Hi everyone, happy new year. How do you feel staying in free camps with regards to safety? Would value your opinion as we are doing that and so far no problems but I wonder. regards. rocket n strop
Hi Rocket n Strop, It has been in the free camps that we have met loads of great people. I think that most of the negative stories we have heard about camping in the bush have been started by caravan park owners. We have never felt threatened or worried about anything at all. I guess that if you are in a remote place that a gut feel is the order of the day. If it doesn't feel right, move on. Love the bush. Get into it and enjoy!
Been free-camping in one sort of way or another for 30+ years and never had a problem
Some places are visible from the roadside, others not visible
Some places on riverbanks with other campers up & down the bank too
Some places out in the mulga with no-one in sight
and never a problem ~ often I find we didn't snib the door the night before
We love free camping.
If the spot looks run down,rubbish about & tyre marks in the dirt the odds are the locals use it for all the wrong reasons. Look elsewhere.
We've never lost anything to theft. It's pretty hard to outrun an arrow fired from a compound hunting bow. ( tongue in cheek )
We've stayed in a variety of free camps, from access roads to rest stops and never had any trouble (ran into a few - very few - inconsiderate backpackers but they didn't cause any security issue more like low grade annoyance.
Friends had some grog pinched while camping in a caravan park and never had anything touched at any of the free sites they stayed at in their first lap. Don't leave anything out as temptation. Lock it, hide it whatever but don't leave it on display.
In my camping history 1957 to present This includes Britain, Europe, North America, New Zealand, Australia, with never a problem. Nor anything ever stolen while free camping.
we have free camped regularly over the last few years without any problems. A lot of times we have been on our own and never worried about being on our own. We are fairly careful where we camp so would be unlikely that there would be any trouble.
never had problems either. Read once that a couple had problems with local youths who used the area for drinking and doing burn-outs. These ****s apparently parked a vehicle against the van door so the couple were trapped inside, then rocked the van and let all their tyres down before driving off. Don't know if it was for real or urban myth, but as chopit says - if theres broken bottles and skid marks etc and within about 15 km of a town, then move on and find somewhere else - when we free camp, we always aim to be there by 2pm, so we can move on if necessary to the next Camps or Wikicamps location without rushing and still arriving during the day to check out the next site and not knock down the 'roo population (and the front of our ute)
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
I usually stop in town or or between towns .. On the outskirts of towns we avoid ...
Never had any issues.. We have cameras all round m home .
. My Mrs would take care of things anyway.. Lol
We also have been freedom camping for many years, never had a problem anywhere,
I can't say the same for caravan parks, twice we have had cloths stolen off the cloths line from right outside our door,
We much prefer bush camping as we have met many great couples this way, where as we have found that in caravan parks, there seems to be an unexplained note of snobbery ,,,,,, don't speak to us, we have a van and tug worth ten times as much as yours !!
there's one thing that really gets up my nose, it doesn't seem to matter where you camp, there is nothing worse than having a zip Banger arrive well after dark, park right beside your van and then they commence to see how many times they can bang that flaming door before someone tells them what their parentage is.
maybe people are more friendly towards each other in bush camps, because after happy hour, they have got to know each other and feel safe together.
Just my Bobs worth chucked in.
K.J.
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From Coast to Coast, We'll see it all.......One Day
I am a Solo Traveller for the past 9 years (Fiat Ducato - Avan Applause) have only covered 172,000 kilometres, been almost everywhere, twice round the block (both ways), up the Strezelecki and down the Birdsville tracks (dust like you wouldn't believe), backwards and forwards to Broome (love it) and even Darwin during the wet.
Free camping, well it's a lot more than 'no cost camping' - it's freedom camping. ie. Camping with complete freedom of choice. During my 9 years of Motorhome travel, I have utilised the services of a caravan park (acc. to my well kept diary records) on not more than 16 occasions. that being my choice for two major reasons. Certainly the cost of caravan parks is a consideration, however, when one is freedom camping, one chooses isolation or mixing with others of a similar nature. The second major reason being that one can get closer to nature and become one with this wonderful/beautiful land of Australia.
Now, to address your query. In all of my 172,000 and nine years (more than 2,000nights), I have never felt insecure or unsafe. Never have I been in any situation that was threatening or that may have developed into an unsafe camp.
Many people reason that they stay in caravan parks for the security, well, you don't need me to tell you about the dangers and noise of caravan parks. When freedom camping, should you not like the area, other campers or noise, very simply you move on, don't try this at a caravan park.
Rocket, I apologise that this has got so long, but I'm a committed freedom camper and I love to share my joy and happiness with others. Go out there and join the fun!
Best regards, happy travelling, Debussey
-- Edited by Debussey on Friday 9th of January 2015 04:11:35 PM
I am a Solo Traveller for the past 9 years (Fiat Ducato - Avan Applause) have only covered 172,000 kilometres, been almost everywhere, twice round the block (both ways), up the Strezelecki and down the Birdsville tracks (dust like you wouldn't believe), backwards and forwards to Broome (love it) and even Darwin during the wet.
Free camping, well it's a lot more than 'no cost camping' - it's freedom camping. ie. Camping with complete freedom of choice. During my 9 years of Motorhome travel, I have utilised the services of a caravan park (acc. to my well kept diary records) on not more than 16 occasions. that being my choice for two major reasons. Certainly the cost of caravan parks is a consideration, however, when one is freedom camping, one chooses isolation or mixing with others of a similar nature. The second major reason being that one can get closer to nature and become one with this wonderful/beautiful land of Australia.
Now, to address your query. In all of my 172,000 and nine years (more than 2,000nights), I have never felt insecure or unsafe. Never have I been in any situation that was threatening or that may have developed into an unsafe camp.
Many people reason that they stay in caravan parks for the security, well, you don't need me to tell you about the dangers and noise of caravan parks. When freedom camping, should you not like the area, other campers or noise, very simply you move on, don't try this at a caravan park.
Rocket, I apologise that this has got so long, but I'm a committed freedom camper and I love to share my joy and happiness with others. Go out there and join the fun!
Best regards, happy travelling, Debussey
-- Edited by Debussey on Friday 9th uary 2015 04:11:35 PM
thanks debussey for your very informative info. We need people of here that have done this for years to help us new ones along. We have had a few problems with the van but that's it. moving on tomorrow to a freedom camp. yahoo.
When we first started this wonderful lifestyle I was rather paranoid about safety and security. I read a number of articles from different sources and came to the conclusion that if a campground is messed up and has skids all over, that's one to avoid. I like the idea of a front line attitude adjuster so I carry a cattle prod. Never had to use it.
I think being smart and getting to know the neighbours is the best security in these places.
I have been advised if the town has problems with the locals then it best not to make camp within walking distance from the town
Yup! Stay out of town about 10k's or more, and watch for skid-marks, or lotsa cans/bottles. This usually means its a playground of a type you might not like.
Never had any problems, although moved on once because of uncongenial group of campers nearby.
