Case study: Bush Oasis Caravan Park

Built environment Tourism North Queensland

Bush Oasis Caravan Park is a lifestyle residential and tourist park located approximately 15 minutes north of Townsville. It offers varying types of accommodation, from unpowered grass sites to deluxe eco glamping tents and cabins.

The award-winning, privately owned and managed caravan park aims to inspire sustainable environmental tourism. The Park has been involved with ecoBiz since 2018 and became an ecoBiz 3-Star Partner in recognition of the sustainable water, waste and energy practices implemented to run the park operations.

Key initiatives to manage energy use

The Park reduced the amount of electricity that it draws from the grid by 57% in two months after the owners installed solar panels in late 2019.

  • The emergency battery storage allows them to manage night-time energy consumption and works as an emergency backup for communications and lighting if there is a blackout.
  • Staff use a small electric maintenance vehicle which has reduced fuel use and carbon emissions compared to using a car.
  • They use ‘glow in the dark’ walkways to reduce lighting and impacts on wildlife.
  • Their new glamping sites have innovative tropical design features to reduce heat (e.g. orientation, reflective white roofs, raised airflow systems in the roof, raised floors for airflow, western wall shading and exposure minimisation, and high insulation property fiberglass panels).

Key initiatives to reduce water use

The Park operates at a high level of water efficiency. They are off-grid to mains water and only use rain and bore water, not potable water. Purification of the water is done through reverse osmosis.

They recycle all their wastewater and have water-efficient landscaping and fixtures.

Key initiatives to reduce waste

The Park has measures in place to limit the amount of waste they and their visitors send to landfill:

  • Grass clippings are mulch mown on-site.
  • A green procurement policy supports purchasing with minimal waste.
  • A basketball net attracts guests' attention to recycling their containers.
  • Next to no contamination in their container deposit scheme has been achieved.
  • An area has been set up to collect items to be reused and repurposed where possible.