Caravan Park Scramble In Record Tourist Season

By Sarah Vogler

Courier Mail

THEY'RE usually in bed by 8pm, but an increasing number of grey nomads are being forced to burn the midnight oil as they discover "no vacancy" signs outside scores of popular caravan parks in Queensland.

Long-haul trips they hoped would end in a nice hot cuppa and a soft, welcoming pillow are turning into a scramble for a site or an unexpected drive to the next small town, perhaps hundreds of kilometres away.

Caravan park owners from Windorah to Roma say record numbers of nomads this year have been a boost for local tourism, but have provided unexpected headaches for those who failed to plan ahead. And with recent events such as Birdsville Races, Mount Isa Rodeo and Longreach Muster, the roads of western Queensland are busier than ever.

Evening Star Tourist Park owner Peta Debney said Charleville had a 27 per cent increase in winter tourists this year, most of them grey nomads from Brisbane and interstate. Thargomindah Explorers Caravan Park manager Paul Rush said numbers at his park were up by "a couple of hundred" on last year.

School holidays this week unofficially end the nomads' winter season, but Mr Rush said high occupancy along the outback Matilda Highway suggested the season could run longer this year.

Roma tourist park manager Lynne Hamdorf said the whole town was full. "Everybody's booked out," she said. "It is busier than usual."

Longreach Caravan Park owner Shane Morgan said: "I've been turning away more people than I can fit in. We can pick and choose who we have here, just about. We're at 100 per cent (capacity) five months of the year."

Mr Morgan said the outback Queensland route appeared a favourite for caravanners as they begin to shun the more traditional coastal routes;

grey nomads had become tired of the traffic, commercialism and "younger generation problems" of coastal areas.

Ms Hamdorf, who manages the Big Rig Tourist Park in Roma, agreed traffic and high prices in coastal areas were helping to boost tourism in the bush.

Brisbane couple Ingrid and Ray Bowden were two of the many caravanners who stopped at Ms Hamdorf's caravan park last week.

Mrs Bowden said she and her husband were making the most of their Winnebago motor home, bought in 2005.

She said their trips usually lasted between five weeks and three months.

Mr Bowden said this was their first trip to outback Queensland. They plan to travel from Roma to Charleville, Cunnamulla, St George and then Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, among other places.

"We've come out to see what it's like and get away from the city, the traffic lights and traffic jams," he said.

"You meet a lot of nice people (on the road)."

Mr Bowden said he was surprised to see so many caravanners out on western Queensland's roads.

He said he and his wife planned to put their Winnebago to use at least six months of the year while enjoying their retirement and discovering Australia.