Originally Posted by
Rowan
Machka has a couple of brilliant stories about this sort of thing, and in one case I can recall, she moved on elsewhere and found digs that were cheaper and much, much better in the same town.
One such story was during my tour in Queensland. My cycling partner and I rolled into town at dusk, and got to the campground about 15 minutes after it closed (7:15 pm). We rang the "If you arrive late, ring this bell" bell, and a very unhappy-looking couple came to the door. The place was packed, but we asked about a patch of grass to plant our tent, and were told, amid heavy sighs, that they supposed we could put our tent on a bit of grass right next to the office for the whopping price of $30. And we were told that under no circumstances could we use the toilet block. If we had to use a toilet, we could use the service station across the road when it opened in the morning.
We left and walked around the corner where we spotted a hostel. The place was almost empty and absolutely spotless ... eat off the floor spotless. The manager welcomed us in and gave us a lovely big, clean room for $20 each ... total $40. And we could use the toilet!