I'm in Kempsey at the moment ready for a meeting on free-camping problems at Crescent Head tonight - the camping issue is being called locally as "illegal camping" and the call is to ban all "free camping & illegal camping in the shire"
It seems that CH has become fed up with backpackers & squatters in the car park of the surf club Locals say that they have collected over 60 large bags of rubbish from the surf club car park and heaps of toilet waste is just left on the grass
We will be putting to council that there are alternatives - self-contained campers are different from backpackers with no toilet in their vehicles
At the moment we have not seen any agenda so can't guess as to all the topics to be raised
['we' being several members of the Freedom Camping Australia group] Any suggestions from the group?? Phil-
Most genuine free campers only require a reasonably sized level piece of land, that is safe, maybe the availability of water and a dump point, in the town, if not on site.
Thanks for posting re this, I am sure some will put their thoughts forward.
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)
Have you asked the CMCA for one of the NSW Member Benefits Team to attend the meeting as well, to me they are well versed in dealing with councils and these situations?
the people that are causing the problems won't be there
Gday...
And there lies the main problem in almost every case regarding the abuse of 'parking areas' in town/tourist areas.
The "offenders" will not be at the meeting - as always it will be the informed, caring and considerate who will be pushing the need to keep the "free" parking area for travellers to sleep in - countering the outraged local community.
There seems to be no way to make those who are the majority offenders aware of the impact they are having ... and to make the same audience WANT to change their ways. They are only interested in visiting the 'sights', spending as little as possible on accommodation (to save for partying ) and to fill their short time in our country as interesting as they can.
Backpackers (let's just hang it on them - it is so easy ) are a transient mob and rarely return to an area once they have moved on. They may stay more than one night for various reasons, but because they are in campervans, they are not necessarily stationary in the one 'parking spot' for those two or more days/nights. They pack up and move around the area and return each night. Not completely true - but in the majority of cases I suggest.
There should be CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS information BOLDLY blazoned across their lease agreement of their campervan/transport stating their obligations on choice of sleeping places. There should be a BOLD and BRIGHT sticker/s affixed to various places in their rented campervan again reminding them of their obligations to the people who are their host in their travels. Perhaps these 'words' could be emblazoned on the campervan like the lewd and offensive slogans are now.
Aps like Wikicamps should have CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS and BOLD warnings/advice on EACH camp listing reminding the need for complying with REASONABLE rules/regulations at 'parking areas' within towns - or in the bloody bush for that matter.
And that in itself is the almost insurmountable problem. no How does this get put in place? Who will ensure that is taken as an initiative and which government/authority will enforce it.
Residents will attend the meeting wanting the 'parking area' closed to anything more than a 2hour park for locals - interested, informed traveller advocates will attend and want leniency extended to travellers and perhaps some compassion and tolerance to the odd transgressor.
As always, a damned difficult and troublesome problem with limited chance of meeting the requirements (wishes?) of all sides.
However, go for it Phil - I hope they provide an open 'ear' and mind to your representation and some commonsense outcome is agreed.
Cheers - John
-- Edited by rockylizard on Wednesday 13th of January 2016 10:44:01 AM
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
Years ago we went into the Crescent Head caravan park We were given a site next to a heap of rubbish bins which were overflowing onto the ground & a bit smelly. So we asked for our money back & left.
Really you cannot blame the residents and the surf club from wanting 'illegal camping' stopped.
I know if in Toowoomba we started getting free campers be they GNs, backpackers, squatters etc in one of our parks then I for one would make sure they get moved on. Try free camping in the Sydney Opera House carpark or Jupiters Casino and see what happens.
Bush camping I have no hassle with, same with council designated overnight parking areas both which we use regularly, but I would never park where it says 'no camping allowed'.
Ratepayers and surf club members paid for the carpark and the club facilities and they also pay for the upkeep.
Remember there are 2 sides to the story.
We free-camped up the East Coast last year, and 2 years before that along the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne (in a 9m bus). We don't have an onboard toilet, but we coped. We didn't offend anyone that we know of; we chose rest stops carefully, and never, ever dumped anything anywhere but a designated dump point (we even drove to public loos first thing in the morning/last thing at night - in the bus, before returning to our chosen snooze spot).
Fact is, most serious travellers, even those who lack all the facilites, will work out how to avoid being a problem to locals. It's the backpackers, locals and semi-locals who create the problem, and not a one of them will be at this meeting.
There needs to be some form of policing of these areas, but the penalties are an issue - fines won't work (never get paid) and moving them on onlyshifts the problem to someone else's back yard.
If there is a way to get this sorted the number of visitors will drop, and some businesses will squawk? But the area will be nicer overall, residents happier, and those who will treat the area/residents with respect, will start to appear.
No-one (unless they are one themselves) wants to stay in an area overrun with feral bogans of any nationality.
For all that, I agree with Hako - advertise showgrounds as places to camp, and SIGNPOST the bloody things. Not just 'Here Be the Showgrounds' but directional signs, so travellers can find them.
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The Mobile Madhouse: me (Rosie), him (Troy), a kelpie, a kelpie-dingo, a husky & a rainbow lorikeet.
I attended the meeting with Phil (Ozzie_Traveller) last night and surprise, surprise, the issues wern't just about the backpackers, although their being their and flaunting the "parking laws" was a concern but only part of the problem.
The Car Park in question was the one by the Surf Club, whilst there we drove around the carpark and agreed this was not an ideal place to "park overnight" due to the size of the area which is not a big area.
The council was proposing a number of changes to the parking area and the purpose of the meeting was to see if the residents agreed with the purposed changes. It was evident that some of the changes would impact the residents themselves and this was of greater concern.
The suggested changes included a parking limit of 4 hours and creating a No Go Zone between 11pm and 5.00am effectively closing the car park to everybody during this time frame. The idea of introducing Paid Parking was essentially dismissed by the council due to costs to impliment it and enforce it.
It was pointed out by a resident that the toilet blocks in that area were closed at 6.00pm and reopened at around 8.00am this in itself was an issue not only to the "backpackers" but also to local residents because, Quote: "when you gotta go..... you gotta go".
Another resident pointed out that the caravan park patrons also used the car park as an overflow because the "caravan park" has a rule of one car per site during peak times. Becuse of this a great number of parking bays are being used 24 hours a day by the caravan park patrons. Then add a few backpackers and a few locals and the car park is full.
My personal conclusion:I came away from the meeting with the impression that whilst the council was trying to find a solution that would be acceptable to both residents and visitors, it was not against the idea of "Free Camping" in other areas provided it could be controlled with certain limitations. As suggested, limit the parking in these areas to "fully self contained" vehicles with time limits. In regard to the councils agenda for the meeting I personally don't think it was successfully concluded as they only allowed one hour for the meeting, which was too short IMHO.
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Steve, Di & Ziggy We named our Motorhome "Roadworx" because on the road works "On The Road Again" Ford Transit with 302 Windsor V8 conversion, C4 Auto, 9 Inch Ford Diff All Lighting L.E.D., 260 Amp/h AGM, 530 Watt Solar + Kipor Backup Gen.
I too was at the meeting Steve. I am a resident of CH and do not have a problem with free camping, how could I when I free camp as often as possible. I do however have a big problem with the few people who have no respect for the area and also the people who camp in the " no stopping" turning bay.
Your report of the meeting was accurate. I hope the problem will be resolved in the near future but it's a difficult one.
And what the council has to take into account is the resident are the ones that vote not the RV'S
Yes, that sentiment was voiced by quite a few residents with some saying on the lines of "we'll see how it goes and if it doesn't work we won't see you (councilers) in six months time".
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Steve, Di & Ziggy We named our Motorhome "Roadworx" because on the road works "On The Road Again" Ford Transit with 302 Windsor V8 conversion, C4 Auto, 9 Inch Ford Diff All Lighting L.E.D., 260 Amp/h AGM, 530 Watt Solar + Kipor Backup Gen.
Just been traveling around and using quite a few showgrounds .We find them excellent but what I cannot understand is we are at Wauchope showground ,no problem with it ,but now been informed that because of council regulation they can only have 16 vans onsite to my thinking for the size of the showgrounds is a waste they could get a lot more on .More money for the town and showground .We use them because we cannot afford to pay the exorbitant prices that van parks charge at this time of year
I'm from Crescent Head and hope that the new plans work. We need to keep pushing for a free camp area to be set up.
My biggest whinge is that the overflow of cars from the caravan park will still be able to take up valuable car spaces.
On another note the majority of people camping there were not overseas backpackers. A lot were surfers coming from different places due to the great surf we had been having over the past few weeks.
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Woolly,
Already live in Paradise but would like to see much more of this great country.
) and to fill their short time in our country as interesting as they can.
