Aussies who enjoy caravan or camping adventures are on high alert as unpredictable weather events have devastating impacts, even cancelling Christmas plans.
While a little rain or warmer conditions might be expected in parts of the country over the festive season, some fear severe weather events experienced recently are turning Aussies off travelling for good.
Videos on social media this week show Aussies being washed out by severe rainfall and storms sweeping across Queensland and Western Australia. But it’s also having a huge impact on tourism operators across the country.
Campground owner suffers ‘devastating’ loss
Thomas Ebersoll has owned and run a campground in Newnes, a remote area in New South Wales, for 26 years. He has four cabins and a large campground situated at the base of the Wolgan Valley which was once popular among tourists.
But a “succession of landslides and rockfalls” in 2022 wiped out the only access road to his property, and everything else in the valley, he told Yahoo News.
While a temporary access road was put in in 2023, Ebersoll says “business has dropped 75 per cent” since the “devastating” 2022 weather event — and nothing he does can boost business again.
Thomas Ebersoll with his wife Helen and their daughter Marianna at the NSW campground. Source: Supplied
“We used to get bus loads of people. It was a very popular destination,” he told Yahoo. “But now people just find it too complicated. They’re often put off”
The 70-year-old, who is hoping to soon retire, said not only has it had a “huge impact” on people visiting, but he can’t get workers at his property. He’s since resorted to cleaning the cabins himself, when he manages to hire them out.
It’s had a “huge effect on the entire community that lives in the valley”. “People are stuck, they can’t sell their properties because you can’t sell a property without road access,” he said.
The only access road descending into the valley no longer exists. Source: Supplied
Recent weather wreaks havoc on travel plans
This week, Western Australia’s Pilbara region has been hit with severe thunderstorms alongside extreme heat. The drastic weather forced several roads and the Karijini National Park closed with flood warnings in place.
One woman who’d travelled more than 10 hours on a tour bus said she arrived at her Karijini accommodation to find it had been “crushed by a tree”. Nearby gorges — which the area is known for — were also closed.
Despite this, she still had a good time, she said.
A woman visiting Western Australia’s Karijini National Park detailed her nightmare experience after severe thunderstorms and flooding swept over the area. Source: TikTok/emily_hawkins99
Heavy rainfall and flash flooding washing out Aussie campsites
Across the country, Queensland has also been inundated with heavy rainfall and flash flooding, amid predictions parts of the state will experience the wettest December in over a decade.
One woman visiting Queensland’s K’gari, or Fraser Island, for the first time showed how the unexpected weather completely wiped out her campsite. Her tent and belongings were seen partially submerged in a pool of water.
“We went with family who usually [go] in Dec and have had no problems,” she said. “We checked [the] weather so many times before arriving and it said only a little rain [was expected] and that the rest will clear up”.
Another man camping in a swag was washed out while attempting to enjoy an outdoor adventure at an undisclosed Queensland location. He was filmed scooping water out of the sack designed for sleeping using a plastic plate while standing ankle-deep in muddy rainwater.
He said it’s an “annual reminder” to properly waterproof camping gear ahead of a trip. But the wild summer weather has led some to believe “it impossible to camp anymore”.
‘Worsening extreme weather’ threatening holiday plans
An Essential Research survey for the Climate Council recently found 61 per cent of Australians are concerned about unnatural disasters disrupting their summer holidays. As a result, many are choosing to travel in cooler months, or ditching inland locations in favour of coastal adventures.
Climate Councillor Professor Lesley Hughes said, “worsening extreme weather events are threatening our treasured holiday plans and endangering our way of life.”
“More intense and frequent unnatural disasters are turning Australian summers from a season of joy to a season of dread,” he said.
“Aussie families know that even as they head away for an end of year break, the chances of plans being disrupted by floods, storms, heatwaves or bushfires are increasing each year.”
While a chance of intense tropical cyclones is already threatening northern hotspots throughout Queensland this summer, it’s feared “hotter than average days and hot nights” can put parts of southern Australia at risk of fires.
Already this season, bushfires have ravaged the Grampians National Park, a popular camping spot in Victoria. The fire grew from 500 hectares to 5,000 hectares in just 24 hours on Thursday, the ABC reported.
It’s resulted in many tourists cancelling their Christmas holiday plans, with mass cancellations putting strain on tourism operators including local caravan parks.
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