I’m looking out my camper and thinking “you can set your clock to this mob”. Each afternoon for a few days now, some couples at the caravan park have set up a circle of camp chairs at the same tiny patch of afternoon sun they have claimed as their own, nibbles and drinks in hand.
Mick is the first to plonk down his chair today, looking over his reading glasses at the form guide in the newspaper. I’m walking by and ask for a tip. He’s telling me his kids got him a micro-share in a couple of race horses for his 80th and it’s been the best present he could hope for, a bit of fun following the nag’s success and failure while travelling up and down the east coast chasing the sun with his wife.
I find out the couples have become friends through the mere fact they were designated campsites near each other and it confirms the sense of community you get at the Scotts Head Reflections Holidays park on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, where I’m calling home for a while on my journey throughout Australia with my dog Mallee.
Scotts Head is a sensational little spot that you’ll only discover by getting off the Pacific Highway, with a headland that produces yet another long rolling right-hand wave, and a narrow path to the other side leads you to a Little Beach (that’s its name) with punchier little beach breaks that I surfed this morning.
A local plumber I’m chatting to in the surf tells me Scotts Head was once a sleepy, little-known holiday destination but the Pacific Highway now delivers holiday-makers, investors and sea-changers from both the booming population centres of Sydney and Brisbane in just over five hours. But that’s the modern reality of many east coast communities, and while I’m here it has all that holiday-village glow about it.
Reflections park is smack bang on the coast and feels very much part of the fabric here — it stretches up to the local bowling club, which is the prime social meeting spot, and at the front it effortlessly opens to a park, which has markets on today, and over the road to the tiny little shopping strip.
The community feel is not by chance but, I’ve just discovered, by design. Reflections Holidays is a pretty unique operation — it is set up as a trust and works hand in hand with the NSW Government’s Crown Lands Department.
I’m chatting to Reflections CEO Nick Baker from my camper, telling him of yet another day in paradise living on the road, particularly from my current beachfront campsite.
He’s telling me they look after not just 40 holiday parks but also 45 reserves across NSW. Their unique accommodation options and locations are well worth exploring next time you are travelling in the State.
“It means some of the most stunning crown land is accessible, but not over-developed. It also means we make sure those great locations are not out of reach,” he says, pointing out their parks like Scotts and Byron Bay offer beachfront accommodation for anyone who can afford a tent site. Not just Chris Hemsworth then?
Further up the coast Reflections Yamba has another unique crown land holiday stay at the heritage-listed lighthouse cottages perched at the crest of the town’s headland. They are pet friendly too.
“The Government wants to protect these pockets of crown land but also commercialise it so it can generate profit that goes back into maintaining and improving the park, surrounding reserves and other areas of crown land,” Nick explains.
Another interesting thing he’s telling me is that I won’t find any bouncy pillows or in-house coffee vans, and there are only two pools (in really remote and hot locations) across the 40 parks.
“We almost have a contract with the councils we operate in that we push people out of the park to experience the local area, use their facilities and shop local,” Nick says.
Reflections mandates to pour a third of profits back into the business and at Scotts Head I see this in the well-equipped camp kitchen (as many of you can attest — this is not always a given!), with its sun-drenched windowsill breakfast bars, decent cooktops and other equipment. It means there’s always a hum and a conversation happening around the communal area.
The model isn’t something I’ve encountered before and is different to the State-run Parks and Wildlife set-up we have in Western Australia (and other States) where basic, off-grid, self-contained campsites are provided. It’s essentially that version of a commercial caravan park.
Walking back from the surf at Little Beach with Mallee dog, cutting through the park adjoining the local surf club, I see what Nick was talking about and spot the Reflections signage at the park which it maintains with landscaping, a community hall, free barbecues and gazebos. It does give you the sense that it is more than a satellite business and is part of the town.
I also get that vibe chatting to the women at the front desk with the local manager telling me she’s just come back from a community meeting with the local shire president. She kindly asks me if I need to speak to him but I think this fact-finding exercise is venturing too close to my news journo days and politely decline a chat with the local pollie. Time to get back to the beach!
Christien de Garis was a guest of Reflections Holidays. They have not seen or influenced this story before publication.
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