GEIRO Club boosts coffers at Coolum Beach Holiday Park

There are all sorts of travellers clubs these days, but the GEIRO Club – that’s the Geist and Euro Imported RV Owners Club – is pretty unique.

All you need is to own a Geist caravan or similar – and want to enjoy a great time at the likes of the Sunshine Coast Council-run Coolum Beach Holiday Park once a year.

Club president John Pollock said membership spanned the nation.

“It used to be just Geist caravans, but we’ve opened the door to owners of other European RV brands,” he said.

“Geists are lightweight European caravans, averaging about 1800kg. They can be towed by a large car so you don’t need a big four-wheel drive, they sit well behind the car on the road – and the petrol bill’s a lot cheaper.”

Mr Pocock, who hails from Adelaide, said the club only came together a year ago and the Coolum Beach excursion was only the second of its kind.

“Coolum is great,” he said.

“We chose this park because it’s pet-friendly and some members have dogs; it also has capacity for 50 vans – and they even put up a marquee out the back which we can use for meetings,” Mr Pollock said.

“We also want to support a charity or similar each visit, so we have chosen the Coolum office of Queensland Ambulance. They are raising funds for CPR training equipment so we will get behind that while we’re here. We will collect donations, put out a swear jar and do anything else that can raise money.

“We’ll see what we’ve got by the end of the week.”

Mr Pollock estimated the club members’ local spend is likely to be between $25,000 and $35,000 for the duration of their stay.

Coolum Beach Holiday park manager Greg Howard said the club’s arrival was very welcome as May is in the off-season, and it followed a downturn around the time of Cyclone Marcia in high-season February.

“There are about 40 vans in total,” he said.

“Most are staying seven days to two weeks, but some may stay longer.

“Clubs usually like to do these visits off-season – it’s good for holiday parks."

Council’s finance chair, Cr Chris Thompson, welcomed the club’s visit, and said Council’s parks had been punching well above their weight in the last nine months.

“Nearly 4000 online bookings were made with our parks for the first nine months of this year; that’s a 10.9% increase on the same period last financial year,” Cr Thompson said.

Meanwhile, the GEIRO club members are going to do and see as much as they can, all the time raising funds for the local ambos.

And Mr Pollock is doing some deep thinking.

”I love this place; it could make me a sea-changer …”