‘I found a way to make camping FREE for families’
A Gold Coast mum was fed up with paying costly campsite fees - so she did something about it.
Lifestyle
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When Eulanda and her family “quit the rat race” to do a lap around Australia in a caravan, they felt like the luckiest people in the world.
“I was always busy building my business, the kids were in after school activities and I realised they had grown too quickly and I hadn’t had enough time with them,” the 48-year-old tells Kidspot.
However, within three months of Eulanda and husband, Trent, selling their home on the Gold Coast in 2021, the reality of being able to keep their finances above water while on the road - while homeschooling sons Jett, 12, and Jaxx, 11 - became far more difficult than they expected.
“I noticed booking prices were skyrocketing, as was fuel and food,” the mum-of-three recalls.
“I was having to pay up to $144 a night for a site, and I knew I would either need to make money, or find free accommodation.”
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An idea for free camping
Just when she needed it the most, a kind offer came from a friend to park the van at a property in Hervey Bay.
That’s when Eulanda’s lightbulb moment hit.
“I thought, ‘If we all did that, we could all travel for free’,” Eulanda remembers.
“It became a passion of mine to create a community where people feel welcome and safe and not have their dreams of spending time with their family slip away because of how expensive it’s become.”
After 18 months building a website-based app - and a whopping $200,000 investment from her savings - Eulanda launched Landavan, a platform for free caravan-based property-swapping.
RELATED: Here they are – Australia’s best FREE camping spots
Property swapping with Landavan
How it works is users become a member (anyone who joins before May 15 receives a year free, then it’s $120 annually) and have a property to list for camping exchanges. Travellers must also be self-contained with their own toilet and shower facilities.
“It doesn’t have to be a big place, as long as you have enough room for a caravan to pull up and put an awning out, or provide an undercover space in lieu of the awning - one of our members just has a driveway in suburban Perth,” Eulanda says.
“And it doesn’t have to be your own. It could be a family member or friend’s place with permission.”
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How to book a free camp site
The platform is simple to use - members select a region and available dates they would like to camp, and all available properties are listed. Currently, there are 150 properties on the Landavan database across the country.
No money is exchanged for bookings. Members are given 600 points upon joining (which equates to a three-night stay), with more accrued daily, and extra points are earned by hosting travellers and deducted after staying at another property.
“You can speak to each other with a phone call or Zoom and get to know someone before they stay on your property,” the savvy mum says.
“Standard household insurance would apply here because travellers are welcomed on a property as a guest or house-sitter, it’s not a business.”
In just five months, Eulanda and her family have stayed at four Landavan properties already, and have plans to experience many more as they head up to northern WA for the winter months.
RELATED: 16 tips for camping with children
“Not only does it save us money and escape a crowded caravan park, but we have met wonderful members around the country who have taken us out to see their town, and one took my husband and the boys out crabbing and fishing,” Eulanda, who lists a friend’s 100-acre Queensland property under her own membership, says.
“It’s an experience we couldn’t have had staying in a normal caravan park.”
Two and a half years since they hit the road, the intrepid travellers aren’t planning to settle down any time soon.
“There are so many beautiful places around Australia, we are so spoiled being able to change our backyard so often.”
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