Greedy c/van park owners are the bane of most GNS. $44 a night for unpowered site at Amity PT, Nt Straddy, is ridiculous!.Then they winge when nobody wants to book.Get real, you idiots.

We simply don't visit Victoria, much more to see elsewhere without the hassles.

Vic is over regulated, over rated and over priced.

John I completely agree with what you have written. They are not complaining about GN's who are Freedom Camping outside of town but the ferals that camp along the shoreline.
I am with you I have no idea how they can "camp" like this but they do. Sorry if you cannot afford to go into a campsite or camp outside of the town in designated areas then stay home.
It is this kind of behaviour that causes the angst and has the great spots that are available eventually closed down. There are some great spots along the coast line there to freedom camp. As Doug said, Killarney, and then Fitzroy River, and there are other spots also.

Abide by the laws of each town and then there is no problem.

brickies wrote:

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We love to free camp if we can , But never expect to be able to free camp in a tourist town or a big city , Home Hill in North Queensland has a great free camp in there little town but they are given a lot of trouble from back packers. A lot of the time council are trying to control the back packers and they are only have the locals concerns , These back packers would never stay in caravan parks and I don't think the park owner would want them

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brickies,

Guess that is the camp beside the railway just at back of shopping centre?  Stopped & had a look  with view to staying overnight, kept going. There are some towns that have a pretty bad reputation in western NSW that I would feel Much safer in. A real shame for the locals.

Mike.

 

 

 

Stayed in a nice little council caravan park at Croydon in north Queensland $ 20 a night and washing machine free , They were about to put a coin slot for $2 a load because backpacker were coming in after the office closed and leave before they open and use all there Amenities for free and leave a mess . So us grey nomads need to under stand why sometimes .

Can't see anybody camped in that photograph ! looks to me that they have locked their cars and vans while they have gone to the beach or somewhere, the same as i would do no matter what the vehicle.
also i cannot see anybody parked illegally, whether asleep inside or not, no signs to say a time limit either.
Pomme.

Yes I agree with most of what you say John and I dislike greedy park owners with a passion, but in a case like this the park owners are possibly making sure they don't get these "campers" in their park, although $72 is excessive even for this purpose. Friar

I agree - illegal camping is not on - some of the smaller towns try really hard, we have stayed at Home Hill, near the station where everyone else stays, great spot - but the backpackers are a problem, making messes and not cleaning up after themselves, and taking up a lot of sites, washing hung all over the place.
The Home Hill showground is open (I presume it still is) - and it is very cheap $10 or $15 - but as you say, you never see backpackers and the like in these places - I believe their thinking it is their God given right to camp wherever they like.

We have spent a few nights in two different "free" camps - at Ardlethan (NSW) the small area for camping is right in town, beside the bowling club, you there are four power outlets, and for $2 you get 12 hours of power. Terrific initiative - the town has an IGA, newsagency/café, another café, fuel and a few other shops.

The other place was Gooloogong (also NSW) - diagonally opposite the pub (good meals and prices) - and a short walk to the Handy Mart. They have eight powered sites, and two tent sites. Toilets and HOT showers - all of this for a gold coin donation. Good on the town.

Both a bit off the beaten backpacker track - so hopefully they don't ruin it for everyone - not only backpackers are a bit of a nuisance, some people treat free camps as their annual holiday spot - noticed this in Theodore (QLD) - quite a lot there from down south, go there every year for their "holiday" - sometimes it is pretty hard getting a spot there.

-- Edited by jules47 on Thursday 22nd of January 2015 09:23:04 PM

Seems to me that we are our own worst enemy. Self contained campers are demanding free camping under the guise of " freedom" camping. The concept of freedom being lost by debate over cost. To me freedom means parking in the position I like ( under a shade tree or not, not near others so I can snore in peace etc ) Being able to wake up and move on when I want not dictated to an alarm to get me outta there by 10 am. The call for self contained sites in towns to me is the catalyst to unrest amongst campers, caravan parks and residents of the town. We should be grateful when free camps are offered and show our respect by looking after the site and supporting the town where we can. If I was a park owner and saw my business cut after the introduction of free camps in town I would have no alternative but to increase costs to consumers. This is basic business sense. The carry on about how much rv self contained spend is just that, carry on. All travellers buy petrol,food,eat out and visit tourist attractions most also pay site, motel fees etc. So being a rv self contained does not bring any extra into town. In fact the advent of these rv self contained sites detracts others from staying in town as they subsidize the free campers who feel they are entitled to a free ride. If they have so much money to spend then surely they can pay the rent like the rest of us. As I have stated in previous threads some self contained rv sites provide flushing toilets which negates the need to be self contained. A camper such as myself only carries 10 liters of water and I can assure you it isn't wasted being poured all over the ground as grey water. A rv has a much larger capacity for grey water and from my observations it gets dropped on the road way anyway so I fail to see how self contained at a toilet ed site is any different or better than non self contained. I camp often in national parks where the policy is leave no trace. They seem to cope with tent campers and non self contained vehicles. Most places are reasonably clean and most people respect the environment they go to enjoy so if national parks can provide basic toilets and offer sites to all I fail to see how towns think that they can only allow self contained vehicles in locations with facilities. In my opinion the rv self contained community should buy their own block of land in the towns they want to free camp in to the exclusion of others. They can then camp there to their hearts content and supply whatever extras they seem to need. Why should others subsidise their lifestyle. It is not fair to call park owners greedy when they are just trying to provide a service that is being undercut by councils offering some people free accommodation and not others. Self contained, have set up for free camping I fail to see why the demand for others to provide space is required. There are plenty of roadside places, it is a big country where one can camp without making demands on the lifestyle of others who welcome you into their communities. Anyway enough of my rant but it just annoys me that some think it is their God given right to demand free space to the exclusion of others. All self contained rv do not do the right thing all the time as all backpackers do not do the wrong thing all the time. Many pensioners are travelling in whizz bangs and older vans, on bikes and in tents why should they be discriminated against because the rv self contained are trying to paint all others except themselves as leaving no trace.

Baute great post

I can't find a like button. It is good to see people finally taking responsibility for their own actions and not demanding a free spot in the middle of town.
Although I feel $72 a night excessive the cost of running caravan parks have sky rocketed just like every thing else. There is a show ground in W/bool
Land tax up, in some cases parks pay up to $20000 a year, water and power up. Garbage removal up, workers wages and the list goes on.
A caravan park is a big investment and it is a business that wants to make a profit.

NeilandRaine wrote:

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I can't find a like button. It is good to see people finally taking responsibility for their own actions and not demanding a free spot in the middle of town.
Although I feel $72 a night excessive the cost of running caravan parks have sky rocketed just like every thing else. There is a show ground in W/bool
Land tax up, in some cases parks pay up to $20000 a year, water and power up. Garbage removal up, workers wages and the list goes on.
A caravan park is a big investment and it is a business that wants to make a profit.

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I couldn't agree more with your post, but with any accommodation based business its about occupancy of your available space, recently a friend purchased a motel its occupancy rate mon to thurs approximately 50%, fri & sat was almost 100% and sunday's 20%, its in a tourist area. He has made some changes to his pricing structure and rather than having an average 57% occupancy now he is close to 80% weekly and he making more turnover.

The unfortunate thing about many businesses they look at what other are charging and charge the same, instead of doing some number crunching and build their own pricing structure to maximise their return per site, don't question the $72 per night because that's what the market can stand during the peak summer season, it when peak is over, they need to work out how much power will the average van/rv consume per day, water consumption used, because all other costs remain pretty much the same.

As soon as you have all the data then you can built your business plan and pricing structure. Be a market leader and not follower and good pricing will attract a whole new clientele which equals higher occupancy and turnover.

I agree 100% on your comment

John. I agree with your comments entirely. We free or low cost free camp regularly, but would never park within a town or city unless it is signed for such.

We live near a beach about an hour north of Perth and the carparks meant for day time users are often filled with backpackers (often with English their 2nd language) who make the toilets filthy crap on the lawns at night, leave used toilet paper, baked bean cans, water bottles and all their other rubbish in the park before they move on to despoil another pristine area. The Rangers are pretty good, but these mostly young people just leave, wait till the Rangers gone and move back or re-locate to another nearby beach - despite the no camping signs