We bought some bush on a hill with a view to build a house on it (build thread)

[DannyG]

Tassie has a few privately owned camping destinations besides the usual caravan parks such as http://www.riversedgecamping.com.au which is a really nice camp ground that has been built up and developed over the years but we dont seem to have a 4wd park like the big island has.

So I am wondering what makes a good camp ground or camping experience and especially what would be a good recreation layout for 4wds.

For us camping needs the following.....

A nice grassy flat area to set up.
A fire pit.
Wood supply.
Water in the way of a river/creek/stream or beach. Ideally able to swim in a safe environment and perhaps use a kayak.
Cheap or free!
Quiet and preferably a private feel.
Toilets and showers perhaps?

In regards to a 4wd park or more so a 4wd play ground I was thinking maybe a decent snotty hill, some obstacles to negotiate and perhaps a mud pit. And then there may be room to put some single tracks in for mountain bikes. I would consider an area for motorbikes but the property is probably not large enough to get them out of the way to remove the sound so that would ruin the camping experience.

Clearly this thread is going somewhere but at this stage it is just some research. We may have the opportunity to purchase a large property which is mainly bush and some cleared land that I think could be turned into something special utilising the streams that run through it. I think you could easily set up around 20-40 camping sites in amongst the bush so each site would have a feel of privacy with the potential to carve out quite a few more if it was necessary.

The camping sites would be typically in quite thick bush with around 20-50 mtrs between each site. Obviously they would be cleared so there is enough room to set up and also a path would be cleared to the rivers edge so each site had its own private access.
So sites could accomodate a group and some would be for one camper only. Would you leave it as a natural bush setting or would you clear large areas and develop a camping ground thats open like a caravan park??

Give me your thoughts and ideas on what could make this work or not work.

[BaseCamp]

Ok,  what you have described is exactly what I was thinking of. ..

Suggest you camp some time at West Kunderang (2 hrs out of Armidale) - as it hits all of your list "and then even much better".....   (Only item they dont have is the  showers)....

One thing of high importance to some is the "Robinson Caruso" feel...  where you feel totally remoted from the children screaming; dogs yapping; generators rumbling; and the duf, dufs... emanating from inconsiderate campers otherwise nearby. ...

West Kunderang does this well....    Where the camps are about 0.5 - 1km apart.....  it is a very private and serine experience...

Another one is "Base Camp" -- (no relation); on the Sunshine Coast QLD ..

You need to do research on www.youcamp.com (now part of the Super Retail Group) - as this is where your "competition" resides; and maybe a great way for you to promote your potential business. ..

Cheers
BaseCamp

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[plusnq]

Ok,  what you have described is exactly what I was thinking of. ..

Suggest you camp some time at West Kunderang (2 hrs out of Armidale) - as it hits all of your list "and then even much better".....   (Only item they dont have is the  showers)....

One thing of high importance to some is the "Robinson Caruso" feel...  where you feel totally remoted from the children screaming; dogs yapping; generators rumbling; and the duf, dufs... emanating from inconsiderate campers otherwise nearby. ...

West Kunderang does this well....    Where the camps are about 0.5 - 1km apart.....  it is a very private and serine experience...

Another one is "Base Camp" -- (no relation); on the Sunshine Coast QLD ..

You need to do research on www.youcamp.com (now part of the Super Retail Group) - as this is where your "competition" resides; and maybe a great way for you to promote your potential business. ..

Cheers
BaseCamp

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You forget cats meowing 

[Bird]

No generators.

Good luck with it.. few dudes on Outers looked into it in Victoria few years back, went nowhere as theres plenty of free wheeling and camping around the same area...

Id start with insurance, that will tell you if you should even bother with the dream.

[DannyG]

No generators.

Good luck with it.. few dudes on Outers looked into it in Victoria few years back, went nowhere as theres plenty of free wheeling and camping around the same area...

Id start with insurance, that will tell you if you should even bother with the dream.

Yeh there is a lot of free camping around our area as well if you know where to look. Public liability and what ever other insurances are required may be the deciding factor as is council approval of such a thing.

Its not so much a dream its more just an idea to utilise the property rather than having it just sitting there as an investment. Its not somewhere we can build on and live for at least another 6-10 years I think but its certainly a place we would love to live one day, its just not convenient at the moment.

We were mainly thinking of just setting it up for free camping to begin with. You know, offer it to swaggers who are in Tassie for instance and use it for our own family and friends but somewhere down the track there is potential to continually tidy it up and offer it as a nice place to camp cheaply. There are no grand thoughts of making a living out of it. Well it would be nice but realistically it is the sort of thing that would take a decade or two to build up and develop into something that could be called an income so if we were to push on with it, it would be something more for the kids to inherit if thats the way we went with it, which is unlikely.

[cruiser 91]

Be careful Danny, word spreads like wild fire on the internet. Policing a property against a small % of no gooders can lead to more headaches than one would care for.

No one ever intends to sue for damages on a private property until they actually find themselves financially hurt due to their own stupidity.

Many privately owned camping properties need the camper to sign a bit of paperwork of agreement drawn up by a legitimate lawyer prior to being allowed to stay.

Careful, careful, careful!!!!!!!!!   
   

[BaseCamp]

Check iut the "sign your life away"     disclaimer Gordon Country gets you to sign. ...

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[MrCruza]

Also, running a 4wd destination can be a full time occupation. Cityview 4wd park near Brisbane has just shut down because the owner was sick of not having any weekends to himself as he couldn't find anyone he could trust to run it for him. Also couldn't find a buyer prepared to commit the time required.
Its now reverting to a cattle property. Pity as it was a ripper 4wd destination.. 

Further, if you want to have a 4wd park you need to have some decent tracks. Recently spent some time at a park just over the border in northern NSW that has heaps of tracks advertised. Spent the entire weekend in 4H. Yes they have a playground for the hard core but the tracks themselves could only be rated as easy so not much fun for the rest of us.

[weeds]

Be careful Danny, word spreads like wild fire on the internet. Policing a property against a small % of no gooders can lead to more headaches than one would care for.

No one ever intends to sue for damages on a private property until they actually find themselves financially hurt due to their own stupidity.

Many privately owned camping properties need the camper to sign a bit of paperwork of agreement drawn up by a legitimate lawyer prior to being allowed to stay.

Careful, careful, careful!!!!!!!!!   

Good point, everybody says she will be alright mate......until the expenses get out of control.

I have access to a property at Boonah....I have run two 4WD events for a forum. My mate approached his insurer and the advice he got was

- do not charge anything for the access, this is where the biggest problems start
- a waiver doesn't always exempt the owner
- I was lucky enough that a few attending were part of a 4WD Club, the club was happy enough to sponsor the event and have all attendees sign in as a visitor/temporary member for the day (the clubs insurance company advised them this sits under the policy)

My mate of 20 years still gets nervous when I camp out there hoping nothing goes wrong......

I still thinking about seeing if there would be interest in a myswag trip to the property.

- 200m water front access to lake maroon
- 2 x dams
- spring fed creek
- tracks.......not overly difficult, a bit overgrown as we don't drive them very regularly.
- 1500 acres

[Bird]

I still thinking about seeing if there would be interest in a myswag trip to the property.

The administration, ownership, etc of the whole thing would add a nightmare for the forum owners...

And with members coming and going daily, arguments of whose what is whose would suck.

[weeds]

The administration, ownership, etc of the whole thing would add a nightmare for the forum owners...

And with members coming and going daily, arguments of whose what is whose would suck.

Yes and no........there probably wouldn't be to many members out there that would approach their club for cover, I got lucky on the two events (each event had approx. 50 cars) and forums are just that..... a forum

If I ran it it would be old school approach and wouldn't impose on the forum, petty much like any other trip that is organized on myswag

Apart from the two big events, I also arranged over the last 10 years access for a bush survival course, Easter camps and waterskiing for groups where i didn't personally know everybody.

[Bill]

First off YouCamp are no part of Super Retail Group.
They are individual farmers and land owners.
Have a look at Woodleigh Station.
They have a really nice setup with campsites all over the property along the river and showers and toilets up by the homestead.
There are a couple bigger sites for groups as well as some smaller sites for only 1 or 2 campers.
Bill
No 4wd tracks though.
Emu creek is another nice place you might want to have a look at.
Bill

[Coiled]

First off YouCamp are no part of Super Retail Group.
They are individual farmers and land owners.
Have a look at Woodleigh Station.
They have a really nice setup with campsites all over the property along the river and showers and toilets up by the homestead.
There are a couple bigger sites for groups as well as some smaller sites for only 1 or 2 campers.
Bill
No 4wd tracks though.
Emu creek is another nice place you might want to have a look at.
Bill

http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/super-retail-group-adds-fixed-price-car-service-and-youcamp-to-its-stable/news-story/9cde6708dccadc998edc6df28916f7d3

[Coiled]

Ok,  what you have described is exactly what I was thinking of. ..

Suggest you camp some time at West Kunderang (2 hrs out of Armidale) - as it hits all of your list "and then even much better".....   (Only item they dont have is the  showers)....

One thing of high importance to some is the "Robinson Caruso" feel...  where you feel totally remoted from the children screaming; dogs yapping; generators rumbling; and the duf, dufs... emanating from inconsiderate campers otherwise nearby. ...

West Kunderang does this well....    Where the camps are about 0.5 - 1km apart.....  it is a very private and serine experience...

Another one is "Base Camp" -- (no relation); on the Sunshine Coast QLD ..

You need to do research on www.youcamp.com (now part of the Super Retail Group) - as this is where your "competition" resides; and maybe a great way for you to promote your potential business. ..

Cheers
BaseCamp

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Thanks for the tips! 

[smartyingreen]

Loveday 4x4 Adventure Park here in SA is a setup that has gone from something similar to what you sound like you want to achieve into a place that also holds regular events that I guess are designed to help the income as it is now a full-time business.
The campgrounds along the river are now well worn but still offers great access to the Murray, has 4wd tracks to cater for all levels as well as offering sand, river flat mud, rocky hill climbs and even competition tracks to play on.
Not suggesting every private 4wd park should have all of this, as it would be a hell of a lot of work, money and time, but it sure is nice to have one close by.

http://www.loveday4x4adventures.com


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[Bill]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/super-retail-group-adds-fixed-price-car-service-and-youcamp-to-its-stable/news-story/9cde6708dccadc998edc6df28916f7d3

I stand corrected.
My apologies.
Bill

[DannyG]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Theres a lot to consider really. We think initially we will build a large garage on the property with water tank, septic system so it has a loo and some solar. That way we have an area to have gatherings with family and friends at least.
And over the next year or two we will slowly clear areas that are perfect for camping an extend our invitations to swaggers who are in Tassie and that sort of thing, no charge of course We might put a combination lock on the gate so friends can get in easily.
I think we will give the 4wd thing a miss and just concentrate on the potential to use as a camping area. Besides the river/creek on the property it has beautiful beach on one side and 1000's of hectares of state forest on the other side so there is no shortage of things to do within a 5-10 minute drive of the place

Security is the only thing that concerns me slightly. It is quite a while away from where we live and I am worried about thieves breaking into our garage. I mean, it shouldn't happen in this area but its secluded enough to make it easy if someone was that way inclined.
We will probably be there every weekend for a while at least until the novelty wore off but its the times where we are away for a long time that I need to find a solution to protect the place.

[Fizzie]

Hey Danny.

Have a look at http://www.cullendore.com/, because they've apparently done something similar to what you're talking about (& I'm sure there's lots more!).

May be able to pass on some hints, tips & pitfalls? 

Good luck with the idea - it's a bit far away or I'd come check it out!

Graeme

[BaseCamp]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Theres a lot to consider really.

Security is the only thing that concerns me slightly. It is quite a while away from where we live and I am worried about thieves breaking into our garage. I mean, it shouldn't happen in this area but its secluded enough to make it easy if someone was that way inclined.
We will probably be there every weekend for a while at least until the novelty wore off but its the times where we are away for a long time that I need to find a solution to protect the place.

This was the problem for Cindy (owner) at West Kunderang...   Until they had someone in residence watching the property (6,000 hectors); there were always break ins and bogans etc; messing the place up; camping illegally on their private property; leaving litter everywhere, etc...   Even cattle duffing at one stage...

Talking about security - if it was my property; I would want to be putting in an alarm system with back to base monitoring... (via 3G and Yagi antenna); automatically activated IR cameras and LED flood lights; alarm tripped audio chips warning of "imminent armed response" - like Apocalypse Now ...   IR trail cameras to document their retreat...  etc  etc

But all of this is not so much for the security of it - heck; for me it would be more about being a thoroughly immersing hobby - "just for the sheer joy of it"     

[fishfinder]

you're rich

[DannyG]

you're rich

I wish...about to be brokerer

[Marcus73]

Would homeless people be able to live there?
Please......

Sent from your iPad using Mental telepathy

[DannyG]

Would homeless people be able to live there?
Please......

Sent from your iPad using Mental telepathy

Sold already has it?

But no, I doubt there's room for you

[fishfinder]

Sold already has it?

But no, I doubt there's room for you

and his rubber blow up girlfriend

[DannyG]

Dragging up an old thread but an update is in order!

We did buy some land but no where near enough to fulfil this idea. Had we bought land where we were initially thinking the value of it would have allowed us to get something big enough to turn into a 4wd'ing/camping type park but we ended up buying near Launceston so it wasnt cost effective. So instead of having some land just to 'play' on, we bought for the future and at a location that we want to live when the youngest finishes highschool in a couple of years.

But having said that, we have a nice little 4 acre patch 10 minutes from Launceston with no real close neighbours and a really nice rural and river view. You can see the city lights at night in the distance and your surrounded by a nice patch of bush.

We are about to have some extensive excavation work done to clear the under growth around the tree's and cut some nice flat pads into it so when all thats done, any visiting Myswaggers are welcome to use it as a base if they wish while down here. Just send me a PM and we can discuss timing etc.

No decent pics yet but heres one to give you an idea.