Unhappy campers: Caravan park fees soar as free sites snapped up

Soaring caravan park rates at some of Victoria’s most popular holiday destinations are putting camping out of reach for families, forcing them to reconsider their summer plans and travel interstate to find affordable options.

Those lucky enough to have snatched a coveted spot in a caravan park along the Great Ocean Road are in some cases paying more than $800 a week for the site, and cabins are fetching about $3000 a week. On the Bellarine Peninsula, campers are paying nearly $200 a night for a powered site during the Australia Day weekend.

Monica and Aaron Benney with dog Pepper in front of their motorhome in Melton on Saturday. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“I’ve completely given up on going to caravan parks,” said Monica Benney, who lives in Melton and loves camping. “During the so-called peak season, they charge like a wounded bull.”

Benney, who usually travels in a motorhome with her husband, brother and adult son, said additional fees for extra adults on top of base site charges made camping in a caravan park unaffordable. It is common for site fees to include two adults per site, with extra charges for additional adults and children.

“They’ll charge us the equivalent of two sites,” she said.

Benney, who usually travels outside the peak tourist season and camps in unserviced gravel pits to reduce costs, said using the family’s timeshare to spend a week around Australia Day at a resort in Torquay was cheaper than camping in the popular coastal town in the self-contained motorhome.

“It’s cost-prohibitive. On a pension, you can’t afford it. If we didn’t own our home and everything, there is no way we could afford to travel,” she said.

In October, the government announced it would remove camping fees at 131 Parks Victoria campsites until the end of June to relieve cost-of-living stress and encourage Victorians to holiday in their home state.

The initiative, estimated to save families $7.3 million in booking fees, has been widely popular, with all but two locations – Lake Eildon and Croajingolong National Park – currently fully booked for the season.

Since October, campers have booked more than 165,000 nights at the sites – a 93 per cent increase from the same time last year, when only 85,500 bookings were made. This does not include more than 1000 free camping areas across the Parks Victoria estate that operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

Camping at Parks Victoria sites will be free until the end of June under a government initiative announced in October.

“We’re making camping accessible to every Victorian – it’s great for families, great for regional towns, great for businesses, and great for local jobs,” Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos said.

But the initiative offers little solace to those who have not been able to secure a spot at the free sites and whose only alternative is to pay the fees to camp at privately run caravan parks.

Beth, who did not want her surname used, has camped at the Inverloch foreshore with her family on and off for almost two decades. Her now-adult children learnt to ride a bike at the campsite, surrounded by families who had been camping at the site for nearly twice as long. The possum that lived in the toilet block before it was renovated was a common fixture of their summers on the coast, as was the short walk to the beach to take a dip in the ocean.

Beth said her family loved staying at the site but this summer might be their last due to the soaring costs of holidaying in the area. A two-week stay on a powered site costs $1600. For Beth’s family, which stay across two sites, the bill comes to $3200 a fortnight.

“We’re paying over $100 a night for grass and power, basically,” she said.

Beth said she understood caravan parks needed to make enough money to account for the quiet months of the year and rising liability costs, but higher fees meant camping was becoming inaccessible for families.

“We are privileged to be able to come, but it is becoming something that not everybody could do,” she said.

The Age also spoke to a Melbourne mother of two and avid camper who decided to holiday on the NSW South Coast after struggling to find affordable sites in Victoria.

All but two Parks Victoria campsite locations are booked out for the summer.Credit: Parks Victoria

“The prices are crazy, there’s no availability, and it’s beyond my means,” she said. “I’m a solo parent with a well-paid professional job and can’t afford to take my kids camping in Victoria.”

The woman, who did not want her name published for privacy reasons, said campsites in southern NSW had more availability, and fees ranged from $40 to $90 a night.

“I think more foreshore camping grounds need to be made available, so the prices come down and availability increases for this peak period,” she said.

“We shouldn’t have to worry and go in ballots and save for six months to take a two-week camping holiday with our family.”

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