Camping fees at Mataranka Homestead.
Submitted: Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 14:34
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Member - Marilyn P (NSW)
What a shock! Drifted into
Mataranka Homestead latish on Friday afternoon. Had a shocker of a day with a flat on the dirt between Hodgson River & Hodson Downs - car fell off the jack with the wheel off. Yes, I know - my carelessness. So 2 hours later, on the road again - the reason why I'm late in
Mataranka. NO DOGS signs everywhere - but dirty, dusty, tired I wandered into reception & pleaded my case. "Yes, we do have 'dog' camping , in the day dog area car park outside the resort. Unpowered tent site, of course, $20 per person." I was stunned, 500m to the closest toilet/shower facilities, in a gravelly car park for $20. I'm pleased they didn't charge for my dog. I accepted, paid the $20 - it was too late to go elsewhere or argue. But I'll remember for next time..... Mind you, I do like
Mataranka, the atmosphere, the bar, great barra meals, the hot springs, the whole atmosphere, just thought the $20 was steep.
Reply By: DIO - Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:03
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:03
Travelling anywhere with a dog into/onto another person's property without prior arrangement or permission can result in problems - for the dog's owner. Guess that's why many dog owners and lovers choose not to travel to such areas with their pets/companions etc. As for the $20.oo fee, what choice(s) did you have? (1) Pay up and shut up (2) Refuse to pay and move on to elsewhere. Life is all about learning. We all have decisions to make. Some turn out OK, others not so. But hey, that's life - isn't it! Most important lesson - learn from your mistakes.
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Follow Up By: Top End Explorer Tours - Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:11
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:11
Another
Drug Induced Opinion.
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Reply By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:41
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 at 19:41
Next time, try
Bitter Springs. Just a couple of kms away. Especially good if you have some swimming goggles to see what is under the water when swimming. Much more interesting than the concrete pond at
Mataranka There is a caravan park close to
Bitter Springs. It is a little more basic than
Mataranka, but OK. Not sure about their dog policy however.
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Reply By: Dunco (NSW) - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 09:58
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 09:58
$20 is cheap compared to a lot of
places. I went to one place in W.A. that wanted $30 for a spot on an overflow site...in a park....no power or showers. It was at
Exmouth.
And the pond at
Mataranka is not concrete....just concrete paths etc. ???
I had a good talk to the people there and they are always getting flooded out, hence the state of the place as who would want to spend a whole heap of money on a place only to have it washed away. I liked the place and will return (work available there as
well) and I only paid $24 for a powered site.
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Follow Up By: Member - Brummiepete - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 22:37
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 22:37
Hi dunco ,the people that own
mataranka [steve and debbie ] are extremly good people ,i work for steve down here in
perth .
I know the first year he got the place is was totally flooded out and the
homestead was up to the roof line with water ,there was floating refrigerators etc ,they basically lost everything luckily i think insurance covered them for some but its only a one time thing and if they get flooded again [likely] then they must pay .
I know steve and deb do huge amounts of hours just to keep the place going and its a testament to australian tenacity ,so would i have paid 20 dollars a head ? yes because i know what they have put into it to try and realise a dream and good on em .
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Reply By: Mike - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 14:26
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 14:26
$20.00 per person is a bit rich!...............we got slugged $30.00 for the night in the overflow park no power (which is shire land) by the caravan Park at
Coral Bay WA and had to be out of by 8am...I considered that a bit steep
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Reply By: Member - Marco T (VIC) - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 15:02
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 15:02
I just got charged $26 in
Longreach - no power - one person.
I did get some green grass though.
Not much choice though, the other park (If you can call it that) was just a backyard and required 3 cars to be moved and you could get feeler gauges between the tents. I gave that one a miss.
Marco
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Reply By: Scubaroo - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 17:23
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 17:23
$20 per person? Yikes! I'm positive that my wife and I were charged $15 ea for a powered site in late April. Maybe that's still the off season though.
Wonderful springs - very tranquil at night if you sneak down around 9-10pm with a small gas lantern for mood lighting :)
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