RV Friendly Towns - Cairns

[Tolley]

Hello Everyone,

Cairns, my home town, has recently been criticised for being unfriendly to caravanners or Rvers as some call them. I believe the criticism is justified. Gayleen and I did the lap round Oz this year and we found Canberra and Cairns to be the two worst RV towns that we visited.

A couple of months ago there was a good deal of letters to the editor of the Cairns Post, our local rag, criticising how unfriendly Cairns appears to be to "grey nomads". I put my two bobs worth into the debate.

I have now been requested by our Mayor to meet with her and some of her senior staff to discuss what it is that Cairns should do the be "RV Friendly". I have a few ideas but I would welcome any Kogger thoughts on the subject, especially if you have recernt Cairns experience, but also, if you have opinions as to what makes a town attractive to you.

The meeting is next Tuesday so speed is of the essence. If you can help please do so.

Regards to all and Merry Christmas Koggers!!

Colin

[Winnecke]

Parking for Vans within reasonable walking distance of a major shopping center

A reasonable sized Park/Rest Area with adequate Van parking

A Public Dump Point

Prominent Road signage to areas such as the above, not just Commercial sites such as Van parks

[Tolley]

Thank you John and Ann, I appreciate your effort in making a response.

Regards

Colin

[TnT]

Hi Colin, My name is Tony,this is my first post so please bear with me.

Trish & I have just spent several weeks in Cairns and (much to our annoyance), repeatedly felt we were not accepted

as welcome guests,but more as though the Cairns business community thought they were doing us a favour by accepting

our money! I suggest a tourist appreciation course would be beneficial to the non tourist community.It may help them

see the benefit of a smile and a thank you to their bottom line!

There is a need for a reasonable priced no frills caravan park; eg:- showgrounds or sports oval? I am aware that the

showgrounds were going to be made available but were withdrawn for reasons unknown.This, after being advertised in

various publications(I can guess what commercial caravan park owners may have said).

Currently it is cheaper to stay on the tablelands and drive to Cairns than it is to pay Cairns caravan park prices

and be told,quote- we are lucky to be there, Cairns that is, as they are usually fully booked-unquote!This was said at the end of the

season, hate to try during high season.

Hope these views are not too one eyed for the good lady mayor.

GOOD LUCK

Tony

[Chris]

I have noted you are gathering comments over on the Caravaners Forum as well, and there is a wide range of comments there which I totally agree with.

Like TnT we now always stay up on the Atherton Tablelands (our favourite spot is Lake Tinaroo) where there is a wealth of cheap camp options. I guess Cairns misses out on our spending, and we do tend to spend money where we stay. We like to eat out at least once a week, we spend money on fuel and groceries, haircuts, and entertainment like cinemas etc. Cairns is missing out on this income from us and from the many folk who are now aware that Cairns is a place to avoid.

I can understand that there is confusion between relatively sedate and peaceful gray nomads and the younger, livelier backpacker group. Backpackers tend to have less disposable income....

Cairns is a physically appealing place and we would love to stay there but not while the camping options are expensive caravan parks and while the attitudes are as negative as they are currently.

Chris

[Gini]

Ditto Winnecke

Parking for Vans within reasonable walking distance of a major shopping center

A reasonable sized Park/Rest Area with adequate Van parking

A Public Dump Point

Prominent Road signage to areas such as the above, not just Commercial sites such as Van parks

[Tolley]

Thank you TnT, Chris and Gini. I really appreciate your contribution and I am at one with all of your thoughts and suggestions. At least the Mayor is willing to meet, think and listen. That is a real positive.

Regards

Colin

[colnden]

Hi Tolley, A basic camping area if not in Cairns then certainly Gordonvale. Not sure if green patch is still open to campers but it should operate the same as the camping area at Babinda. The only thing is it would require regular checks by council to make sure that people don't abuse the system.The council did have a caravan park in Gordonvale and it was closed , but if the land is still owned by the council then turn it into a camping ground ( unpowered if necessary ). A small fee would cover a caretaker. This would assist the Gordonvale businesses

We are from Cairns and the general attitude that we see in our travels is that Cairns is too expensive and the tablelands is the cheaper alternative.

Personally i don't see why the show grounds are not utilized to provide an income stream for council as it would be well utilized if the price was right. Bearing in mind that the council would be targrting the people who dont want a pool, jumping castle, camp kitchen, internet cafe, TV room, games room, Bar b qs, laundry, (quite sure the local laundry mat would be impressed with a couple of dozen vaners using their services,)

and if you omit concrete slabs then the fees would not need to be that high and you would not be competing with other parks as you certainly would not be providing the same services.

Wish you success in your endevours.

Den and col

[Tolley]

Hello,

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time and made the effort to submit comments on this subject. As the meeting is on Tuesday, it is time to close the topic. I now have sufficient information to equip me for the meeting.

I have no idea as to how the meeting will progress nor the eventual results. However, consistent with both privacy and confidentiality, I will submit a brief summary later in the week.

Thank you everyone. Please accept or best wished to you for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Regards

Colin

[Tolley]

Hello,

Following up on my post where I sought comments on Cairns prior to my meeting with Cairns Mayor.

A very successful meeting was held yesterday. I am delighted to report that the Mayor, and her senior staff, are determined to make Cairns RV friendly. Discussions coverd all the major issues from signage, RV drive through parking at shopping centres and attractions, dump points, water points, information centres with ample drive through RV parking, low cost camp spots and so on.

I am naturally a sceptical sod when it comes to government, federal, state or local, and its intentions. However, yesterday I gained a very clear and strong impression that changes for the better will occur. I intend to maintain my interset in this matter.

Regards

Colin

[Ian and Sue]

Keep up the good work Colin and I really hope that the council comes through with its intentions

We came across last year and headed up to Cape York - I had from watching to much TV assumed that Cairns was a "tourist town" and since I am a remote country gal wasn't too fussed if I didn't visit. I had looked up pet friendly caravan parks and made contact as our plan had been that Ian would fly from Cairns to Perth, Geraldton and then back out to Paraburdoo to work when his long service ended leaving me to enjoy the northern winter before heading back across the top to home. We ended up not booking Cairns as the expense was phenomenal and headed for the Tablelands which was an area we were really keen to visit.

Cutting an already long story short, - Ian ended up resigning whilst on the road and our holiday was extended even further. We did daytrips from the Tablelands to Cairns mainly in the hunt for geocaches and soon started to form a different impression of the place. Other campers told us that we could stay at Gordonvale free camping and we headed there intending to stay a night or two, well - one thing lead to another and the locals were so welcoming that we stay quite a while going in and out to Cairns and seeing all it had to offer, oh and spending a fair bit of money too. We ended up falling in love with the area and came home to WA with a long term plan of selling up and moving over at a later date. If it hadn't been for your local geocachers and the wonderful town of Gordonvale I would still be thinking Cairns was nothing but a giant tourist trap. How wrong I was.

Cheers

Sue

[TnT]

Hello,

Following up on my post where I sought comments on Cairns prior to my meeting with Cairns Mayor.

A very successful meeting was held yesterday. I am delighted to report that the Mayor, and her senior staff, are determined to make Cairns RV friendly. Discussions coverd all the major issues from signage, RV drive through parking at shopping centres and attractions, dump points, water points, information centres with ample drive through RV parking, low cost camp spots and so on.

I am naturally a sceptical sod when it comes to government, federal, state or local, and its intentions. However, yesterday I gained a very clear and strong impression that changes for the better will occur. I intend to maintain my interset in this matter.

Regards

Colin

Thank you for your efforts Colin!

I hope all resolves as per your perception,as Cairns certainly needs all the help it can get!

As Trish and I will be returning to Cairns from time to time(we have relos there).It will be interesting to monitor any changes over time.

Once again well done!

Best wishes for the festive season and the new year.

Tony