When you have kids, a holiday at a caravan park is about as good as it gets.
And the South Coast, especially, has some fantastic parks.
They are well equipped, in wonderful locations and they feel safe. The kids make friends and the parents can relax.
It's perfect.
Now, a jumping pillow doesn't make or break a holiday at a caravan park, but it's a fun addition.
At the park we attend, the pillow is fenced and surrounded by soft sand. I've never seen a kid get injured on it - or anyone else.
But, it seems, jumping pillows at caravan parks and community facilities are facing a deflating future.
ABC News reported this week that a community club in Alice Springs had closed its jumping pillow because no insurance company would underwrite it. And more parks were likely to follow suit.
The Caravan Parks Association of Queensland also flagged in a submission in 2020 that it was becoming more difficult to secure insurance for jumping pillows, even though there had not been a significant increase in injuries.
"If anything there is more risk mitigation associated with them than ever before - it is just that the insurers have changed their risk profile," the submission read.
And, yes, caravan parks are having to react, including Ingenia Holiday Parks which has facilities across Australia, including on the South Coast.
"We have been upgrading our jumping facilities across Ingenia Holiday Parks," the group's executive manager of tourism Matthew Young told us.
"This has seen us switching from pillows to jumping mats which many parents seem to prefer and allows us to offer the most modern play products for our younger guests."
A spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Australia says insurance globally is "currently in a hard market".
"Which means capital is scarce, reinsurance is more difficult to obtain, and risk appetites are low, all of which can impact the cost of premiums locally, particularly those sectors that represent a higher insurance risk," the spokesperson said.
"Since 2019, the caravan park sector has been impacted by the hard insurance market and has resulted in some insurers withdrawing from this sector of the market.
"Caravan parks located in areas of high extreme weather risk and/or which have installed guest facilities that may impact underwriting risk (like pools, water slides, jumping pillows, trampolines or licensed bars) are particularly affected by this as these facilities present more risk and have been a source of public liability claims."
The Insurance Council of Australia was now "engaging with key insurers, brokers and underwriting agencies across the caravan industry sector to explore ways to address insurance affordability and availability".
"The ICA has also been engaging with the Australian Caravan Industry Association to develop guidance and assistance to park operators on practical measures they can implement to be better placed to obtain insurance going forward." Let's hope so.
I love the manager at the caravan park we attend. She is no-nonsense and look out any kid not wearing a helmet while riding their bike. The manager, like many others in her situation, has a lot on her plate but she and her staff are across everything. And, you know, parents just need to watch their own kids as well. Hopefully, the jumping pillow dramas are not the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of all the fun being sucked out of caravan parks. They are much-loved and important, offering affordable, memorable holidays for families.
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