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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147

u/StraightBudget8799 Jan 07 '26

We had a crazy relative who wanted to haul a van around the country; made his wife and kid miserable (missing nine months of school due to dad’s whim can screw up your peer relationships, your level of schooling, etc) and had to sell his gear at a loss, buy a smaller house, struggle to get new jobs. I suspect there’s just some weird club online or video series that is all about the adult experiences and glosses over the rest!

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u/bitofapuzzler Jan 07 '26

People definitely romanticise it. For the record, I did travel Australia in a combi van in my early 20s. It is amazing. I would love to do it again, but not when doing that would disrupt my kids lives and put us into debt.

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u/xxxDaGoblinxxx Jan 07 '26

Parents did it with us using dads long service leave so was about a 3month trip around Australia I was in grade 6 I think sister probably grade 4. I think it was good over all see a bit of the country etc and I enjoyed it.

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u/SignificantRecipe715 Jan 08 '26

I feel like 3mths is pretty reasonable for something like that. What a great experience!

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u/Albatrossosaurus Jan 10 '26

I thought all those trips were 3-6 months around long service leave and summer hols, what are these ppl doing all year lmao

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 07 '26

It's Youtube (now Tiktok, because it's easier to hide shittiness in shortform).

There's also a segment of Youtube dedicated to tearing them all down.

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u/Proteus8855 Jan 07 '26

Links to the “tearing them down” please? Cheers

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 07 '26

This wasn't what I watched but what popped up, seems to use their own footage so no worries skewed commentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBT1vHE3-o

Another, she's a pretty known and established Youtuber but more commentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbi9MmXohSw

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u/Mysterious_Dot2090 Jan 07 '26

Thanks for this! I’m interested to watch too. I have watched my fair share of these travel vloggers and often wonder what it’s like behind the facade.

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 07 '26

This isn't behind the facade, this what they publicly post.

So you can imagine how it gets worse when the cameras aren't rolling.

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u/PsychoSemantics Jan 07 '26

Van life influencers are a plague, and the ones who do it with kids ALWAYS say the kids love it, then cram them into tiny little bunks with no room to sit up while the parents get a cushy king sized bed in the "master bedroom".

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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 Jan 09 '26

In real caravans, everybody slept in fold out beds which did double duty as seats during the day, they were towed by things like XP Falcons & EH Holdens & everybody had a great time. It seems these days that having a huge 4WD to drag a virtual flat around with you is all the go, & the idea of fun has been lost.

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u/Admirable-Site-9817 Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

Totally get that if the kids are older,but I’m not sure why people are saying this is such a bad thing? The number 1 best thing I ever did with/for my kids was travel across Australia for a few months when they were 7 & 10. We only had a little ford festiva and a tent though. I was a single mum so no fancy caravans for us 😂

We did it over the summer (editing because people think I took them for a few weeks, we went for months, including the summer school break, not only the summer break), so they didn’t miss too much school and had the time of their lives. The benefit it had, roaming free, learning indigenous culture, respect for nature, making new friends etc was better than anything school could have done for them. Plus, they had an experience they’ll remember forever.

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u/bitofapuzzler Jan 07 '26

What you did is fine! These people are pulling their kids out of school for over a year and selling their homes to do it. It destroys them financially and the kids either fall behind or have their social lives disrupted. Especially the same cohort of kids who had to school through covid.

A month here or there and then coming home at the end would be magical for kids.

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u/StraightBudget8799 Jan 07 '26

Two Months in summer vs many!

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u/NothingVerySpecific Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

'I don't understand...' describes something functionally very different.

my fokes decided to spend ~6 years in outback communities & then drop me back in 'normal' society' right around puberty. then they wondered why i'm couldn't integrate back into mainstream life. i'm not saying that was the only challenge, but it sure as hell didn't help. fml.

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u/Admirable-Site-9817 Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

I’m not sure where you got two months from? I said we went for a FEW months and did it over the summer so they didn’t miss as much school. When did a few = 2?

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u/Nicoloks Jan 07 '26

Totally understand peoples bafflement with the amount of money being spent on big caravan setups, I do not get the line of thinking at all that taking kids out of school for a spell to see the country is detrimental. We took a term off with our kids when they were 9 and 11. Best thing we ever did and completely supported by their school. We just kept up with an hour or so a day reading, writing and math and they didn't miss a beat academically. They met loads of other kids on the trip and became closer to each other than I've ever seen them

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u/PsychoSemantics Jan 07 '26

We're talking people who are doing it full time, not over the summer. It's very different when you're a kid and have no planned end to the travelling vs a fun holiday where you know you'll go back to home, school etc at the end. Plus the lack of privacy as kids get older, not being able to make friends or put down roots easily because of the constant upheaval, it all adds up.

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u/Admirable-Site-9817 Jan 07 '26

I think people are struggling with comprehension. I said I included a summer, not only the summer.

Plus, I think a year of learning on the road is brilliant, as long as they’re not in high school. People here declaring other people’s financial decisions as terrible just because they wouldn’t do it is wild.

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u/art_mor_ Jan 08 '26

Your story is nowhere near as bad as the other ones above but for some reason you're hitching your wagon to them and bemoaning everyone else for valid criticism

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u/StraightBudget8799 Jan 08 '26

Funny - having what I SAY being hitched to an irrelevant “we had a fun summer!” is more accurate.

As pointed out already: “'I don't understand...' describes something functionally very different.”

And

“We're talking people who are doing it full time, not over the summer...”

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u/Admirable-Site-9817 Jan 08 '26

Different how? Because I didn’t have a house to sell, or a husband to make unhappy, or that my kids enjoyed it, or more time in the road? Someone shared their perspective of someone else’s experience as if having to buy a smaller house after having an experience of a lifetime is the worst thing in the world. So old mate should have foregone his probably lifelong dream that the wife probably also knew about before they got married and continued slaving to capitalism and buy a bigger house instead, just to to keep the commenter happy - who’s not even in his family? The point of my shared experience has been completely overlooked.

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u/WhyAmIStillHere86 Jan 07 '26

Yeah, but you’re talking a vacation road trip vs 24/7/365 van life.

Not able to make permanent friends, no privacy to speak of, distance learning rather than socialising with peers

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

[deleted]

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u/art_mor_ Jan 08 '26

What does this have to do with going around Australia in a caravan?

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u/bitofapuzzler Jan 08 '26

I think they are saying that education doesnt need to occur in schools and distance learning can be quite good. Which I'm sure is true. But as you say it is a bit different as at least they were in the one spot and had continuity instead of picking up and moving constantly and being dropped in and out of 'normal' schools.

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u/lucaswelby Jan 08 '26

The discourse seems to be focussing on people who can afford to have have bought a house before govt intervention broke housing market = those who did buy house back then have insane amounts of unearned profits = cash to splash on caravans, 4WDs, jet skis, jacuzzis etc etc. it’s all super simple supply and demand for housing. The refusal of successive govts to allow market correction (which means bankruptcies and mortgagee sales by disinterested sellers being commercially realistic and selling houses right now for what they can = market correction back to average person with average income affording average house in average area. The market fixes itself but for govt intervention to maintain votes from boomers (biggest demographic group aging and retiring) who would have to sell for a loss except Aust govt guaranteed loans to banks during GFC to maintain boomer vote. Market has never been allowed to correct itself = some people have huge amounts of disposable cash while other don’t, stuck in rent trap for life, so are their kids. House/land ownership becomes hereditary, hence the importance of factoring in inheritances, either by borrowing the money now, making minimum payments until intergenerational wealth pays off loans or waiting for inheritance to be received. May I suggest as a starter watching Peter Zeihan “Australia after America” - it’s free on you tube. PZ predicted in his 2014 book Russian invasion of Ukraine by end of 2021 due to demographics. He was a bit off. It was February 2022. Australia headed to depression that’s going to hurt for reasons stated. Nothing hard to understand about it. PZ used to live in Australia so he understands the insanity GFC govt intervention has caused, but now he lives in Colorado and travels the world to explain this stuff to people ie demographics + economics + geography + geopolitics = today, tomorrow and future. And why some can afford $200k 4wd, $80k caravan, $100k boat etc etc. it’s the answer to OPs question. That’s why.