On the road: Outdoor holiday start-ups cash in on chase for luxury

Beth and Lee Brown started their Twilight Glamping business with no shortage of fights over how to set up a tent.

"It took us a lot of time and a lot of arguments, to be honest. We were doing all the setting up by ourselves, after work and on the weekends," says Lee Brown.

These days, the British expats are "extremely quick" at setting up a luxurious camping site for punters along the Great Ocean Road, which can include everything from comfy beds to snack boards and indoor plants.

The couple have used word of mouth and community connections to grow their business to $250,000 a year, cashing in on Australia's multibillion-dollar camping and caravanning sector where customers now demand high-tech luxury.

Day-to-day operations usually involve "a mess" of cleaning up camp sites, doing laundry and packing tents up and down, Brown says.

But with camping-ground related revenue alone hitting more than $1 billion a year, according to Ibisworld, success is all about claiming your patch fast.

"In terms of competition, I feel like we got in at the right time, before people started getting in left right and centre," Brown says. Read more

Emma Koehn - Brisbane Times - 2 Dec 2018