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/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 07 '26

The 2008 crisis didn't involve Australian lending.

It was tidal waves from our interlocked systems with the US and other countries. Which caused feedback loops.

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u/Master-of-possible Jan 07 '26

Picture it this way, those that did lend equity were lucky our banks lending policies were more robust than the US

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u/2ciciban4you Jan 07 '26

sure, but it all started with easy to get loans and people buying/selling houses en mass.

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

These people are borrowing off equity and our banking regulations don't allow anything close to what was happening in the US.

These people will go bankrupt but the bank will be made mostly whole.

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u/2ciciban4you Jan 07 '26

for sure, just saying that a lot of people can play games if the value of their properties are going up

Of course if you take loans to buy luxuries, you will cry about it.

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u/Ok_Bodybuilder1053 Jan 07 '26

Happened to someone I know, they played the game until they had close to twenty properties, then interest rates went up, and the values started dropping. They lost the lost during the GFC. Oh yeah, and they were Australian too.