A Sunshine Coast camping and caravan park with a connection to Australia’s transport history has been listed for sale.
No 2001 Old Gympie Road, which is home to the Glasshouse Mountains Caravan and Camping Park, is welcoming expressions of interest after long-term owner Steve Ralph decided the time was right to pass it on.
The 21-acre property features 60 powered campsites, four residences, a restaurant and commercial kitchen, equine facilities, amenities and a large shed.
It is also the home to a Cobb & Co museum and Australian Teamsters Hall of Fame, which is dedicated to the memory of early pioneers who helped shape the nation’s early transport and freight network.
Mr Ralph, who had a heart attack a couple of years ago, said he was ready to sell for health reasons and to continue his passion for building wooden wheels and horse-drawn vehicles, including a replica 75-passenger Leviathan Coach.
“I’m going on 73 and when you get that bit of a pain in the chest it makes you think about a lot of things,” he said.
“It will hurt to walk away from the place.”
He said the new owner would ideally continue to operate the park, but he acknowledged that may not happen.
“If someone buys it and wants to continue, I’ll relocate close by and if they need me to train people up and guide them, then that’s not a problem at all.”
“If someone wants it for the land, to do other things, I’ll take the ideas (transport history projects) to a couple of other areas out west.”
Mr Ralph purchased the property in the early 1980s and has spent decades working on it, largely by himself.
In that time, he’s also built thousands of wooden wheels, old vehicles and has driven teams of horses.
He said there has been some interest in the site and he expected it to sell for about $7 million.
The property is across the road from the state-heritage-listed Bankfoot House, which was established in 1868 and was used as a staging post by Cobb & Co coaches.
Sunshine Coast News has reached out to Ray White Beerwah principal Alexander Garden for comments about the property.
The sale listing describes it as an “extraordinary lifestyle and income-generating property”.
“Rarely does an opportunity of this scale, diversity and income potential come to market.”
The four residences have a combined 11 bedrooms and five bathrooms.
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