Barwon Camping and Caravan Park

This website is no longer actively updated.
It has been left as a reference point only.

Barwon Camping and Caravan Park - Geelong Victoria

Finding a park with vacancies during Xmas holidays along the Great Ocean Road can be to say the least a bit of a nightmare. So what to do? Our usual trick is to go out of town a bit - that's how we ended up in Geelong on the banks of the Barwon River.

Tents alongside the levee bank

Shade for all campers

The Barwon Camping and Caravan Park is quite a pretty park bearing in mind it is on the fringe of the city and of course it is right across the road from the lovely Barwon River. Surprise, surprise it has internet access coin in the slot available from its own kiosk. The only other park we have come across is the North Star Holiday Resort at Hastings Point in northern NSW - over two years. Why more parks don't do this is amazing as it is the way of the future and can be a good little earner. Just bye the bye we email home daily using our tiny Revo Palm Top hooked up to a Psion Travel Modem - smaller than a mouse - and this plugs into an el-cheapo Nokia phone. This is not the cheapest option as you are ringing your server long distance as all mobile calls are classed as long distance. You can save though if you ring in off peak and send the same message to a dozen friends etc. as it costs no more to send to multiple addresses. You can do all your writing off line which is great if you don't type. Back to the Barwon Camping and Caravan Park. One of our biggest beefs with parks is mixing permanents with tourists. This park got it 100% right. From the office one simply follows the "white line" to end up in the tourist section - a very simple and clever idea. This consists of 40 tourist only sites. Some are grassed camping, some are van with concrete annex pads and two have very nice ensuites. Only two sites are true drive through. Shade is excellent, but most sites are really on the small side. We chose site 12 right on the end. Not too good for solar, but who cares as there are no unpowered sites anyway. The best site if you like privacy and you have an A'van camper and want to lie in bed looking at the river, is without doubt site 28! Yes the park is on the river, but you must cross a road. The tourist section has gravel roads, but the rest is bitumen with kerb and channel. There are some really caring permanents here and some with a great sense of humour. How about cottage names like "Dunromin" or "Seldom Inn". These two homes were also immaculate.

This permanent resident really cares

Another cabin showing lots of TLC

There are two fibro amenities. The main one has recently been partially modernised in the shower department and is very chic and space age. No coin in the slot required and no keys needed. The hot water is gravity fed. This means it doesn't alter when your neighbour switches on - be very careful if you have kiddies though. Some idea of the age of this park can be glimpsed from the old flush handled toilets. Haven't seen these since the railway toilets at Central Station! Hope they keep them though as they are a great talking point. Basins are all tiled and there is a hand dryer, but no soap. No set cleaning hours either. As this is all so old but meticulously clean though, we can't help but wonder how RACV arrived at Four Stars.

Outside the amenities

Super clean amenities

Spotless aluminium showers

Where did they find this guy?

Shopping wise this park has the lot. Walk out the front door and cross two roads and you're in a large Kmart/Coles shopping centre trading 24 hours. The best bread is at Brumbys. Walk up the street a little and you have McDonalds and Pizza Hut etc. Don't bother taking the car.

The river boundary is ideal for rowers

A stone's throw away are the shops!

Mobile phone wise everything works just fine and there is a Telstra phone opposite the office. TV is very marginal which is surprising for such a large city - the permanents are all on tall masts with guy wires - always a bad sign for caravanners! One can only wonder why established parks don't cable up the whole park and use Austar. A lot of permanents had satellite, but lots had zero TV. Forget channel 2. There is a brick camp kitchen with coin in the slot BBQs - these weren't brilliantly clean. There is a nicer BBQ up behind the main amenities. This also has a good kiddies play area and is nicely grassed. Despite the small sites there is a fair amount of public space. Car parking though on some sites is very iffy. There was no way we could have an annex up and park our car, but really it was not needed due to the excellent shade. Sullage disposal lets this park down badly on most sites. You are expected to take it up to the amenities! Very few sites have water. And this is four star?

Camp kitchen and undercover BBQ

Children's play area and BBQ

The office has lots of touristy info and a small kiosk. Management is very friendly and helpful and the office area is spotlessly clean. You don't get handed a sheet of rules! You are given a list of empty sites and you simply pick the one you like. You don't have to report back to the office either.

The office for the park with Internet!

Leafy trees give shade for tenters

We used this park as a base for exploring the "Sea Change" town of Barwon Heads. Yes folks Laura's house does exist and you can rent it if you own a Mercedes. The actual caravan park is really booming with zero vacancies during the Xmas Holidays. If you are a fan, visiting these locations can destroy the magic. We saw in the Millennium at Fitzgerald's pub in Ireland from Bally Kiss Angel. It was awful as the pub inside is not the one used in the series. Another possibility is to do day trips to Torquay/Lorne and explore the Great Ocean Road. We didn't do this and moved on to Port Campbell simply because there wasn't a vacancy anywhere!

The beach at Barwon Heads

Sea Change Territory

Free camping area

There is a levee bank around the park and the Princes Highway is above you as it crosses the river. This tends to minimise noise a lot. If you get woken up by a loud megaphone in your ear you aren't going bonkers! It is Geelong Grammar practicing on the river at some ungodly hour! It only lasts 5 minutes - enough to bring you out of la la land. There is no keep you awake lighting in the tourist area. This park tends to fill up after 3PM so best to quote your credit card on the way in on your mobile.

The location is ideal for bike riding and walking. Just cross the road and follow an excellent bitumen path which seems to go for miles - very picturesque indeed for a city. Free camping in the area is very light on and there is only one overnight rest area between Melbourne and Geelong and it is very grotty and frightfully noisy. (pictured above)

The park is easy to find. We cheated and rang the owner for instructions - a good trick! More info from (03) 5243 3842 or write to Barwon Caravan and Tourist Park, 153 Barrabool Road, Belmont 3216.

Cost for a powered site in January 2001 was $18.50. Yes we absolutely recommend this park to fellow caravanners.

Bob Chrissy Eustace

Click on the compass for a map of the general area