If you tow a caravan take note that in Benalla, Victoria the Benalla Council has seen fit to only supply two long vehicle (caravan) parking spaces in the whole of the city. These two spaces are very frequently taken up by inconsiderate owners of passenger vehicles. The Benalla Council By-Laws Officer consonantly turns a blind eye to these transgressions thus denying those with caravans the ability to park in recognized parking spaces.
These two long vehicle parking spaces were supposed to be just for cars towing caravans. These two spots took more than ten years to obtain from the council, they have been placed in a busy car park. Not only is is quiet difficult to get into these spots, but if you do, you are then faced with at least a 300 plus meter walk to the Tourist Information building.
The Rural City of Benalla has little or no concerns for caravaners, and in fact they really do not want tourists at all, as they believe they 'are not a tourist destination'.
I have been towing caravans for more than 25 years and most towns around Australia welcome with open arms caravaners and tourists, not so Benalla.
Over the past 5 years I have been trying to talk the council into joining up the two major rail trail / bike paths in adjoining towns with one in the Rural City of Benalla, but guess what, they are not in the least interested.
So in closing for now, be warned, it is extremely difficult to park your van in Benalla and if you dare bring a bike to ride, forget it!
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Travelers towing caravans around Australia should think twice about going to Benalla with their caravan. For more than ten years my partner and I fought to have the town allocate caravan parking areas for tourists, in the end there were two such spaces allotted, 'in a busy car-park'. It was pointed out to the relevant authorities that the spots are to small and to hard to park all but the smallest caravans. The caravan spots are some 300 plus meters from the present 'tourist information' building, never ideal for the elderly or in-firmed.
Another major problem facing caravaners is the fact that the council does not police the two caravan spots, but allows 'all and sundry' to park in these two spaces. It would appear that touists are not encouraged, in fact I have heard 'from the horses mouth' that the council didn't deem Benalla to be a tourist destination, and so didn't need to put in place any tourist infrastructure.
We have also tried for many years to have a tourist bike path put into place to join up those already in place,and being built, in other areas of the North East of Victoria. And the answer has consistently been 'we are not a tourist destination' or we haven't got the money. The Victorian Government has, over the past years, poured millions of dollars into other areas of the state for the very same type of bike paths as we have been wanting for Benalla.
So whilst there is a wonderful man-made lake in Benalla and other splendid tourist destinations in the area, think twice if you have a caravan or wish to cycle around the area.
Caravaners are generally a very astute group of people, and if the are not made welcome they 'go somewhere else' to spend their money. Benalla is missing out on an enormous amount of tourist dollars, and rightly so. So as I said, think twice before making Benalla a stop over.