There’s a fairytale land that exists somewhere in the middle of reality and complete, and utter, farcical, nonsense – tending more towards the latter edge than its former. This land supports many mythical creatures: world-bettering politicians; monogamistic Hollywood couples; and caravan park owners who understand value in pricing their sites.

This is the fairytale land of “Nod.” In Nod, caravan park owners quote their prices to tired and weary RV’ers whom, having pulled their rig into the park’s awkward entry space, feels obliged to accept such ridiculous rates by nod-ding with their head while their instinct ties their stomach in knots.

The fairytale crashes, however, when one customer decides that inane profiteering has finally crossed the line.

In reality, the fairytale has been crashing for awhile. Many RV’ers, with their self-contained rigs, are opting for sleepovers in free-camps around the country rather than paying for a stay in the mini-suburbs, created by caravan parks, hemmed in with the “Jones’”.

Our most recent collision with this paradigm was when we entered Tamworth, late Tuesday afternoon. Being a member of the Top Tourist Parks chain meant we knew what to expect, in terms of price and accommodation style, when selecting one of their parks. So, heading out of town we came upon one of their member parks and pulled into the driveway.

You can imagine our shock when we were quoted a nightly price of $65. Calculate that out over a week and we could have rented a serviced short-stay apartment in town cheaper than $450. (Take into consideration that this was mid-week, off-peak, with no major event happening in the town at the time and multiple caravan parks on offer).

When we queried the exorbitant rate we were informed that each child was $9 per night. This meant that if Deb and I had been staying by ourselves they would have been happy to rent the site to us for $29 – less our 10% discount (ie. They were happy to earn $26.10 for a caravan site – a price which is more than equitable).

However, once we added children to the equation – of which we have four – the price escalated another $36 (more than the initial price for the site). Remembering that they were happy to receive $29 for the site if it were just Deb, I and our caravan, one had to query why – for no extra space – our children were adding $36 per night to their profit margin. I was left wondering how many sites they were going to give us!

What expenses did they need to cover for four children? Well, let’s assume that our children each had a shower. The price of a shower, using current water rates and perhaps extra cleaning costs (taking into account that they would have had to clean the toilets and showers anyway) can’t have been more than $2 per day, each – and that’s being generous.

Then, when you consider that we’re living in a space no bigger than Jordan’s bedroom at home, and supplementing most of our energy costs with solar equipment, it’s hard to imagine that they’re using any more in electricity expenses.

In fact, baby-boomers with their 34’ fifth-wheelers complete with slide-out walls, and every mod-con available, would be using more electricity per night than we could use in a week.

In the end, Deb – I so admire her brazenness, sometimes – let the park operator know that we weren’t happy with the price and that we would pass on this occasion. In doing so, the park didn’t lose $65 (as they were never going to get that from us) but they did lose the $26.10 they might have earned from having another van stay for a night – or three.

Instead, we drove back to Chaffey’s Dam, 50km out of Tamworth where the nightly rate is $5 per family plus $1 per shower – and million dollar views. Electricity is included.