Caravans

I can't be alone with this one. Is there anyone (including caravannista) who understand Caravans? Ok, so I'm a motorcyclist at heart. I happily head off on a multi week trip with a daypack on my back and nothing else. Hell, I travelled 6 months around the world with a backpack which was filled with Cave Diving gear, 2 tee shirts and a pair of shorts. So there's no way I'm going to get the concept of hooking up 3 tonnes of stuff to the back of the Camry, a tinny on the top and heading off to Brunswick Heads for a month in a caravan park.

Still, the concept that they sell is that it's “luxury touring”. You can take all your own little luxuries along that make the holiday a holiday. The funny thing is that the average caravan is more expensive than you could possibly imagine. I thought of them as being like souped up box trailers with windows. Not so. They're as expensive as a house! Ok, so only the most expensive caravans are more than the cheapest house, but even so, you're looking at 50 grand for a basic one. If it lasts 20 years and then is worth nothing that's 2500/year. If you put the 50 grand in an interest bearing deposit instead that's 3000/year. So having the van is costing 5500 every year. That's enough for 2 people to fly to Fiji and stay in a resort for a month every year. Hmmm let me think, if you like luxury: Month in a resort in Fiji or a month in a tiny box in a Caravan Park in Brunswick Heads sharing a toilet and wearing thongs in the shower to stave off tinea. That's even without site fees. It's 56 dollars a night for a square of concrete to park your van on and a shower stall next to the guy who blows his nose, compared to 80 dollars a night for an ocean view bure in Fiji with all meals thrown in.

This really is Brunswick Heads Caravan park, don't you wish you were there?

So there's no luxury involved. It's far from a cheap holiday. What is it that attracts people to caravanning? I can only assume that they just like to make everyone drive the whole Pacific Highway at 60 km/h on a long weekend.

This really isn't Brunswick Heads