Hi all, We are off on June 15th to Darwin via usual routes and sites as first part of our trip around the West Coast to home. We have 18 weeks and hopefully this is enough time without being too quick.
Are there any issues free camping on this part of our trip, or are there enough travellers to make it relatively safe at night, assuming we camp with others. We have never free camped before and are a little unsure at this stage. I am sure after a couple of nights the nerves will be gone, but we need some assurance from more seasoned travellers.
We have a full size van with toilet/shower so we are self sufficient in that regard. The thought of a caravan park every night seems to take the fun out of what is hopefully an adventure for us.
Heck..I'll be doing similar soon from Adelaide, but my outfit is a little Suzuki towing a trailer fitted with a rooftop tent, and am a solo traveller, so don't be at all worried. Just take small precautions. The best I can recommend is to park your van (door) close to a post / tree so some evil person can't park a vehicle up close and preventing you from getting out. Has happened, and car has been stripped while your locked in. And..with a van it is easy to jump out of bed and drive away to another site if the larikans start to bother you..but that would be a rare occurance. So off you go and have a great holiday..
We spent a great deal of our trip staying in free camps and national parks and never had any security issues (although I must admit we had a few sleepless nights when we first started out!). We always avoided the free camps close to big-gish towns on weekends, we tried to find places where others were already set up and then introduced ourselves to them, and we tried to avoid camping close to busy roads as much as possible.
Hi Rob What route are you going. We have been to Darwin and tried a few side of the road trips - never had a proble. You will find that quite a few people stay on the side of the road - talk to the servos on the way - or pubs and they will give you a bit of local information and steer you in the right directions. Take care Nenie
