Alford Recreation Park; a brilliant overnighter

On our Lap of Australia, we’ve stayed at a heap of different places. Lately though, with camp sites being so close together in South Australia we have just been heading off on our travel day, and calling in at different places, stopping when we are happy with the spot. After leaving Port Augusta, we called in at Port Germein for a toilet stop, then Port Pirie with lunch at Port Broughton and finally ending up at Alford Recreation Park.

We’re not normally ones to stay in town, but this had great reviews, was free (donation) and had a playground for the kids. However, our primary motivation was that it was inland and we needed somewhere to weather the 40 – 45km/h wind that was forecast for the afternoon, and driving further seemed pointless when the next day would have better weather and there was more to see in the area.

Where is Alford Recreational Park?

Alford is a small town roughly half way between Wallaroo and Point Broughton, and the Recreational Park is just off the corner of the main road, as you drive in.

What’s at Alford Recreational Park?

I was quite surprised by this place. It’s got great toilets, a dump point, a big oval to camp on, a couple of shelters and picnic tables, swings and a playground, washing line and some options for shade.

It’s actually a pretty nice spot, and you can walk through the small town very quickly from camp.

Views from our camp at Alford — The views from our camper

Room at Alford Recreation Park — There’s plenty of room to camp on the oval too

Alford Dump Point and camping room — There’s a dump point and even some shade around the place

See it on YouTube

If you’re keen, here’s our vlog from this great low cost camp:

What does it cost to stay?

Camping here is free, although they do have a donation box (which we always suggest you drop some money into!). The donations go towards upkeep of the camp site, which is awesome.

Toilets at Alford Recreation Park — It’s a donation camp, but the money goes to keeping the camp open

Road noise

I want to make a point of mentioning the road noise, so you don’t arrive disillusioned. We had quite a few trucks rolling through on either road at the Recreational Park, and whilst it wasn’t really annoying you should know about it.

Support the community

Asides from dropping some money into the donation box, there’s a few places you can get food in town, and supporting towns that provide great camps like this is hugely important. Overall, great place, and we’d certainly stay a night again if the opportunity arose!