The following is an actual email we sent to the Minister for Tourism outlining our annoyances with WA Tourism.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you as a family travelling through your state. Whilst your natural attractions are by far some of the most magical places that I have encountered, both here and overseas, I am far from impressed with how travellers are treated here by most councils.
We have been traveling around this magical country for the last 15 months and have now seen every state and covered some 35,000 km in our small but completely self-contained motorhome. We are by no means rich in money but live a simple life on the road. We free camp as much as possible and spend our money locally where ever we stay to show our gratitude for giving us a place to stay. We had only ever stayed in caravan parks 5 times before coming to WA, and that was mostly due to mechanical / solar issues. We find them to be overpriced for what you get out of them. And let's be honest no-one likes camping less than a metre from their "neighbour." But that is our opinion and many other travellers prefer caravan parks and that is fine too.
What I have noticed here in WA is that you have a distinct lack of free camps, even to the point where you employ rangers to issue large fines. Nothing says you are not welcome in a place than a ranger banging on your van at 7am demanding you move or issuing you with a fine. In some places you have police targeting fatigue yet these towns offer no place for a tired driver to rest. Contradiction much? I have called many local councils to enquire about this and was told that rangers were allowed to issue fines regardless of if the driver was fatigued or not. To me, that seems like a complete lack of empathy for a tired driver, and a clear money grab. Not to mention illegal. Needless to say, we have had to bypass many many towns we would have otherwise loved to have visited and spend our money at because we simply cannot afford to stay in caravan parks every night.
I understand that caravan park owners are concerned that if freecamping is allowed that they will lose out on business. But you see, what you don’t seem to understand is that it’s actually the opposite. People who like caravan parks ARE STILL going to like caravan parks. And those, like us who don’t like caravan parks, ARE STILL going to spend money, just not only at the caravan park. Our daily budget is $50. It’s not much. If we have to spend $40 a night on accommodation, then I’m sorry, we just can’t afford a coffee at the café, or to buy the newspaper, or for our daughter to go to the animal park. But if we DON’T have to pay $40 for the privilege of using all of our own amenities anyway, then we CAN afford those things, and we are able to share the money around. 5 or more businesses can benefit from our tourism instead of just one. Don’t you think allowing Caravan parks this power is actually just allowing them to monopolise the tourism market? Isn’t that simply unfair to the other businesses?
It seems some of your state is starting to catch on, albeit slowly. We recently stayed at the freecamp in Geraldton and, in return, spent over $150 in the town on our shopping, lunch and other fun endeavours. We visited all the tourist sites and explored the town. And that was in less than 24 hours.
But then there is Carnarvon. And Bussleton. And Bunbury. And Esperance. And Denmark. Etc etc. All places we ended up visiting but, being unable to stay there, not spending any money at. They missed out on our money. And whilst the bigger towns probably didn’t even notice, I’m sure the smaller ones did.
If there was no free camp in Geraldton, I can promise you we would have spent next to nothing there and probably not explored the sites. But it doesn’t have to be like this. This isn’t exactly our ideal way of travel either. We want to explore, to see the sites and to spend money in your towns. We want to support the ma and pa shops. We want to share our money with everyone. And we are definitely not alone in our desires. There are hundreds of forums dedicated to backpackers, families and grey nomads who all feel the same way and even apps to help us.
And then there are your national parks. They are beautiful. Some of the most beautiful in the country I’m sure. Well, atleast I would be sure if I was actually able to visit them. You see, even though we bought a parks pass, and even though several times now we have driven massive detours to visit your parks, eager to see what has been so beautifully advertised, your roads within the National Parks are 9 times out of 10, so terrible that we’ve had to turn around. I’m not complaining about 4WD only destinations. I’m talking about places that are marked on maps as being 2WD accessible, but are barely 4WD. Kalbarri? Shark Bay? Lake Thetis? Even HALF of Karijini! All completely inaccessible. And it’s getting ridiculous. How can you justify charging $12 per vehicle to visit these places, but offer no guarantee they can actually go there? Just where is this money going? The roads are a complete joke. Except it’s not funny anymore.
And to charge $15 per person for “camping” without even providing a camp kitchen or shower, and sometimes not even a toilet on top of the entrance fee? Really? It’d be cheaper to stay at a caravan park! Is that what you want? Are the national parks secretly controlled by caravan parks too??
Tourism comes in many different shapes and sizes and it is simply discriminatory to only cater to one group. Please make your beautiful state accessible to everyone. Your small towns and struggling businesses will thank you.
The travel junkies
I am writing to you as a family travelling through your state. Whilst your natural attractions are by far some of the most magical places that I have encountered, both here and overseas, I am far from impressed with how travellers are treated here by most councils.
We have been traveling around this magical country for the last 15 months and have now seen every state and covered some 35,000 km in our small but completely self-contained motorhome. We are by no means rich in money but live a simple life on the road. We free camp as much as possible and spend our money locally where ever we stay to show our gratitude for giving us a place to stay. We had only ever stayed in caravan parks 5 times before coming to WA, and that was mostly due to mechanical / solar issues. We find them to be overpriced for what you get out of them. And let's be honest no-one likes camping less than a metre from their "neighbour." But that is our opinion and many other travellers prefer caravan parks and that is fine too.
What I have noticed here in WA is that you have a distinct lack of free camps, even to the point where you employ rangers to issue large fines. Nothing says you are not welcome in a place than a ranger banging on your van at 7am demanding you move or issuing you with a fine. In some places you have police targeting fatigue yet these towns offer no place for a tired driver to rest. Contradiction much? I have called many local councils to enquire about this and was told that rangers were allowed to issue fines regardless of if the driver was fatigued or not. To me, that seems like a complete lack of empathy for a tired driver, and a clear money grab. Not to mention illegal. Needless to say, we have had to bypass many many towns we would have otherwise loved to have visited and spend our money at because we simply cannot afford to stay in caravan parks every night.
I understand that caravan park owners are concerned that if freecamping is allowed that they will lose out on business. But you see, what you don’t seem to understand is that it’s actually the opposite. People who like caravan parks ARE STILL going to like caravan parks. And those, like us who don’t like caravan parks, ARE STILL going to spend money, just not only at the caravan park. Our daily budget is $50. It’s not much. If we have to spend $40 a night on accommodation, then I’m sorry, we just can’t afford a coffee at the café, or to buy the newspaper, or for our daughter to go to the animal park. But if we DON’T have to pay $40 for the privilege of using all of our own amenities anyway, then we CAN afford those things, and we are able to share the money around. 5 or more businesses can benefit from our tourism instead of just one. Don’t you think allowing Caravan parks this power is actually just allowing them to monopolise the tourism market? Isn’t that simply unfair to the other businesses?
It seems some of your state is starting to catch on, albeit slowly. We recently stayed at the freecamp in Geraldton and, in return, spent over $150 in the town on our shopping, lunch and other fun endeavours. We visited all the tourist sites and explored the town. And that was in less than 24 hours.
But then there is Carnarvon. And Bussleton. And Bunbury. And Esperance. And Denmark. Etc etc. All places we ended up visiting but, being unable to stay there, not spending any money at. They missed out on our money. And whilst the bigger towns probably didn’t even notice, I’m sure the smaller ones did.
If there was no free camp in Geraldton, I can promise you we would have spent next to nothing there and probably not explored the sites. But it doesn’t have to be like this. This isn’t exactly our ideal way of travel either. We want to explore, to see the sites and to spend money in your towns. We want to support the ma and pa shops. We want to share our money with everyone. And we are definitely not alone in our desires. There are hundreds of forums dedicated to backpackers, families and grey nomads who all feel the same way and even apps to help us.
And then there are your national parks. They are beautiful. Some of the most beautiful in the country I’m sure. Well, atleast I would be sure if I was actually able to visit them. You see, even though we bought a parks pass, and even though several times now we have driven massive detours to visit your parks, eager to see what has been so beautifully advertised, your roads within the National Parks are 9 times out of 10, so terrible that we’ve had to turn around. I’m not complaining about 4WD only destinations. I’m talking about places that are marked on maps as being 2WD accessible, but are barely 4WD. Kalbarri? Shark Bay? Lake Thetis? Even HALF of Karijini! All completely inaccessible. And it’s getting ridiculous. How can you justify charging $12 per vehicle to visit these places, but offer no guarantee they can actually go there? Just where is this money going? The roads are a complete joke. Except it’s not funny anymore.
And to charge $15 per person for “camping” without even providing a camp kitchen or shower, and sometimes not even a toilet on top of the entrance fee? Really? It’d be cheaper to stay at a caravan park! Is that what you want? Are the national parks secretly controlled by caravan parks too??
Tourism comes in many different shapes and sizes and it is simply discriminatory to only cater to one group. Please make your beautiful state accessible to everyone. Your small towns and struggling businesses will thank you.
The travel junkies
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