All caravan parks have a set of rules by which you must abide if you want to stay there. Some of these rules are very reasonable. Some, seemingly, not so much. Some parks may have too many rules, and some not enough.
My wife reckons I spend too much time on social media; perhaps she has a point. My defence is that I need to as part of my ‘job’ writing for this fine publication. Facebook is where I draw a lot of my inspiration and ideas for articles for you guys to read. This month is a prime example.
A video popped up on my Reels feed depicting a fellow who worked for a company that installed electrical systems in caravans. In the video, he told a story about turning up to a caravan park (at an unnamed, undisclosed location) for a night and being faced with a set of rules after paying for the site fee. He then mentioned some of the rules to which he seemingly took exception. One in particular he felt was ‘a bit rough’. He then asked the audience what it thought.
Well… he got me thinking right at a moment when I was staying in a caravan park in Lakes Entrance, Vic. Do caravan parks have too many rules? Do they have enough? Are all the rules reasonable? These are all valid questions. Unfortunately, I think the answers are going to make for some uncomfortable answers that we are all going to have to face up to at some point in our travelling lives.
STANDARD RULES
I can say with confidence that every caravan park we’ve ever stayed at has a set of what I would consider standard rules. They generally cover things like payment of fees upon entry, speed limits around the park, rules around noise, keeping amenities clean and keeping dogs on a lead at all times. These are pretty common across parks and, for the most part, they would be accepted as quite reasonable.
The consequences for breaking these rules can range from a stern warning from the park manager to being ‘asked’ to leave.
NOT-SO-COMMON RULES
Now we come to the sort of rules you might describe as not so common, and they are the sort of rules the guy in the video took some exception to. They were:
- No filling up of caravan water tanks;
- It cost $1 to have a four-minute shower;
- There was no dump point;
- They asked that guests conserve power usage; and
- You couldn’t put down a ground sheet under your awning, as it killed the grass.
For context, it cost $53 per night to stay on what can be assumed was a powered site. He didn’t say where the park was located, except that it was one hour away from a major town.
After watching the video, I read some of the comments and, to be honest, I was a little surprised. For the most part, the comments suggested that it was unreasonable for the park to have these rules. Many suggested that for $53 per night, they would be running their air-conditioner all night, filling their water tanks and having as long a shower as they liked in their caravans.
A few comments made by seasoned travellers had the opposite opinion and agreed the rules must be there for good reasons that catered for the unique circumstances of the park. Anyone questioning them was ignorant of the challenges of running a caravan park in regional and remote areas and had very entitled opinions.
WHAT DO I THINK?
While I would never consider myself to be the arbiter of opinions on this subject, I would say that after many years of travelling around Australia and having stayed in hundreds of caravan parks, the rules stated here are not unusual by any stretch.
For a start, I have never assumed it was okay to fill our caravan’s water tanks without first asking permission from the park manager. There are so many towns in regional and remote areas that are under permanent water restrictions that to assume it’s okay would be the height of ignorance.
While you could argue that taking an additional 200L is not much in the scheme of things, if everyone did it, it would add a considerable amount to the park’s water bill.
I’m surprised the rules didn’t include a ban on washing cars and caravans, which again I would never assume was okay, yet many park visitors seem to think it is.
The extra charge for a shower might be a little controversial, except when taken in context with the water tank rule. It would indicate the park has a general problem with excessive water usage. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in an amenities block and witnessed people having 15-20-minute showers in arid areas of the country, ignoring the signs begging patrons to use water wisely. I’m sorry, but that’s shameful, and if you feel you are entitled to as long a shower as you like, then you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Water is a precious resource and should be treated as such.
As for the other rules, no dump point is quite unusual. I would expect there may be a public dump point nearby. Again, I’ve seen the disgusting state many travellers leave a dump point. I can’t count the number of times we’ve come to a dump point that is out of use because someone has clogged it up with the stuff they’ve disposed of. Imagine having to deal with that every day on the minimal wage you might get working at a caravan park.
The request to conserve power is just that: a request. As for no ground sheets, well, that’s not unheard of, and if you consider the likely water situation at the park, it makes sense that they would want to look after what little grass they have.
TOO MANY CARAVAN PARK RULES?
As I mentioned earlier, I saw this video while staying at a caravan park in Lakes Entrance, and it had me wondering about the rules that park had. What surprised me was how many little rules they had on signs strewn around the park. There were dozens of them, and this was a ‘no children’ park to boot.
Many of the instructions on these signs were almost condescending, stating what I would consider to be the blatantly obvious. Turn the lights off when you leave, flush the toilet after use, take short showers, mind the very obvious step, even instructions to pump the hand soap before turning on the tap! Either the park managers had severe OCD or, the most likely explanation, many park patrons are just hopeless and seem to be incapable of normal behaviour.
It made me think about some of the more bizarre and funny rules I’ve seen on our travels that I may have shown some ambivalence towards or thought were completely unnecessary.
For example, I once saw a sign that said no smoking in the amenities block. I remember thinking, “Who in the right mind would think that was okay in the first place?”
Obviously, it happens enough to warrant putting up the sign.
Another sign I saw said the toilet brush was provided for a reason and to use it. Yes, people can be pigs at times, but how bad must the problem be if it has to be stated on a sign in a condescending tone?
A HARSH REALITY
I hate giving people or generations a label, so I won’t do that here, but I think we all have to come to terms with the fact that entitlement is a growing issue with society in general. You could blame that on a lot of things, not the least of which would be the costs of living these days. Everyone is out to get as much for their dollar as they can, and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that. But when it makes a material impact on the lives and jobs of those who are in an industry to service us, well, perhaps we need to call out those attitudes.
The demands on caravan parks during these times are quite high. Patrons expect clean and modern amenities. They demand pleasant surroundings, useful features like pools and camp kitchens and reliable utilities. Kids have to be entertained. All these things cost money, and that puts pressure on daily rates.
Also consider that the caravans of today are vastly different to those our parents had. Air-conditioners (sometimes more than one), water heaters, electric kettles, toasters, microwaves, coffee machines and a myriad of other conveniences all mean we are consuming electricity at levels never seen before. Who should be paying for all this?
Twenty years ago, paying $50 per night for a caravan park site was rare. Today, it is almost the standard rate, especially in major cities, and it’s not hard to see why. If you think about it, for the vast majority of caravan parks, I think we get good value for money.
WE ALL HAVE A CHOICE
Yes, there are occasions where value for money is lacking or the rules are too restrictive, but we all have the freedom to choose whether we stay at a caravan park or not. We’ve all got mobile phones and mobile internet. You can look at the website of a park and see what they charge and what their rules are before you get there and hand over your hard-earned cash. If you don’t and you pay before finding out you’re not happy, well… that’s your own fault.
There are lots of constants in this world, and one of them is that the minority will always spoil it for the majority. You might think the rules are unreasonable or that you’re being treated like an idiot. But I’ll bet if you look around, you’ll see some pretty ordinary fellow travellers, or the results of their bad behaviour, and realise the vast majority of the rules are there for good reason.
My advice is, before you get all wound up about the rules of a caravan park, or any other public convenience for that matter, perhaps take a step back and consider why those rules might be there in the first place. What behaviours have led to the need for those rules to be in place? What particular environmental circumstances dictate the need for certain controls or restrictions on patrons?
I’m very certain caravan park managers are not sitting around trying to think of ways to annoy their patrons on purpose.
If after considering all that and deciding it’s not worth your money, move on. Whinging on social media rarely achieves anything, but voting with your wallet can make a difference if enough people agree with you.
