’t feel safe in the industry, we discussed closing, but we have people here – although we’re not a permanent park, we do have people who are here for long stays for work and things like that.”

The pandemic peaked right before one of the busiest weekends on the calendar for caravan parks, Easter.

Mrs Eberhard said the losses from that weekend were “devastating.”

“We would’ve been looking at about 80-90 per cent capacity and at that stage we were at about 35 per cent, so that weekend alone, I’d say we would’ve lost $8000-$10,000,” she said.

“We’re not a destination park, so we don’t have those major highs like West Beach has, we don’t have that, but Easter is probably the best weekend along with the October long weekend.

“It wasn’t just the money we lost, it was also the money we had to give back to people who had already paid. You don’t spend your deposits or anything like that, but boy it makes a mess of your bank account.”

Gawler Council unanimously approved plans to go ahead with the upgrade at its July meeting, and Mrs Eberhard said they’re “rapt” with it.

“We are absolutely rapt, we’ve been here nearly four years and although we’ve done some work inside the park, we haven’t been able to touch the outside, and of course, that’s not ours, we don’t own it,” she said.

“We rely on council to support us with anything like that, and we are just excited and can’t wait to be a part of it and the fact is they’ve let us in on the design side of it.

“We’ve been able to use our knowledge to guide the architect and the council has backed us the whole way through this.”

Upgrades to the entranceway will include the removal of the top bar and the widening of the entranceway itself, a hot spot for damage and near misses.

“The essence of the project is to widen the driveway and remove the top bar, nowadays, rigs are getting bigger and better and taller, we have a back gate we have to use sometimes,” Mrs Eberhard said.

“Removing the top bar will make things so much easier for them, because people worry if they’re in a big rig.

“Because Main North Road is so busy, the traffic behind a slow-moving vehicle puts so much pressure on that vehicle. They need to take a wide berth to get around the columns, and taking those away and making a nice, easy and visual entry and departureway, will help avoid many near misses we’ve had.”

The work on the entranceway is expected to start during the 2021/22 financial year.