That idea eventually turned into the company Youcamp, an online directory allowing landowners and farmers the ability to 'rent' their land as camping space.

Now, 10 years later, the company has joined forces with San Francisco based Hipcamp, and is seeing growth beyond anything else in its history.

Hipcamp now offers a fully automated service between campers and hosts, and includes $10m of public liability insurance with each booking as a safeguard for both parties.

Hipcamp's Operations Manager, Brooke Wood, said Hipcamp's American arm was amazed at the work Youcamp had done in Australia.

"Between 2012 and 2014 we were in start-up mode," she said. "We won some small competitions and won some funding from PayPal to invest in the website, but it was still very much a directory at that point.

READ MORE: Eurobodalla Shire Council begins to reopen facilities in line with COVID-19 roadmap

"We'd charge an annual subscription of $50 to list the land, but our owner James always used to call it a 'dating site for camping'.

"There were some downfalls with the early website: they still had to exchange cash on the day, and you'd have situations where campers wouldn't show up or the hosts wouldn't be there at the right time, so a lot of improvement was needed.

"We went and sought funding and turned the website into a two-sided marketplace where everything happens online.

"In 2020 we joined forces with Hipcamp, the world's largest resource for outdoor stays - it was a really good match and enabled us to keep growing our business here.

"We now have more than 2000 host properties in Australia with almost 15,000 campsites, and we have 25 hosts here in the Eurobodalla Shire."

The company recently made news when they announced they had paid back more than $50,000 of JobKeeper to the government, a decision Ms Wood described as "the right thing to do".

READ MORE: Eurobodalla Shire walking trails: Murramurang National Park and Durras beaches

"Last year when we came out of the bushfires, a lot of our summer trade was cancelled along the east coast," she said.

"Then we went into lockdown in March, and all of our Easter bookings were completely cancelled.

"It just happened to be the right time for us to join with HipCamp, and JobKeeper allowed us to put on some extra stacaroff knowing we had a safety net behind us.

"Everything opened in June last year and we started to explode. It continued all through spring and summer, and the business has gone really well in spite of the recent lockdown.

"We felt confident we could do it (pay back JobKeeper), and it was the right thing to do.

"We're expecting things to fire back up for us in November."

READ MORE: Police appeal for information after multiple break ins at Tuross and Moruya businesses

Ms Wood said Hipcamp offers a wide-range of potential stays for campers.

"70 per cent of our properties are like this, open paddocks on a farm, and then we have a mixture of glamping tents, cabins, shearing sheds, and on-site caravans," she said.

"I believe the best place to stay is Natural Bridge Retreat in Queensland. It has the most magnificent private waterfall where they shot some of the old Palmolive ads, so you can go up there and recreate that scene.

"The quirkiest place is probably a property near Coober Pedy where it looks like you're staying on Mars.

"We have wilderness retreats in Tasmania, a camp up in the Daintree Rainforest, and the most magnificent property out in Western Australia where you can camp among the Boab trees."

Guy and Carolina McPhee host a campsite on their property in Runnyford, and said they only had positive experiences with the company.

READ MORE: Healthcare workers apprehensive about reopening as government shakes up roadmap

"It attracts the type of people we want camping here," Mrs McPhee said.

"We want families and people who enjoy nature, not the rowdy bunches, and Hipcamp seems to aim more towards that type of person.

"We haven't had a bad experience with any of our campers yet."

The McPhee's have hosted the campsite for almost three years after originally reaching out to Ms Wood, who they knew through their children.

"We'd heard a few people talking about it, and I knew Brooke through our kids, so I did a bit of research," Mrs McPhee said.

"I was seriously thinking about it, so I reached out to Brooke to see what the process was, and she helped me put the ad together for the website."

READ MORE: Bega Cheese reports two positive COVID-19 employees, begins controlled shutdown of site

Mr McPhee, who runs a egg and beef farm on the property, said the hosting was the perfect way to earn a bit of extra cash.

"I used to walk past here during Easter or the school holidays and just think it was this dead spot doing nothing," he said.

"I'd ring Caroline and say 'we should rent this out you know'."

Ms Wood said Hipcamp was tapping in to some of the "best land in Australia".

"People have been doing this for centuries, going and camping on people's land near the riverbank," she said.

"Normally they'd find they way there for free or knock on the dark and ask, and Hipcamp formalises that and lets the farmers and landowners benefit.

"The next level for us is streamlining regulations around the country to make it easier for people to open their gates, because the best land in Australia is behind those gates."