I TAKE IT ALL BACK, VICTORIA, NEW SOUTH WALES

When you read this please don't think I don't love Queensland. I do! And I have found amazing low cost places since. This was just one day. One bad day.

I was so looking forward to traveling Queensland! Al though I loved the Northern Rivers Area of New South Wales, I was really excited to be crossing the border. I have been to Queensland many times before to visit my sister and to holiday there at one of the lovely hotels. And Queensland people were always so warm and welcoming. Their attitudes seem to match their weather- sunny and easy going. It was always ‘no worries’, ‘ah, she’ll be right’, ‘have a good’un’. BUT I hadn’t traveled in a motorhome there before! Don’t get me wrong, the people a still lovely. However in comparison to Victoria and New South Wales, Queensland is NOT Free Camping friendly…. AT ALL!  The easy going attitude in almost every other aspect of life here STOPS suddenly at RVs. Which really shocked me. I had expected the complete opposite!  After all, look at the masses of land it has. And the tourism here.

Aaaand…. There it is! The tourism. Here in Queensland there are THOUSANDS of caravan parks and hotels. Fabulous Islands, sailing journeys, tours and speciality stays. Even if it’s a farm, a disused mine  or gandma’s cottage it’s probably got a side line business with it of some type of tourist lure. And you must PAY for them all. Queensland’s economy survives on tourism! But even so, it makes me wonder how the poorer Queenslanders themselves manage their holidays. Do they go interstate for their travels? Well actually, maybe they do! I met loads of them on the roads up here. But in that case, Queensland is missing out on their revenue. There is a saying… cutting your nose off to spite your face. Hmmmm?

So how did I, personally, find out about this lack of support for free camping? Well, after looking on my bible… Wikicamps and finding bugger all free rest stops around the outskirts of Coolangatta, or in fact ANYWHERE along the main highway, I decided to go to the fount of all knowledge. The Information Centre. As I’d stayed, in an apartment, in Coolangatta before and LOVED it, I already knew most of its streets and where the Information Centre was. Right next to the beautiful Park ( which is worth a visit on its own) with excellent, large, 2hr parking spots! So in I went and explained my confusion to the lovely, smiley lady there. The smile faded. “Ohhh. There isn’t any free camping in Queensland” she said, “not anywhere along the coast anyway. But there’s plenty of caravan parks!” “No”, I said, my smile equally fading.” I don’t want those. I don’t need those, I have a self contained motorhome. I don’t like those.” “Ooooohhhh.” She shook her head. “Can’t really help you then. You have to pay here.” My smile had completely gone “Is it like this everywhere in Queensland?” She thought for a minute “Probably not as much inland or in North Queensland. They’re a little….errr…. Laxer there.” “How about National Parks?” I was getting desperate. “Oh, yes. We have them, but they are well away from anywhere.” She wasn’t smiling either. How dare I try and NOT pay? “and you have to PAY for them.” There was a frozen silence between us for a few minutes. “Sooooo. Let me get this straight…. No stopovers on the motorways? No matter how tired you are?” “Very few” she snapped. ”The police are very strict here. You are not allowed to just stop wherever you please. There are large signs on rest stops and any beaches. No camping!!!  And you WILL be fined!……. There are a few on the motorway that allow 24 hrs.” she conceded,

grudgingly. “No low cost campsites?” I pushed. “Not along the coast- or anywhere near a town.” She spoke slowly, as I seemed to be having trouble understanding. “And National Parks cost…how much?” What the hell… I was on a mission now. She stared stoicaly at me. “I think it’s around $6 or something. You have to book ahead on the website.” I think she was trying to smile now. There was something like a grimace on her face. “I have to book ahead???? I can’t just pay when I get there, like you can in New South Wales and Victoria” She sighed deeply. “No. Here you have to go online and book…. Ahead.” “ Do you have a list of these National Parks?” ‘No” “Do you have a list of any low cost campsites?” “No.” “Do you have any idea where the nearest place is I can stay at the lowest cost” The silence was ice. She handed me a booklet. It was a National Park 80km away.  I left……. I think they closed the place after I went through the door. Even though it was only 12noon.

The rest of the day was pretty much a non stop drive along the Coast from Coolangatta to Burleigh Heads to Robina. I dawdled through Coolangatta as much as I could, drooling at the sight of the lovely Kirra Beach. At Burliegh Heads I was determined to find a car park no matter how many times I had to drive around the bays at the beach (three times actually) as I badly needed to stretch and cool down. It was a really hot day, and I was melting. I do like this place, though, and I can understand why SO MANY people go there. It has a beautifully designed beach front, with plenty of shade and seating areas as well as sands. 

And so, onto Robina, where I intended to cool down in the HUGE covered shopping precinct there. Notice… I said ‘intended’. After driving around its’ great circumference I couldn’t find any entrance which didn’t have a height restriction on of 2.3meters. Not just on the lower levels, but also on the up upper levels, which had no roofs!  Whaaat? I phoned them. I think I got Coolangatta Information Centre again. “Ohhh, yes. We hadn’t realized that. They do all have restrictions. Maybe you could park over the main road in one of the other Shopping Centres and walk here?”  No I could not. The thing I had now realized about Queensland was that EVERYTHING is three times the distance it would normally be in southern states! I just wanted to get out. 

Now here’s the thing. Robina is an enormous, intricate , bloody awful, Maze of streets, circuits and dead ends. In short... I could not find my way out of the place for ages! I went round one circuit of roads FIVE times! By the time I did away, I wept tears of joy (or anger and frustration- take your pick) and headed like a bat out of hell  far, far away from the Gold Coast!

If you want Rainbows... you gotta expect Rain.

The Grey Chihuahua