Summer Bay caravan park.
The Summer Bay caravan park was bought by Tom and Pippa Fletcher in 1988. It is near Summer Bay House. It had previously been owned by Alf Stewart.
1988-[]
When the Fletchers bought the Caravan Park, it was no longer operating. Retired circus workers Floss and Neville McPhee lived on the premises in their own gypsy van and acted as caretakers on Alf's behalf. Tom and Pippa reopened it and over time more and more tourists came to stay there.
Pippa and Michael have a picnic in one of the caravans
The caravans have also housed many current and future residents of Summer Bay. Usually it was just for a short while until they found somewhere else to live but not always. More dramatically, if somebody suddenly found themselves with nowhere else to go, they rented a caravan. In 1988 Lance Smart won money in the lottery and bought a mobile home in the caravan park. It was rarely seen onscreen after 1990.
Sometimes the residents of Summer Bay House found uses for the caravans. Frank Morgan and Roo Stewart originally planned to live in one of the vans after they got married. Neither that, nor the wedding came to pass. In 1991 Pippa and Michael Ross (who met when he rented a van from her) had a romantic picnic in one of the caravans while Sally Fletcher's birthday party was going on in the house.
In 1995, Sally and Jack Wilson carried out a science experiment for school in one of the caravans. Sally forgot to turn the gas off properly. When Jack discarded a lit cigar during Shane Parrish's buck's night, it blew the caravan up.
In May 2016 there was an explosion in the Caravan Park. The blast killed Oscar MacGuire and Hannah Wilson, and injured many others.
Memorable Info[]
In 2002, the location used for the caravan park was severely damaged by a bushfire. The fire also destroyed the real-life Summer Bay House nearby. For the next 13 years, scenes set in the caravan park were shot in different locations. In 2015 the caravan park was returned to its original location on the Jackaroo Ranch.
Known residents over the years[]
- 1984-1989 Floss and Neville McPhee
- 1988 Dawn and Russell
- 1988 Bobby Simpson
- 1988-1990 Lance Smart and Martin Dibble
- 1988, 1997-2012 Colleen Smart
- 1989 Andrew Foley
- 1989-1990 Marilyn Chambers
- 1990-1991 Michael and Haydn Ross
- 1990 Grant Mitchell
- 1990-1991 Patricia Coleman
- 1990 Alan Stone
- 1992 Nick Parrish and Lucinda Croft
- 1992 Irene Roberts
- 1993 Adam Cameron
- 1993 Luke Cunningham
- 1997 Ian Routledge
- 2013 Casey Braxton
- 2014 Denny Miller
- 2015 Matt Page and Maddy Osborne
- 2015 Hunter King
- 2021-2022 Cash Newman and Felicity Newman briefly in 2023