Unhappily isolated now happy campers for long weekend

After three months in ‘iso’, Australia is set to go wild this long weekend with record numbers of campers braving wintry weather.

Adelaide couple Toni and Kym Fielke enjoy a red beside the fireplace at Deep Creek. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

After three months in “iso” and with intrastate travel banned until recently in every state, most Australians are set to go wild this long weekend, with record numbers of campers braving wintry weather in the ­nation’s national parks.

At a time when many South Australians normally fly to Queens­land or Bali to escape the chill, the border closures and travel­ bans mean SA is instead holidaying at home, with camping stores reporting shoppers in unpreceden­ted numbers, many of them first-timers buying all the ­basics for their debut sleep-out in the great outdoors.

“It’s been terrific. Like everyone, we had an absolute shocker at the start of the lockdown but in the past few weeks we have been run off our feet,” Snowys Outdoors store manager Dave Smeets told The Weekend Australian. “People are coming in and saying­ they have never camped before and are buying everything they need, which has been fantastic after a tough couple of months.”

They include couples such as Toni and Kym Fielke, who headed to the stunning Deep Creek Conservation­ Park in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula for the long weekend, saying they were “crawling up the walls” during lockdown and couldn’t wait to get away.

They had initially planned to head to the Flinders Ranges but every campsite was taken, and they managed to book the last remaining cabin at Deep Creek.

“It’s great to be here out of the house and lighting the fire; hopefully, there will be a bit of a resurgenc­e of all this because of COVID,” Mr Fielke said.

Camping numbers across SA are off the charts this weekend, with SA Environment Minister David Speirs saying bookings are at levels never seen before.

As of Friday morning, the campsites at the Morgan, Mount Remarkable and Para Wirra Conservation Parks were 100 per cent booked, Deep Creek, Innes and Chowilla were at 98 per cent, and other parks along the Murray were at 85-90 per cent occupancy.

The tourism sector has been smashed by the lockdown, with tourist operators nationwide demand­ing state and territory governments do more to ease travel restrictions.