My mate Ben and I arrive at Toora Tourist Park at the tail end of dusk, after an early morning departure from Melbourne, a few hours of driving and a walk at Wilsons Promontory. We’re more or less done for. Ben’s lolling forward in his seatbelt, as I slam the door and make my way to reception. I notice, on the hill behind the park, the silhouette of a wind-farm turbine, something that although I’ve seen many times in Australia and overseas, still seems somehow otherworldly.

Owner Rachel Brown greets me in the welcome warmth of her office and directs me to our drive-though site, by way of a short ink path on the park map. We arrange to meet in the morning for a tour and chat, and I bid her goodnight.

Pub to park

In their previous lives, Andrew Brown worked in the oil industry with Shell, and Rachel was with Hewelett-Packard. Immediately after the seachange from Melbourne to Toora, the pair looked after the Toora pub – with three small boys (the eldest, Matthew, is now 16 and the twins, Timothy and Cameron, are 13), they were simply sick of city life. The pub was always going to be a stepping stone to owning a park, Rachel says, a lifestyle the couple was introduced to on a round-Australia trip in her parents’ old pop-top. Since then, they’ve taken a number of trips in her folks’ new Windsor Rapid, as well as in a number of rentals.

Rachel and Andrew have had Toora Tourist Park, a Top Tourist Park, for six years, in which time they’ve added nine cabins, a tennis court and a jumping pillow. There were only 10 or so cabins and the big pool when they got it, something that continues to be a drawcard, and the park already had a four-star Top Tourist Park accreditation. “We’ve added eight ensuite sites too,” Rachel says, “which is especially good for down here; people don’t always like to walk to the toilet blocks.” The number of ensuites means that the single, clean and tidy amenities block is more than enough.

Over the decades before the Browns took over, and in the time they’ve had it, the park’s slowly evolved into a park almost exclusively for tourists, with only a few annuals and one remaining permanent – Charlie, the resident 85-year-old masseur who’s been there since the park began, is qualified in shiatsu, and will happily undo those traveller’s knots. “He gets a lot of custom from our customers,” Rachel says. “He’s really good.”

Behind the park live Nicky the alpaca and Daisy the highland cow. They’re good buds, and keep the grass short in the remaining farmland – Nicky’s a dud, as the Browns tell me, as his fur is too low a quality for processing. Regardless of his lack of commercial viability, Nicky’s a big hit with the kids – Daisy, with her horns, can at first be a little frightening.

Kids and families make up a large proportion of Toora Tourist Park’s clientele. “That’s our main target market,” Andrew says, “with the facilities we’ve put in.” Grey nomads are also somewhat of a staple, particularly from October through to Easter, since the park is on the Melbourne-Sydney route and it’s right on the highway, albeit a thankfully quiet stretch.

Accommodation options

For cabin-travellers, there are 22 to choose from, at a number of price points. Dual-TVs with DVD players, air-conditioning and spa baths are all available, with separate living areas. They’re busy year-round on weekends. At the other end of the spectrum, tenters are welcome to pitch on the grassed powered sites, and a number of Toora’s visiting families do indeed stay this way.

The same grassy sites that happily accommodate tenters are in fact spacious drive-throughs, which are large enough for all but the biggest of coach conversions. While vanners make up the bulk of RV traffic through the park, motorhomes, including a fair number of fly-in rentals like the Maui we’re driving, frequently stop by. “Over summer we get quite a few foreign tourists,” Andrew says. “Germany, UK, France.” Rachel says they also see a few intrepid cyclists. “We get quite a few crazy Europeans on bikes,” she says, “travelling around Australia.”

Entertainment arsenal

The heated pool means there’s something to do year-round. We used the park as a base to explore the spectacular Wilsons Promontory National Park (just under an hour away), which I’ll admit is best done in summer, though the bluster and sideways rain of winter has some dramatic appeal. The park’s busy from the Melbourne Cup Weekend to the end of the April school holidays, as there isn’t much accommodation at Wilson’s Promontory where many visitors are going.

TV reception is good, and antenna connections are available at many of the powered sites. If you can tear yourself away from the screen in your RV (DVDs can be hired at reception), you can borrow tennis rackets and balls and a wide range of board games. There’s also a games room, covered barbecue area, beach volleyball court, tennis court and a playground with an in-ground trampoline. And then there’s the pool, always at 28°C, and the spa, at 37°C.

Limited supplies including gas and ice are available at reception, and the township of Toora is walking distance away, with the full range of groceries, and, of course, a rather fine pub in which to dine and drink.

The Browns have secured permission for another six cabins, and also plan to add mini-golf to their entertainment arsenal. “We want to keep adding things for families,” Andrew says. Rachel sums up the approach: “We look after the kids – if the kids are happy, the parents are happy.”

By Andrew Harris, as featured in Motorhome World issue 24, January/February 2009.