G'day to all ,the other day (monday ) I emailed Albury information centre for info on camping on the Murray river and how the camping spots have been affected with the rain and flooding and if any are closed because of flood damage etc etc .I am still waiting for a reply ?? I doubt that they are so busy that they haven't got time to answer me one way or the other ..Are Information Centres Independant camping friendly and normally tell you where they are and where is good and not so good ...All our previous experiances with these centres has been to find out about local attractions and local caravan parks and they have always been most helpful and couldn't do enough for us ..What has been your experiances with Information Centres regarding Independant camping good or bad ???...Cheers...Bob...

Nil, there are TOURIST in fo centers, they are there to help tourists with things tourists do and that usually involves spending money, I'll bet if you asked them about CP's you'd get a reply within a day or so.
don't get me wrong, we have found all such centers really helpful and always call in and get info, but as soon as you say freecamp, the faces glaze over, the only place that wasn't helpfull when we asked if there was anything cheap or free we could do (as we did in all i centrers) was Broome, the girl said "what?" so Brenda repeated the question, and with a blank, glazed, annoyed look she said "I suppose you could walk along the beach" it wasn't till we had left the place that we found out there is a heritage walk in Broome.
But mostly they are very helpful, but not for freecamps.
Frank

Hi,
I have found a great range of Helpfullness and non-helpfullness in ICs. It depends entirely on the character of the person you happen to find in them. About the worst was where we met a lady who could only tell us about the local wine tasting tours. We found after chatting for a few minutes that she had only moved into the district a few months back and knew nothing about it. The conductors of the said tours had made sure she was conversant with their operations. On the other hand we have met others who not only knew their district, but couldn't do enough for us. The luck of the draw - I'd say. I think the best information we ever got was in a van park in Western Australia somewhere south of Perth too many years ago to remember the name of the park or even the town. The owner there employed two old locals who worked such hours and made such an amount that it didn't interfere with their pensions. They had lived all their lives in the district and they spent much of their time talking to the visitors. They told us the local history, and all the places to see. They produced maps of the district - supplied by the owner - and marked the places and the roads. They told us where we could get the cheapest fuel, and the best places to eat out, and where to buy groceries. That park owner was onto a good thing. The old blokes could not have been paid much, but they spent most of their days there, they kept the gardens beautiful, and the park mowed and clean. At our van they got a free lunch and a free afternoon tea, and I suspect they were so treated by many. In my view it is a pity more parks couldn't do the same,
Cheers,
Dan

Im With Boroma577,
These RV friendly towns still make you park maybe 3 streets from shops or the tourist info Office. Then the Trolly boys give you dirty looks cause they have to retrieve trollies some streets away.

just about every town you go through has 2 signs up.
1 "we are the holder of the tidy town award" [Every town has the same sign]

2. " We are an RV Friendly town"

Cheers Rod

Labrat,
I am not so sure about Albury, but some of those areas are still under so much water that the staff would be unable to get to work, nevermind answer emails. Could you try a phone call to them?

Our experiences with these centres has also been very varied. From the local who can tell you where to get the cheapest seafood or to dine out cheap down to the person who really doesn't give a rats whether you are even in their centre.we have also noticed the difference iin what they actually sell. Some are strictly just for information where others sell souvenirs and others do the souvenirs and great ranges of local arts and crafts and local produce.
The more interesting products that hey have on offer makes us more likely to spend in their centres.[size=150][/size]

Agood word for tourist centres,

Along the Murray, touring most of last winter, we found Yarrawonga and Echuca tourist centres to be Helpful to the extremmmmmme, in regards to free camping on the Murray River, even though there was only some flooding at that time, they were more than helpful,

Do remember people, they have to be carful in what they advise, when there are hazards in the area(Flooding)

We pubulished some Pic,s of us on the murray awhile ago, and they were directly related to directions and advise from the Echuca Tourist centre.

We too have struck the occassional twits at tourist centres and put it more down to lack of knowledge or interest in there job, Swanhill was one that comes to mine, great area but not a very helpful t/c, maybe we struck a bad day,lol

The wife and l support the t/c and generally B-line for them on arrival, One thing we have noted, the good advise does seem to come from the more senior aged persons, and the ideas they push are more in line with our age group we have found.

before u say negs, lam not picking on the youngins, lol, its just our observations so far.

regards Kev & Pam

we found the tourist info centres at tumut in nsw brilliant and also at corryong nothing was to much trouble
the lady at tumut even printed out info on where the flooding was and also detours for our caravan club

at corryong hubby and I spent a pleasnat hour at least talking to the lady who worked there she gave us so many hints on where to go and see things that were free
also both of these places had lovely items local and not quite so local to pucrhase at reasonable prices
we ended up with a wealth of information