SA’s Campground Hosts Program

The South Aus­tralian Camp­ground Host Pro­gram pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­bine your love of camp­ing with doing a good deed by becom­ing a vol­un­teer camp­ground host in one of South Australian’s nation­al parks.

If you’re an avid camper, you might have come across one of our camp­ground hosts in our nation­al parks – they’re the peo­ple who greet you in the park, gen­er­ous­ly vol­un­teer­ing their time to make your stay more enjoyable.

Whether it’s being on-hand to answer ques­tions about the park, remind­ing you that it’s a total fire ban day, or look­ing after the upkeep of facil­i­ties like bar­be­ques or toi­lets, camp­ground hosts help look after the place and help you feel at home while you’re far away from yours.

Sound appeal­ing? Here’s all you need to know about being a camp­ground host.

What will I be doing?

A camp­ground host is a vol­un­teer who stays in a nation­al park camp­ground dur­ing peak vis­i­ta­tion peri­ods for a spe­cif­ic peak peri­od, like the East­er break or a long week­end, or an extend­ed peri­od of time (up to a few months) to sup­port park rangers and campers.

Duties usu­al­ly include:

• Wel­com­ing vis­i­tors and shar­ing infor­ma­tion about camp­site facil­i­ties and attractions
• Shar­ing infor­ma­tion about local flo­ra, fau­na, nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al attractions
• Reg­u­lar­ly check facil­i­ties and ensure the camp­ground is tidy
• Liaise with park rangers regard­ing site con­di­tions, facil­i­ties and any issues.

Host are not respon­si­ble for mak­ing sure vis­i­tors com­ply with the rules of the park – that’s the ranger’s job. But their role is to pro­vide infor­ma­tion to vis­i­tors that will help them enjoy their stay, and make it a safe one.

Some parks require a care­tak­er host. These hosts have a bit more respon­si­bil­i­ty around gen­er­al main­te­nance. Care­tak­er hosts stay in a park for between two and six months.

Down­load the Camp­ground Host Role Descrip­tion.

What skills do I need?

You will need to have:

• A pas­sion for the envi­ron­ment and be a keen camper
• Good com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills
• Have a calm disposition
• A will­ing­ness to learn about the local environment
• A lik­ing for nation­al parks and reserves
• A will­ing­ness to talk to and pro­vide infor­ma­tion to visitors
• Pre­pared to work with min­i­mum supervision.

Camp­ground hosts need to bring their own tent, camper trail­er or car­a­van, and stay in the park for an agreed amount of time. 

What are the requirements?

You must:

• Be 18 years of age or over
• Have a cur­rent First Aid Cer­tifi­cate (HTLAID003 Pro­vide First Aid or higher)
• Have a mobile phone
• Have your own car and tent, camper trail­er or caravan
• Under­take an induc­tion before volunteering
• Under­go a Work­ing With Chil­dren Check and Nation­al Police Clear­ance before begin­ning vol­un­teer duties. There is no cost for these checks.

What are the Benefits?

• Share your pas­sion and knowl­edge about the envi­ron­ment with others
• Train­ing will pro­vide you with valu­able knowl­edge and skills
• A free uni­form is pro­vid­ed for vol­un­teers to wear
• Help vis­i­tors to bet­ter access, learn and expe­ri­ence South Aus­trali­a’s reserves
• Gain exten­sive knowl­edge of dif­fer­ent parks
• Spend time in some of the most beau­ti­ful and spe­cial places in South Australia
• Free park entry and camp­ing while you volunteer.

Which parks are involved in the program?

The fol­low­ing are some of the parks involved in the Camp­ground Hosts Program:

• Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park
• Coorong Nation­al Park
• Deep Creek Con­ser­va­tion Park
• Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park
• Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park 
• Lash­mar Con­ser­va­tion Park
• Lin­coln Nation­al Park
• Lit­tle Dip Con­ser­va­tion Park 
• Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park — Mam­bray Creek
• Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park
• Nara­coorte Caves Nation­al Park
• New­land Head Con­ser­va­tion Park 

How to join?

If you are inter­est­ed in join­ing the Camp­ground Host Pro­gram fol­low these steps:

Step 1:Read through the Role descrip­tion, and Camp­ground Host Pro­gram Vol­un­teer Handbook

Step 2:Reg­is­ter your inter­est as a vol­un­teer.
When you sub­mit your appli­ca­tion you will receive an auto­mat­ic email (check your Junk email fold­er). At this time we are only recruit­ing new vol­un­teers on an ​‘as needs’ basis. Appli­cants that match our recruit­ment needs will be con­tact­ed and invit­ed to attend an interview.

Step 3: Attend an inter­view
The Camp­ground Host Pro­gram Sup­port Offi­cer will con­tact suit­able appli­cants to arrange an interview.

Step 4: Place­ment
Vol­un­teers will be offered place­ments based on their suit­abil­i­ty for the role, avail­abil­i­ty and any par­tic­u­lar skills or qual­i­fi­ca­tions that are required.

Enquiries

For any ques­tions, please email DEWcampgroundhosts@​sa.​gov.​au