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Camping Gippsland


penny

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We have been told that we can have time off over Christmas and New year. We would like to go camping in the Gippsland area. Is it possible to do this with out making bookings. It is so late (9 days to Christmas). In South Africa we did trips to the Cape often without booking ahead and always found a place for the night.

Penny

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As Gippsland is a favourite destination for holiday makers over this period, I would be hesitant to just go on the off chance of finding a place to stay. Why not check and see if you can get a place, who knows, perhaps because of the tight money situation, they may still have places open.

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If you're sharp and orpanised, you'll book ahead.

If you are totally disorganised . . . . like me . . . . and don't even know where you're going to finish up at the end of the day . . . like me . . . then just trek off whenever you feel like it.

Gippsland is probably my favourite part of Victoria.

Situated to the east of Melbourne, and named after Sir George Gipps, one of the early governors of New South Wales which was administering Victoria at the time before it broke away to be a separate colony, is lush and green, hilly with great beaches all along its coastline.

Lakes Entrance is a pretty spot but highly visited by folk from Melbourne. It has a narrow inlet along the Ninety Mile Beach, allowing boats and yachts to harbour and navigate the inland lake just behind the spit of land along the coastline. Alright for a visit, but I don't know if you'd get a spot to stay overnight without booking.

I've been to Mallacoota at the far end of Victoria. There were two caravan parks situated there in 2000, one of which we were lucky to get a spot to stay in for a week. The kids loved the beach which was a walk away from the park.

Personally, if I were staying at Mallacoota, I'd venture over to the bottom of New South Wales to Eden, a town on the bottom of Australia's Pacific Ocean coastline. Being a town, instead of just a beach resort like Mallacoota, it's a spot to grab some fish & chips and laze away on the beach all afternoon. You could even do some shopping for groceries there for the next few days.

Also, don't think that Victoria's national parks aren't worth visiting for a few days. There are some great national parks in the Gippsland region of Victoria that Parks Victoria can book you into. Check them out. Good for walking, seeing wildlife, lazing away on the cheap ($10 a night) and meeting other Australians in the park.

If you grab a tent, then you can stick it up wherever you can get a site for the night or week. Don't forget to take some decent air mattresses that let you get a good night's sleep without waking up on the hour with a sore hip! Not much fun being grumpy next day owing to a lousy night's sleep!

We took an old Jayco caravan and just pulled up for the night on the side of the road on the way to Mallacoota. You can always keep your eyes open for a spot to pull into for the night, away from the traffic where no-one else will see you, and just set up camp for the night and get some shut eye.

If you intend to see a bit of Australia in your time, it may pay you to get an old caravan or good tent, get some cooking gear (I recommend Primus) and good sleeping mats.

Too bad you don't live nearer to Adelaide. I've got all the gear, so if you're coming to look at South Australia in future, send me a PM.

You will be safe in Gippsland. Don't be afraid to camp just off the road, in some quiet spot if you can't find a place in a caravan park for the night.

. . . . . just go for it!

Enjoy.

Edited by Bob
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You might just have to take a chance. I'd ring as many places as you can and see if they've got a gap. You might just get lucky.

I'd ring as many places as you can and hope that you get lucky. We booked quite late last year (not as late as 9 days, but late) and still managed to get a spot. Okay, it wasn't the best camping spot as all the good ones had been taken by that time, but we still had a good time.

I can give you the name & address of a real dump - it's sure to be empty. :lol: We booked a place over Easter in Lakes Entrance and arrived to find it looked nothing like the photos. We got out the car, had a look around and got back in the car and drove out. Luckily another place (which we've been to a few times) gave us a spot that they had on standby.

Good luck.

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Gippsland is an excellent choice for camping in the summer but it gets quite crowded around the coastal cities and towns. My suggestion to you would be to book a camping spot in the smaller, in-land towns that is within half-an-hour or so driving distance from the sea or coastal towns. If you have kids, you may want to be close to the beach and near a larger town. Good luck

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Thanks to all who replied. So far all negative responses!!

We might just take our tent and go. As Bob says at least we will be SAFE if we decide to park off on the side of the road. We did this in the OLD DAYS in SA.

Penny

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Thanks to all who replied. So far all negative responses!!

We might just take our tent and go. As Bob says at least we will be SAFE if we decide to park off on the side of the road. We did this in the OLD DAYS in SA.

Penny

Penny if you are into camping and you'd like to go explore the east Gippsland area, then I recommend you get yourself Rooftop's Gippsland Lakes - Ninty Mile Beach Adventure Map. I bought one at Lakes Entrance. It is a map of the Gippsland lakes area showing the the reserves, camping areas and trails. It also marks spots where you can camp for free!!! :lol: Unfortunately with many of the free bush camping sites (smaller campsites, some unofficial) there is often no toilets. So you'll just have to rough it out.

There majority of free bush camp sites are between Golern Beach and Seaspray. It is a bit far from town though but if you like camping on your own, it is great.

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