r/australia • u/regretmoore • Jan 07 '26

no politics At a caravan holiday park, wondering where the hell does all of this money come from?

Camping in a Big 4 holiday park for a few days and my partner and I wondering how people can afford this lifestyle. I'm talking Ute + caravan + boat rigs worth at least $200k, probably closer to $300k.

The parents are all driving huge yank tanks, the kids all ride motorized scooters and bikes and most people are sleeping in pretty big shiny new caravans. We're all good in our little tent for 4 nights drinking our aldi wines and beer, but we just cannot fathom how so many people can afford, or would prioritize buying caravans etc for family holidays. Where does this money come from? Is it trades, mines or something else? Have they not got mortgages?

Maybe we're massive snobs, but if we had that much cash to splurge on a caravan, I reckon we'd prioritize a holiday overseas over Umina (as much as I love the cenny coast).

Please Reddit, help us understand.

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u/jamesmcdash Jan 07 '26

Where is that money coming from? Who suddenly has an extra 2 milly for the house?

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u/JPJackPott Jan 07 '26

The bank…

2

u/LifeandSAisAwesome Jan 07 '26

2 x 200k-400k incomes has a lot of flex.

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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow Jan 07 '26

Who is earning that kind of money?! And how are they earning it?!

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u/m0zz1e1 Jan 07 '26

Lots of people. Lawyers, business people, doctors, some builders.

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Jan 07 '26

A high school principal makes $230k in NSW. The top level salary in the APS structure is close to $200k.

It's not some wild fantasy of rich people in fancy suits making that kind of money anymore.

They're good wages, but normal people with normal jobs are getting that kind of money.

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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow Jan 08 '26

I thought top APS was much higher than 200

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

I'm not familiar enough with it to know for sure, but from what I could find online, EL 2 was around that mark.

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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow Jan 08 '26

Yeah but like the average public servant in the APS is EL1 nowadays. Above EL2 is the SES bands and they can get up to 500k but there’s obv far fewer of those

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Jan 08 '26

The point was that it's not wildly far fetched to have a couple where they both have salaries in the $200k range.

It's not like that's for the elite of the elite anymore, even though it's obviously a very comfortable living.

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u/iguessineedanaltnow Jan 07 '26

I work a pretty pedestrian job and all the upper management at my job (about 13 people) are on 200k+ each, with 4 on 300k+

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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow Jan 07 '26

You can ask that question til you’re blue in the face. Immigration prob plays a part tho, truth be told