Wednesday, Jan 10, 2024 at 09:31
The responses posted to date in the thread cover all that I was going to post. You have received excellent advice. In particular the need to extend your 3 month timeframe, have RAC recovery cover, to carry a PLB & remote comms & to be flexible with your intinerary.
Note that nowhere is remote until something goes wrong, but you should have that
well covered with the PLB & Starlink. Just make sure that you have a list of appropriate 'emergency contact numbers' before you head off.
The only thing I would choose to do differently to what some have suggested is the booking ahead malarky.
The more flexible you can be with your intinerary the less need to book everything ahead.
I certainly wouldn't book anything before leaving
home, & would only book a max of a week or two in advance for the 'absolute must see'
places. (
Mornington Wilderness Camp, if open, off the
Gibb River Road, is a must & does need to be booked - but even that we were able to book just 3 weeks before arriving).
Our experience is that even without booking it is generally possible to get into most
places if prepared to
free camp a bit whilst waiting for a vacancy, or, dare I say it, to take advantage of the 'ghost bookings' in many NP's.
The online/all fully booked booking system is a joke, with many sites fully booked for months but frequently not used. In addition most NP's have a few '
unofficial' overflow spaces.
I'm not advocating blocking booked sites from those who have booked, but I do advocate utilising booked sites with a willingness to move if need be, generally to one of the
unofficial spaces, if someone who has booked turns up & is unwilling or unable to share the space. Eg. We stayed in a NP (not on your route) for 10 nights at 4 or 5 different sites in the park. Online booking said *every* site in the park was fully booked for several months ahead. We found that more than 90% of the sites were not utilised (& we checked multiple sites). Of the 10 nights only on one night did someone who had booked turned up, but it was a large site suitable for multiple vehicles, & they were happy for us to remain, but had they not have been we would simply have moved to another unused site nearby. At one site we stayed for several days. On the morning we were packing to leave a
ranger turned up. He was not interested in whether we had booked or not, but in conversation it was he we learned the term 'ghost bookings' from. Folk who happily book a week+ with maybe the possibility of being there for one of the nights, if there plans haven't changed beforehand.
Certainly camping like this can add a degree of uncertainty, but in my view it is preferable to having to tie our intinerary down months ahead of travel time. Some will be critical of the position I advocate I'm sure, but I'm a bit of a rebel with regard to what I perceive as a bean counter driven, long term traveller-unfriendly booking system in NP's. I have no problem with paying my way, my problem is with the requirement to book in advance making free & easy travel into something too rigid which significantly detracts from a major reason that we travel. As it is, with no way to pay when utilising a site that is 'ghost booked' but not utilised we have been thankful to the unknown travellers who have unknowingly paid
our camp fees for us on multiple occasions.
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Follow Up By: Peter_n_Margaret - Wednesday, Jan 10, 2024 at 10:42
Wednesday, Jan 10, 2024 at 10:42
Last week, we joined the grand children (and their parents) in a caravan park in on the River Murray for 3 nights.
It cost $45 per night for a powered site and we can not use the power. Nor did we use their showers or
toilets, preferring to use our own facilities.
I reckon that was the first time in a decade that we have booked a commercial site. It was also the most money we have spent on accommodation in that time.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
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