As we were leaving the caravan park, I filled up with fresh water. As I was doing this I was told by the owner's wife that my occupation of a self-contained site did not include access to water. When I offered to pay 10 cents for the water I had used, I was told that they had to pay $1 per litre for water, a figure which I took to be a misunderstanding of units of measurements - a confusion between kilolitres and litres.
I went to the office and was harangued by the owner for breaching the "rules of self-containment". He complained that owners of large motorhomes are all tarred with the brush of wanting things on the cheap. Apparently owning a $400,000 motorhome means that you must not seek to minimise you daily expenditure. I was criticised as one of the authors of the CMCA RV Self-containment Scheme because I should know that" self-contained" means not using any facilities. I didn't respond with an argument that if I wasn't supposed to be using any facilities, why was I paying a fee. Instead I apologised to the owner for assuming that I could fill up with water and offered again to pay for what I had used. He refused the offer and admitted that the $1 per litre price I had been given was a mistake. He said that if I had asked if I could fill up, he would have said "Yes". I pointed out that I had assumed that access to the water tap was included in the deal and that those of us who live on the road have a constant need to replenish our fresh water supplies. He eventually seemed to calm down and we parted apparently on good terms.
I see this as an instructive example of the problem the club faces in its efforts to "educate" people. Perhaps we should codify agreements between the club and the caravan park owners who offer club members a discount to include conditions of use. We also have to find a way of combating all the negative images which are common out there.
We headed north and stopped in Griffith to do some banking and to have a very nice lunch in an Italian Cafe.
We pressed on to the north and stopped overnight in a noisy rest area on the Western Highway. It is close to the road and it is a common truck stop but it is big rig capable and is the best place to stop for a great distance in either direction.