Ever thought of opening your property to keen campers? It may be more lucrative than you think.
A North Queensland woman has turned her once part-time side hustle into her full-time gig all from allowing outdoor enthusiasts to pitch a tent in the backyard.
Katie-Ann Matsen and her partner live and work on their property Hold It Flats.
The 120-acre block is located 75kms north of Mackay bordering the O'Connell River. No strangers to the land, both have family ties and backgrounds in cane farming.
In 2018 a conversation with her brother led Kate to list their property on Hipcamp (formerly called Youcamp); an online platform for discovering and booking outdoor stays.
"My brother mentioned looking into Hipcamp and listing our property," Kate said.
"I thought about it for a month and then decided, why not?
"It is essentially Airbnb for camping and began as a bit of a hobby."
Before transitioning to her now full-time job, Kate worked as a teacher aide managing the agricultural centre at Mackay Christian College for over two decades.
"It was quite a full on role and required a lot of weekend work showing cattle," she said.
"I later moved into a groundskeeper position to ease the load and spend more time focusing on our property."
In 2020 Kate went down to three days a week as camping on their property grew in popularity.
By September of that same year, she decided to take 12-months long service leave and elected not to return to the school to manage Hold It Flats full-time.
"It did take some time in the beginning and was a gradual build up," Kate said.
"At the start we had a few campers here and there. Word of mouth played a huge role.
"During my long service leave the campsite continued to both improve and grow, so I didn't return to the position afterwards."
Hold It Flats offers 50 campsites to the public with amenities, portable fire pits and 4WD tracks on offer.
The couple had previously been involved with the Mackay Offroad Challenge offering their property as an avenue for 4x4 enthusiasts to race their vehicles.
As a result, Kate said their property was already established to a host campers.
"We had a lot of structures, such as showers and toilets, already built," she said.
"A lot of the work was about maintaining the camping area."
With interstate travel restricted during the pandemic, the popularity of the property soared with keen Queenslanders opting to holiday in their own backyard.
"I'd say at least 80 per-cent of our visitors would have been locals within a 150-km radius," Kate said.
"We've had a lot of Queensland campers and mostly families visiting."
With both school and public holiday weekends booking out in advance, there are no signs of slowing down.
"We're pretty happy with where it is now," Kate said.
"For now, we will just take it as it comes, and wait and see."
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Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
