Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia NT Representative Christina Boothby supports an RV park at Bundilla Beach but says it would need a dump point and potable water

Transcript

Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia NT Representative Christina Boothby supports an RV park at Bundilla Beach but says it would need a dump point and potable water · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is Christina Boothby.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Now I know that you'll recognize her last name. She
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is indeed the mum of Mary Clare Boothby, but she's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: been in this role for longer than Marray Claire has
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  Speaker 1: been a politician, and she is joining us as the
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  Speaker 1: Campavan and Motor Home Club of Australia's Northern Territory representative.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Christina.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: It's lovely to have you on the show and lovely
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  Speaker 1: to meet you in person. Now, firstly, can you tell
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  Speaker 1: us who exactly the Cabavan and Motor Home Club of
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  Speaker 1: Australia represents.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, it's a national organization. It's the largest campavan and
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  Speaker 2: Motor Home club in Australia with nearly sixty sixty eight
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  Speaker 2: thousand members and we believe in freedom of choice camping
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  Speaker 2: and we look after our members by giving them lots
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  Speaker 2: of different benefits and letting them know where the places
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  Speaker 2: are best for camping. And we also promote leave no
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  Speaker 2: trace and also self contained vehicles. Yeah, we don't want
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  Speaker 2: them just camping Willyell everywhere. Yeah, that's basically what we're about, yes.
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  Speaker 1: And it's something that I hadn't really thought a huge
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  Speaker 1: amount about before we started having the discussion around Bundella
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  Speaker 1: Beach in the RV park there and combat scarlets. The
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  Speaker 1: Mare had been saying, you know, we're talking about those
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  Speaker 1: that don't you know, that don't have they don't need
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  Speaker 1: to leave anything behind. They're fully self contained, and I
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  Speaker 1: thought I didn't even realize that there was a huge difference.
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  Speaker 1: But by the sounds of it, there most certainly is.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it's a large market now. Most of the caravans
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  Speaker 2: and RV motorhomes are now being fitted with everything that
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  Speaker 2: they need, yep. And that's why we can promote these
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  Speaker 2: self contained vehicles going into these RV parks. Is yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's a lot different than the tourist resorts that we've got.
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  Speaker 2: They don't need the swing pools, they don't need the
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  Speaker 2: jumping castles, and most of them don't even need need
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  Speaker 2: power because they've got solar systems and batteries to be
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  Speaker 2: able to run the basics that they need in their RV's.
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  Speaker 1: So Christina, tell me, with the you know, with that
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  Speaker 1: Bundilla Beach proposal, it's something that you know, some people
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  Speaker 1: were all for it. Others were totally against it. From
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  Speaker 1: your perspective, you know, in your role with the camp
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  Speaker 1: of at a motor home club and taking into consideration
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  Speaker 1: what you've just told us about how self sufficient people are, like,
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  Speaker 1: would it have been a good location or will it
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  Speaker 1: still be a good location to have an RV park?
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  Speaker 2: Definitely. I can tell you the history when I first
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  Speaker 2: started in this role promoting RV friendly in the NT
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  Speaker 2: have a Facebook page called that and it's been five years.
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  Speaker 2: And the first place that we looked at was the
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  Speaker 2: Milely Point site really, yes, where the previous Darwin hospital was. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: where Mary Claire was born and as and we put
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  Speaker 2: a proposal in there in twenty twenty and it was rejected,
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  Speaker 2: isn't given. I didn't get a proper explanation. And then
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  Speaker 2: they put the playground there. Oh that's right, discussion. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: it's a fantastic playground. It's great and there's still room
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  Speaker 2: behind there though, so a few RVs would not be
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  Speaker 2: seen from many from many places, there's a cliff on
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  Speaker 2: the other side, and that would have been ideal. Since then,
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  Speaker 2: we've gone to the Darwin Bowls Club and that's also
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  Speaker 2: been rejected over the years and now we've got Bundilla
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  Speaker 2: and I'm so pleased that our Lord Mayor is promoting
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  Speaker 2: Bundilla because it doesn't it doesn't matter to me whereabouts
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  Speaker 2: those rbs will to be parked as long as it's
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  Speaker 2: somewhere near the city, because our members do not come
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  Speaker 2: to Darwin if they don't have somewhere that that can
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  Speaker 2: be safe to park.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that some people sort of say, well,
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  Speaker 1: what about those businesses that are running you know, the
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  Speaker 1: van parks or that do actually you know, have those
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  Speaker 1: safe places where people can go and stay. So I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what do you say to people that are thinking to
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  Speaker 1: themselves so it's not fair for somebody running a business
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  Speaker 1: somewhere else, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Yes, Well, a third of our members, we've done
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  Speaker 2: a surveys, many surveys over the years. Third of them
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  Speaker 2: stay in those tropical paradises and I have too. I've
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  Speaker 2: stayed in all the ones in the top end of
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory because our local group goes camping up
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  Speaker 2: to five times a year, so we do use those
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  Speaker 2: caravan places and tropical tourist parks. They're lovely. But a
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  Speaker 2: third of our members believe in free camping or freedom
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  Speaker 2: of choice camping. It's not that they don't want to
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  Speaker 2: pay any money, but they just don't need all the facilities.
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  Speaker 2: So they're the ones we're looking at. And then of
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  Speaker 2: course the other third. Basically they'll go between the two.
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  Speaker 2: But for years and years when they were coming up
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  Speaker 2: to Darn, when they would turn left or right in Catherine,
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  Speaker 2: they wouldn't come to Darwin because they said it was
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  Speaker 2: too far, too hot, and too expensive. Really do want
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  Speaker 2: something that's a little bit cheaper to be able to
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  Speaker 2: stay it and the more they save at the accommodation site,
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  Speaker 2: the more they'll spend in town.
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  Speaker 1: Well want them in Darn, Yeah, that was going to
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  Speaker 1: be my next question. Do they you know when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about the impact to the economy, are they big spenders?
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  Speaker 1: Do they go out, you know, eating at the restaurants
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  Speaker 1: and enjoying everything that we love about Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they certainly do. The average spend they reckons eight
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  Speaker 2: hundred and eighty dollars in a week, where because they're
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  Speaker 2: going out to restaurants, they've got to get fuel, they
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  Speaker 2: have medical appointments, they've got to go get the ladies
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  Speaker 2: have their hair done, sorry, and the guys get their
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  Speaker 2: hair done and their nails, et cetera. So yes, they
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  Speaker 2: do spend money in town. And the prime example I've
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  Speaker 2: got at the moment is the one at Humpty Do.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's next door to the famous Humpty Do hotel
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  Speaker 2: and it's run there by the CMCA our organization. We
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  Speaker 2: have a custody in there that takes the bookings. It's
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  Speaker 2: only in the dry season, and they do have to
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  Speaker 2: be self contained. It is pet friendly, and the proprietor
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  Speaker 2: of the hotel puts on a happy hour every Friday evening.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going this Friday, and last year when I went,
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  Speaker 2: it was seventy people extra in his hotel having happy hour,
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  Speaker 2: and of course while they're there then they have a
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  Speaker 2: little drink and then they'll maybe stay for tea and
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  Speaker 2: while they're there that can stay up to fourteen days
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  Speaker 2: in that particular RV park, and they spend money. And
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  Speaker 2: the survey that our organization did at the end of
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  Speaker 2: last year was it would have raised three quarters of
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  Speaker 2: a million dollars for the area. So if we had
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  Speaker 2: something similar to that in the city, even if it
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  Speaker 2: was only the same time as the Mindele Beach markets
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  Speaker 2: are open, you can just imagine all those businesses across
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  Speaker 2: Mandela Beach area and also Culen Bay. Those businesses, some
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  Speaker 2: of them are actually closed down at the moment because
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  Speaker 2: there's just not enough trade down.
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  Speaker 1: So from your perspective, this would actually make a huge
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  Speaker 1: difference if we were to utilize Bundela be absolutely definitely.
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  Speaker 1: And from the road you can hardly see if there's
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  Speaker 1: an RB on the beach side, and even the people
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  Speaker 1: living in those areas they might have a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of traffic going past, but there's trucks and boats and
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  Speaker 1: things going past all the time, so it wouldn't make
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  Speaker 1: it a great deal of do you think sometimes people
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  Speaker 1: get the wrong idea about, you know, what the RV
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  Speaker 1: might look like, and they're thinking that there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be like a tent shanty town, you know, I set
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  Speaker 1: up down there at Bundula Beach, when in reality they're
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  Speaker 1: so well self contained and so and so. Yeah, like
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  Speaker 1: they're so compact.
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  Speaker 2: Most of them are r V motor homes and there
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  Speaker 2: are a few that will be caravans. I heard somebody
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  Speaker 2: last week say, oh, there'll be twenty generators going all
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  Speaker 2: day and all night. Yeap, of course, if there was
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  Speaker 2: one or two maybe had a generator if we were
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  Speaker 2: running the park and operating it and the custodian was there.
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  Speaker 2: There's rules around generators, yeah, right, allow them to go
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  Speaker 2: all day and all night.
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  Speaker 1: So it sounds like something that's happening right around Australia,
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  Speaker 1: and it's actually managed very well around Australia. But we
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  Speaker 1: maybe just haven't actually picked up the ball here in
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  Speaker 1: Darwin as quickly as we got right.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, last year we set up another RV parkt
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  Speaker 2: Bachelor on the way to Bachelor. Yeah, and it it's
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  Speaker 2: been proven to be successful too. They can stay fourteen
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  Speaker 2: days there, do all a lichfield, then they come in
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  Speaker 2: to hump you do and they can stay in other
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  Speaker 2: fourteen days go out to kakado and or the Kackadoo
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  Speaker 2: so tours, boat tours, crocodile tours, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and yes, you've certainly opened my eyes up because
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  Speaker 1: I think that a lot of people sort of have
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  Speaker 1: been thinking about this discussion or thinking about the way
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  Speaker 1: that this will work in quite a different way. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I still want to ask you though, before I let
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  Speaker 1: you go, what is the talk on the Caravan and
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  Speaker 1: Motor Home Club on the you know, like on your
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  Speaker 1: socials and where people are sharing information about the different
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  Speaker 1: places that they've visited, how are they feel fling about
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory right now in terms of that personal safety.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I can first off say that did you know
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  Speaker 2: there was eight hundred and fifty thousand r vs registered
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  Speaker 2: in Australia. And I've always said to all the government departments,
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  Speaker 2: I've spoken to the councils. If Darwin just got ten
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  Speaker 2: percent of that, we would be really really looking good
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  Speaker 2: economy wise. But at the moment, of course, the roads
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  Speaker 2: are horrific and if you're going to have ten percent
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  Speaker 2: of eight hundred and fifty thousand crossing those roads, we
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  Speaker 2: certainly need them to be better. I believe the road
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  Speaker 2: from Camerwell to the Berkeley Homestead has been torn up
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  Speaker 2: with the floods and the rain. It is being worked
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  Speaker 2: on at the moment, and now our members have been
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  Speaker 2: very very cautious going across. They go slowly. There are
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  Speaker 2: signposts available to show them. And of course some of
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  Speaker 2: our members wanted to go to Western Australia and come
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  Speaker 2: up here and go across, or come up Western Australia
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  Speaker 2: and come to Darwin, but with the Fitzroy River being
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  Speaker 2: in flood and that road was washed away not once
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  Speaker 2: but twice, maybe three times. Yep, they have delayed them.
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  Speaker 2: They're coming up to Darwin, so now it's fixed, hopefully
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  Speaker 2: they'll just get on board and go, okay, we're coming there.
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  Speaker 2: And I've heard from our members to that Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: is the no stop, like they've canceled bookings for this year.
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  Speaker 2: They will go in, fuel up, get the supplies, do
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  Speaker 2: a couple of appointments if need be, then actually park
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  Speaker 2: either side of Alice Springs because that's.
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  Speaker 1: It is so sad. It's such a beautiful place, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, you drive in there and it is it
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  Speaker 1: is almost spiritual how beautiful it looks. But then if
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  Speaker 1: you're in a situation where you're worried about crime and
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  Speaker 1: you're worried about being broken into it, it does mean
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  Speaker 1: that you that you're not staying there.
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  Speaker 2: I've personally stayed at least three of the caravan parks
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  Speaker 2: in Alice Springs and they've always been lovely and everything's
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  Speaker 2: been fined. But at the moment, yeah, even I would hesitate.
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  Speaker 2: Tenant Creeks love story and just recently, Catherine, I've heard
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  Speaker 2: that that's now getting bad with the crime, and of
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  Speaker 2: course our members do hear about it and talk about
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  Speaker 2: it on social media. So the ones that are coming
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  Speaker 2: up will basically, yeah, just stop for fuel and supplies.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, how biginn impact does
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  Speaker 1: it make it for them? Then if they are hearing
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that they're not actually staying there for
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  Speaker 1: a couple of days that they usually would. Thank It's
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  Speaker 1: a real shame. Well, Christina Boothby, it's been lovely speaking
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  Speaker 1: to you this morning. We are going to have to
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  Speaker 1: leave it there. I really appreciate you coming in and
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  Speaker 1: giving us that bit of context when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the way in which you know, the caravans and those
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  Speaker 1: motor homes actually work and the way it might work
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  Speaker 1: if we do get things going at Bundilla Beach, and
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  Speaker 1: if not there, well somewhere else.
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  Speaker 2: Yep. The only thing we really need is security. We
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  Speaker 2: need a dumb point which is for waste disposal, and
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  Speaker 2: we need pottable water because they are the two main
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  Speaker 2: things that these rbs require. And in around Australia we
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  Speaker 2: have a scheme whereby the public dump points are being
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: put in by CMCA and Kia. That's happening over the
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  Speaker 2: last few years. So if we ever put a public
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  Speaker 2: dumb point in there, they would already be paid for.
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  Speaker 2: And you know how many dump points there are in Darwin?
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  Speaker 2: How many one is that? It? Yes? And even people
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  Speaker 2: living at Virginia, if you're parked on a friend's block
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  Speaker 2: or a farm area or something, they don't have a
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  Speaker 2: dump point. They've got to come into the city. They
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  Speaker 2: go to the Hook Road dumb point and it's the
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  Speaker 2: only one. If it ever gets blocked up, then we're
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  Speaker 2: in big trouble. So I'm being talking to the lawd
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  Speaker 2: mayor and also the government departments. Anywhere there's a public toilet,
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  Speaker 2: you can have a dump point and it doesn't necessarily
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  Speaker 2: need to be managed and looked after. So if you
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  Speaker 2: go in to clean the toilets, you can hose down
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  Speaker 2: the dump point.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. Well, Christina Boothby, I really appreciate you
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: having a chat with me this morning. Thank you so
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: much for coming in and you are, of course the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territories representative for the Abavan and Motorhome Club of Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me