General News
6 July, 2023
Calls for onsite caretaker
A VISITING camper at Camperdown’s Lakes and Craters Holiday Park is calling for a live-in caretaker for the park after an incident over the June long weekend.
A VISITING camper at Camperdown’s Lakes and Craters Holiday Park is calling for a live-in caretaker for the park after an incident over the June long weekend.
Camper Scoot Gallop, who was camping with his sister, her children and his mother, said the incident was frightening and scary.
“We had these two young guys that just turned up, who had been at the hotel drinking,” he said.
“Apparently, they had been kicked out of the hotel after nearly causing a fight; we heard them talking about that.
“They had a boat there, and they took out a jerry can out of the boat and started pouring it onto their fire.
“At the Camperdown Caravan Park, you have to use a fire drum, but they didn’t do that; they just had their fire on the ground.”
Mr Gallop reported that the young men involved in the incident were pouring petrol onto their fire, which began spreading out and came close to his family’s vans.
“I don’t know how it didn’t all explode,” he said.
“They were trying to stamp it out as it was burning.
“Then they ended up getting empty beer stubbies and filling them with petrol and throwing them in the fire, like a Molotov cocktail, exploding in the fire.
“They had a vacuum-like thing they were using to blow it to keep it going. They were smoking continuously and dropping cigarette butts anywhere and everywhere.”
The men were allegedly swearing and yelling until 3am, and other camps near Mr Gallop’s decided to ring the caretaker.
At the time of the incident, the calls went straight to message bank.
Mr Gallop said his family and himself had been staying at the caravan park since the early 2000s, and there was a live-in caretaker present during that time.
“We since found out they cut back the caretaker’s hours and she’s left, so they don’t have a caretaker there now,” she said.
“Looking back, we should have rung the police, but at the time you’d think there would be a caretaker, or somebody, around that could help.
“There was just nobody. It was shocking.”
Mr Gallop had written to Corangamite Shire Council about the issue three weeks ago but is yet to receive a reply at the time of printing.
A letter was also written to Belgravia Leisure, who are in a 21-year lease with the council for the caravan park.
Mr Gallop said he has since written another email.
“Doesn’t anyone care about the welfare of the tourists?” he said.
“It’s going to stop people going there; I know of at least 12 people that won’t go back there.
“It’s not good for the shire; it’s a beautiful spot and everything, but if you haven’t got a caretaker there, or at least someone in Camperdown you can contact.
“It’s crazy.”
Mr Gallop is calling for Belgravia Leisure to hire a live-in caretaker, or for a caretaker to be stationed close by, that is accessible for caravan park guests and visitors.
He said he is traumatized by the event, wanting to pack up and go home at the time of the incident.
“We just wanted somebody to come and sort it out,” Mr Gallop said.
“Every day, I’m waking up during the night, and I can picture the fire exploding and going out across the grass. I’m still horrified about it.
“The way it is, and the way it still is; they don’t care to respond.
“It is appalling that this can go on and with all the money recently spent on the park it is a blight on Camperdown when this can occur, and nobody seems to care.”
In response to the incident, Belgravia Leisure has advised that the Lakes and Craters Holiday Park is aware of the incident.
“The holiday park has local staff on call to assist with after-hours enquiries for any guest concerns,” they said.
“Regrettably, when guests tried to make contact in relation to this particular incident, a failure of the call diversion resulted in a communication breakdown to the on-call team. The fault has now been rectified and communication restored, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience that this caused to our guests.
“Lakes and Craters Holiday Park pride ourselves on providing excellent service and experiences for our guests and we take all feedback seriously.
“Contact has been made to the guests who provided feedback of their experience with reassurance this was an isolated incident, and we hope to welcome them back to our park again in the future.”