Mount Gambier.
NUMBERS are slightly up at the Mount Gambier Central Caravan Park throughout the holiday season, although owner Joy Bowd can only “fit so many”.
“We would love to have more people stay but we only have a limited amount of camp sites,” Joy said.
“We have had a huge amount of phone calls and requests it nearly went crazy.
“I have lost a lot of sites as caravans and cars continue to get bigger and take up more room.”
Joy said each year varies, but her camping numbers were up “ever so slightly”.
“We have a few regulars and a few international but our visitors are mainly from Melbourne,” she said.
“We are not destination like the Great Ocean Road or Beachport so we have people stay a night in-between their travels.”
Park representative Karen Bowd said the festive period was not much different from other peak times on the region’s event calendar.
“We do great around the show weekend and when there are sprintcars on,” Karen said.
“Those sort of things bring a lot of the regulars back every year.
“Rarely people stay for longer than a week other than the regulars.”
Both women made a push for more activities and attractions in Mount Gambier to target the teenage demographic.
“It would be great if the recreation centre did happen in Mount Gambier as it would give the age group something to do,” Karen said.
“Although I think people will not be able to afford to use it if the prices are expensive.”
Portland visitors Margaret and Peter McGregor – who have been “all over” South Australia due to family connections – were full of praise for the South East.
“We travel through all the time and we really like Mount Gambier,” Mr McGregor said.
“It is sort of a local area in a way as Portland is not too far away anyway.
“We were originally going to go straight home from our trip in Strathalbyn but we decided to stay for two nights.”
Mr McGregor said the couple tend to extend their stay quite often.
“We have done all the sightseeing over the last 70 years so we just enjoy the shopping and relaxing,” he said.
“There is always something new that comes up that we go and see and we have friends over here that we catch up with when we are down.
“The South East is a very well promoted area.”
