Fletcher Creek has now got a dump point. Been up and running about a week. Its great to have. Thanks Charters Towers Council. There are a lot of campers at the moment. There was some trouble with the two 'permanent residents' near the campsite toilet block. One ordering caravaners away from "his property" he was quite a bully. Several of the male members of campers confronted him peacefully and he backed off, Not very nice people, either of them.
Not nice at all valnrob, I know the spot you are talking about too. Nice place FC. I was given a guided tour of there only a few weeks ago. We might even get to meet this year seeing we just missed each other last year "by that much".
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Fletcher Creek has now got a dump point. Been up and running about a week. Its great to have. Thanks Charters Towers Council. There are a lot of campers at the moment. There was some trouble with the two 'permanent residents' near the campsite toilet block. One ordering caravaners away from "his property" he was quite a bully. Several of the male members of campers confronted him peacefully and he backed off, Not very nice people, either of them.
Great news - the council surveyed many people there last year when we were passing through - very friendly people (those who they spoke to stated to us) it seemed that the bill to remove garbage etc was getting up to $60,000 per annum, and talk of a small daily levy was mooted.
Did this eventuate? Many old timers who camped there on and off for years were mortified,,, $5 per day to stay here "never was the cry" from many.
Others like us were only too willing to share in a small contribution.
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Why is it so? Professor Julius Sumner Miller, a profound influence on my life, who explained science to us on TV in the 60's.
$5 Jesus, it is the cost of a cup of coffee these days.
That fee of $5 is what I like to refer to as free camping bush/independent camping.
It would be great if all free camps had a permanent fee of $5, then we would probably see more opportunities for free camping?????
Despite the conscientiousness of members on this forum (and other camping/caravanning forum members too) I unfortunately do believe the majority of 'travelling campers' are inconsiderate. It is small wonder many councils and communities find "us" intolerable.
I re-post this from another forum I visit. It sort of says it all -
The Donation box at Wyandra QLD yielded a total of just over $620 for the full year last year (2013). At 2pm today (29 June 2014) there were 15 vans and motorhomes in the camp area and no doubt more will arrive later in the day. If it is assumed that over a six month period (180 days) during the busy time of the year an average of 10 caravans/motorhomes stay at this facility each day then the collection is just slightly less than $9 per day. It is not unusual to see 20 plus vehicles there at night and taking into account the usage during the other six months of the year it is obvious that there are a lot of freeloaders on the road.
Yes, there are signposts reading "free camping behind state school" but there are also several signs requesting a donation.
All I can say is that I hope that those who see fit to not contribute can rest easy with what little conscience they obviously have.
Also in the middle of the camp area there is the remains of a large camp fire with the remains of several glass bottles and numerous drink cans in it. A lovely contribution.
Cheers - John
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I spoke to some Charters Towers locals who referred to Fletchers as Charters Slum. They said it was because of the mess left by some campers. All us campers need to make extra efforts to keep these places clean. Not just the camp area but the toilet blocks too. It doesn't take much effort to put paper towels and toilet roll tubes in the garbage instead of throwing then on the floor. There were over 100 vans there last week, imagine if this place wasn't available anymore.
