For Gavin Smith’s 70th birthday, he bought himself a caravan park in the country.

“I thought I’d give it one last hooray, and here I am,” he said.

In July, he traded the beach life on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for the bush luxuries of Longreach, a town more than 1,200 kilometers away that he called home fifty years ago.

“It brings back a lot of memories,” he said.

“I never thought I’d buy a trailer park in the long run, but I’m in it now—boots and all.”

Running the business 24 hours a day, the undisputed break of the day is “beer hour,” where he rings the bell to share drinks and stories of old times with travelers.

One of his favorite stories is how he met his first love in Longreach 50 years ago.

Love in Longreach

In the 1970s, Mr. Smith was working as a stock agent in the small town and hosting an auction at their saleyard.

“Dust and crap everywhere… lots of yeah.”

He said he saw a woman at the back of the crowd brushing flies away from her face, and by her tongue and cheek movement she mistook the Australian wave for bidding to increase the price of cattle.

After bidding and a few swear words, the woman introduced Mr. Smith to her sister, Alice, who had just arrived from Hobart.

“I turned to him and it took my breath away,” he said.

The couple soon moved to Brisbane, where they married and started a family.

“We were like your average Mr. and Mrs. living in the suburbs,” Mr. Smith said.

“Everything was going really well until I got terrible cancer.”

Ms. Smith died at age 35, and Mr. Smith raised the couple’s children, ages eight and 12.

“Life goes on,” Mr. Smith lamented.

“We had two great kids, and I didn’t kill them with too much barbecue because that was on the menu every night.”

Daughter Emily Dietrich, 39, can confirm there were lots of burnt sausages and “creative sandwiches”.

But smiling proudly, the Brisbane mother said she missed the father of the family “desperately” as she watched his attempt 1,100km away.

“Turning 70, running a trailer park, never owning a trailer park, moving away from his support network and being successful… I’m so proud of him.”

rural tourism

After a career in sales and marketing, this was not a decision made on a whim by the 70-year-old man, who has done extensive research on rural tourism and caravanning.

“The park was full when I went out before settlement, and it was full every night for the first six weeks I owned the park,” Mr. Smith said.

“The other one is going hard, but if you can get through the bad patch, you’ll do well.”

Traditionally, the peak tourism season in the province runs from April to September, but this year tourism operators have expressed concerns about the decrease in visitor numbers.

The state government also noticed the lag in tourist numbers and in June announced $10 million for 57 regional tourism projects.

The next few months will likely be one of those challenging periods as we enter the scorching summer heat.

Summer months can see Longreach a bit deserted with businesses operating limited hours and even some accommodation options choosing to close for the season.

But Mr Smith hopes he can diversify and improve occupancy for the warm spell.

“I try to attract work crews that come here in the summer and get as much maintenance done as possible,” he said.

Despite many tourism events being canceled in western Queensland next year, Mr Smith said he was optimistic the tourist season would bring big numbers to Longreach.

“I love Longreach, the community spirit here is amazing,” Mr Smith said.