A council in WA’s south west has announced that its long-planned free camping trial will start at the end of this month … and many local caravan parks are reportedly not happy about it.
From March 31, the Shire of Harvey will offer 48-hour free short-stay rest areas to fully self-contained RV and caravan travellers.
It is doing so on a 12-month trial basis.
The new free camping sites are located at:
Self-contained motorhomes and caravans have a new free camping destination to head to. PIC: Cizza
The council says online bookings will be required via the Harvey Region website from March 31.
“Because there are a limited number of bays available and the Shire of Harvey wants to encourage patronage of local caravan parks, only fully self-contained RV and fully self-contained towed caravan travellers are permitted to use the free bays during the Trial,” a spokesperson told the Grey Nomads.
While more than 80% of respondents to last year’s community consultation were in support of the trial, five of the council’s seven caravan parks were opposed.
Harvey Shire president Paul Gillett told the West Australian newspaper that the trial would focus on attracting travellers currently bypassing the council as a stopover as they travelled to other areas offering free RV short-stay options.
“It seeks to maximise sustainable economic benefits from RV and caravan tourism through increasing visitation numbers, increasing spending and extending the length of stay of RV and caravan travellers in the Harvey Region”, he said.
Although the trial is scheduled to last 12 months, it will be reviewed after six months.
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I think this is amazing , travellers do shop in town , we can only stay where their are toilets, as we are not self contained , but would love to be able to stay at these spots as well , even willing to pay , caravan parks are well over priced Now as a pensioner , it does get diffficult to travel more often QLD does offer toilets in some of their 24-48 how stops with coin donations
Yes I agree they will be great, however they do require you to be self contained. So I don’t think you will qualify.
Great idea but this has to be policed by the council everyday even though it’s online bookings as other states when you get there people have over stayed or they have just turned up and taken your spot
Great idea, but we are not fully self contained. So no change for us. ATM seek free spots or National Parks (our favourite) in-between towns, and pull into a random towns just to do grocery shopping, and stay in CP’s every so often to do our washing, so nothing really changes.
as long as it clearly specific what is define self contained , not even specific guideline what is self contained in australia. need some black and white written
You have your own toiler/shower and enough water for such. And you take your rubbish with you. That is my idea of self contained.
And not letting water drop on the ground, ig sink, shower. That’s what I’ve been told,
Agreed!
I swag it and have a portable chemical toilet with cassette. I s that self contained enough?
Self-contained means taking all solid waste, grey water and black water waste with you, so as long as you collect your great water as well as rubbish and chemical toilet you would qualify.
Wow, 2 bays here and 3 bays there, giving a grand total of 10 bays. This part of WA is huge and towns could be providing a decent sized area for many more campers. They could also provide a toilet so campervans can stay a night.
But once again we have this self contained rule, so it only benefits those people with the $100,000 motorhomes or a dual cab and expensive caravan.
Ten bays is a bit pathetic!
As it is a trial, they may extend later. Better than nothing, helps the towns to get tourists to stay a while & a bit more revenue.
There is well over 10 other locations in the same shire that can take well over 10 times that amount in alternative camp grounds. There are many places to stay if you look for them.
we don’t have an expensive dual cab or caravan . Our setup is a 20 year old Toyota Prado and 17 year old caravan that has an shower and toilet fitted and a grey water tank and we are pensioners as well so if we can so can others as some camper trailers cost a lot more than our setup
We are much the same. We fitted a grey water tank and have a shower and toilet on board. Love the free camps.
My husband fitted an extra water tank and 50 ltre grey water tank to our 1999 18ft Spaceland caravan, and it’s pulled by a 2010 Pajero. We love being able to enjoy camping without the confines of what are mostly tourist parks not caravan parks these days.
$40k self contained Ford Transit here, Campervan Karen. And with so few bays the cost of the self contained set-up is irrelevant
Not necessarily we have a 16.8ft pop top
Van and have an ensuite too
What’s the point of 10 bays as you’ll never get one anyways so just do what we all do and park up where you like and take a rest or even stay over night.
This council is just another joke like all their RV friendly signs they put up.
It’s a start. Who knows what might happen if people use what is provided and look after the sites.
Agree. Chances of booking one of the few sites is virtually zilch. There’s plenty of places around Harvey where you could accommodate many more bays. The only people that are against encouraging free camping are the Caravan Parks. The local shopowners and businesses are the beneficiaries. Unless there is a specific reason to visit a particular town, and there are no free camping options, I’ll just continue on to the next one.
Stop with the abuse. At least this council is doing something !!!
Just get a chemical toilet and a flannel.
What a load of ….. You don’t need a $100k unit to be self contained.
Provided you have a toilet & shower, can carry your own water and have a grey water tank – and take it with you, you’re classified as self contained.
If you’re buying new then yes you’ll spend that plus more on a unit.
It’s your choice what type of unit you use.
Where do you get this $100000 from. Look around you and see all the bus conversions on the road, many of them self contained. Doesn’t cost very much to be self contained and takes up little space.
The more bays you add will cause costs to the shire to police and manage it. As they don’t make any money from it they won’t do that. It’s a trial for the time being to see if it gets abused.Fingers crossed people do the right thing by the providers!
Agree with you its not hard to put a toilet in and they would get the cost of it back real quick
and if they put a box in for receipts they acn find out how much was spent there
Having freecamps will benefit towns. There are plenty of people who prefer to stay in caravan parks. We refuse to spend any money in a town that forces us into a caravan park…. we always travel straight through the Harvey Shire. We often stay in Boddington both at the freecamp or at the caravan park. Harvey, I think you will find freecamping lucrative for your local businesses.
Always Support the Local Butcher & Local Baker of TOWNS that Support Free Camping …
10 sites is quite pathetic and to think the cp’s are complaining. Aren’t they the ones who built chalets to stop people staying in motels or the local hotel? Pot calling the kettle black once again. Poor old WA which is my home state has a lot to learn when it comes to offering the travelling public a choice. Believe me if you don’t offer a choice people will still just pass you by. If us full-time travellers were to stay at cp’s 365 nights a year at $45 p/n that would cost us $16425 per year. Some of the really lucky ones can afford this type of money but why should the rest miss out on seeing our beautiful country on the whims of cp owners who only look at themselves? Time for councils to consider all businesses in towns not just the one who wants to make all the money at the expense of the other businesses in town.
I fully agree Wendy, some of these CP operators are hypocrites. They seem to be intent on taking business away from hotel/motels by replacing powered sites with chalets while at the same time criticising councils for negatively affecting THEIR business with these free/low cost campsites. Really??
We stayed at Bunbury under a similar arrangement. 4 parking bays on the side of the road free for 48 hours. We are fully self contained and did plenty of spending whilst stopped in town, from groceries, hair dressing, tours & pharmacy. We probably wouldn’t have stopped right in Bunbury had that not been available as travelling with 4 children puts the average caravan park out of reach financially for us when they charge around $10 per child per night extra. We had to go in to the visitor info centre and register our details and rego number and were given a permit to put in our windscreen. It was so easy and friendly and probably one of the best stops we’ve had in WA so far.
We also spent up on groceries in Harvey but only because we stayed at Lake Brockman for a week. Had we just been passing through we probably would have only had a quick toilet stop there and pushed straight through to a bigger town for shopping. These roadside bays are a good thing for travelling families.
I had a hotel in North Queensland with free camping for fully self contained vans the money spend for the community was very welcoming
A few clubs & pubs around NSW have free camping, you just have to buy a meal
Slightly off topic but I stayed in a self contained only place in S.A. and the fully self contained caravan was letting it’s washing up water run out onto the fake grass. Where as non- fully self contained me watered a plant with my plant friendly dish water.
Don’t know how you police this though
In dry times the caretakers might suggest you “save a tree” with your water. But we always ask first. Some pipes put out grey sludge that I would not like to step in. Pick it up with paper towel if you are in this situation please.
Not enough caravan parks to accommodate the huge increase in New caravan in recent couple years. Nothing but SORRY WE ARE FULL. This is taking all the fun out of travelling and it’s giving Caravan Parks a license to PRICE GOUGE. Prices have gone through the roof mainly because they can get away with it. No more competition, parks are full, and they are raking it in. Buy a caravan and stay home as it’s becoming unaffordable, that’s if you can get a sight that is.
All businesses have had price hikes. The parks are not immune from this. Even Councils have been hiking their fees to van parks. Business is now very tough.
Great to hear. Hope they police it to fully self contained vans as some beautiful scenic stops are looking like toilet dumps. I think the travel campers vans,(juicy campers etc) without toilets are polluting our beautiful country.
There are many ways to have a toilet set up if you can not carry a porta pottie. Google ideas. As long as you take your rubbish with you everyone should be allowed to free camp.
And when you’re out in the never never lands dig a deep hole and bury your number 2’s. It’s not hard to do.
There are so many of us that haven’t travelled this beautiful country yet, that want to, so don’t spoil it.
Yes 10 bays is rather pathetic. Travellors will stop and spend in friendly towns that are often dictated to by overseas corporation owned caravan parks that charge like a wounded bull. Then they price gouge each school holidays so some family’s simply can’t afford the traditional Oz school holiday. Time for Councils to run their own parks again and local business’s to dictate who stays and spends. If the corporate sector want to create “theme” parks complete with bouncy castles and minigolf and charge a premium then fine , but give the rest of us Nomads the option of a quiet place with a dunny , a communal rotunda and an easy stroll to town and we’ll be there.
Typical caravan parks arking up 10 bays in total is hardly likely to affect any caravan parks the CPs need to wake up to themselves they have been charging far too much people have invested $100k plus for self sufficient vans because of the rip off chargers the parks should drop the price and encourage more vans and campers not everyone uses bouncy pillows nor does everyone use power or even the facilities
I hope the caravan parks are reading these comments I have first hand info that they dictate to the towns council about how many caravan parks can be added so as to charge whatever they like no wonder people are looking for free camping
Fantastic. Of course the CP are against it. They aren’t getting the exorbitant rates they are charging now! Go Harvey Shire and all others who are getting on board with the idea of bringing money into their towns!! Congratulations
I don’t care what the caravan parks have to complain about as we phoned them all and they where booked for months in advance and asking price is $75 per night for a couple at one park. So if you are trying to encourage people to stop and spend a dollar this is a excellent opportunity, also sporting ovals and the like should be considered.
I was just saying to my wife that I think it would be cheaper for us to stay in a caravan park rather than free camp as we always spend lots in the small communities that we free camp at by buying either lunch or dinner as well as morning and afternoon teas and in saying that we have no regrets in supporting the small businesses of these communities.
Fuss about nothing… I’ve stayed many times at Snell Park, there are no signs to say you can’t, but be prepared for an early wake up when the trains pass…. I always shop at the Bakery on the corner
Once again, CP operators fail to understand who their customers are. Marketing 101: Fail.
WA is by far the most RV Unfriendly State. The caravan park mafia have a firm hold. I know that I will never spend time (8 months) or money there again, and many I spoke to felt the same.
Ready recently about a free stop that asked you to put your receipts from the town in a box provided so they could weigh up the advantages. Give it a try, nothing to loose.
Five of the seven caravan parks oppose the idea. Well fancy that. Well i never. Of course they’re gonna oppose it. It’s like asking a bank robber if cops are a good idea.
So can you please explain what you consider self contained to mean as my caravan has a shower toilet ect because if you want to increase the number of visitors to your town if I need a grey water tank then I still won’t be stopping self contained needs to be verified as to exactly what is required as l would consider my caravan self contained
Self contained means holding all used on board water in a grey water tank for sink, basin and shower or black water in a toilet cassette in such a way that nothing evacuates from the motorhome, caravan or camper unless intended into an approved dump point.
Will these free camps have access to a dump point?
The one in Australind is right next to a new dump point and is right on the estuary. Beautiful spot with a tavern and Chinese restaurant a short walk away
Are the objecting caravan parks offering low fee parking for self- contained rigs?…I doubt it so they have no right to complain
Just adding my point of view free camper don’t stay in van park very often so van parks don’t miss very much at all we stay free we’re we can and nearly always buy food fuel or go to the local for tea there are time we don’t need to spend in town but not often. The out of the way towns have very little to offer but a free camp to traveler’s as for self contained. Your own power shower toilet and a tank to carry your grey water away with you. ( safe travels every one )
We are permanently on the road and fully self contained. We try to support the small towns by spending money on groceries or tourist spots but we can’t afford both parks fees and spending money in town. As pensioners we budget carefully. No free or cheap camp and we don’t stay.
You will find the people who stay in caravan parks will stay in caravan parks.
It will only be positive for the town.
If they are in quiet areas close to town facilities. ie shops and attractions this is a great idea. I travel in a motorhome and find it inconvenient when parked up for a night or two, to pack up and drive t shops etc to get groceries. Walking distance to town centre is a must need for my type of travel. In addition Policing of sites is mandatory as sometimes I arrive late and to find someone in allocated space can cause some tension. The council ranger or such should mark the sites with name of person booking. Just look at how the National Park system works when you turn up at allocated camp site to see someone has just “pulled in” as it was empty.
Stastics from previous councils all around Australia show an increase in dollars spent by Nomads if allowed to stay.
We always look for 24/48h free stops. Always go to the local hotel for a meal and a drink. No free overnight and we drive straight through. Prefer to stop in a town, but if not then it’s out in the bush
When we did the lap, they did this at Geraldton, you were asked to put your spending dockets in a bin provided to see what people were actually spending?
It was for self-sufficient vans only.
I was told at the time it was because no one was stopping there due to the one caravan park charging extraordinary overnight rates.
With the rise of self-contained caravans, I can imagine that this will continue to be a problem for the local tourist industry.
Pre-booked free camping is not “free” camping. Just similar to national parks which have fallen out of favour.
Hi, I do believe many towns are short sighted by not encouraging travellers to stop on free sites. It may not seem a worthwhile idea to councils initially but we do believe it would be worthwhile, they should try to come up with an idea to quantify the value over an extended period of time to the over all town as beneficiaries. Tasmania is a good example of encouraging travellers to visit but providing free quality over nighters.
What a joke. So few sites. Majority of cp’s arcing up at the suggestion. We’re set up to free camp all self contained but we shall not avail ourselves of this “ opportunity “. Like buying a lottery ticket, online booking has the same odds. It’s a token gesture best, and disingenuous at worst.
I can understand councils that think like this, no such thing as a free vcamp. Someone picks up the tab.Free campers have a bad name.
York has had free camping in its Main Street for years. They even supply power. Fantastic. The people camped next to us spent over $500 in the town, and our spend would’ve been at least half that. That was money York wouldn’t have received if the free camp wasn’t there. We are fully self contained so for us free camping is our choice 80% of the time.
Some van parks are just to expensive,,if you have pay big money in Parks,you can’t spread the money around town,,simple..
10 bays , pathetic , and the caravan parks ain’t happy about it , unbelievable but I suppose it’s a start
Won’t make any difference to me. I won’t go to WA as I travel with a dog & have been told several times by different people that WA is the most unfriendly state when it comes to dogs. Also a whole 10 bays? Really? Wow.
You can be self contained using a porter potti and a grey water tank on wheels. Both cost a bit over $100 so a cheap way to be self contained. You don’t need a shower every night. A flannel and the sink will do as God a job as a shower
Totally Bizarre! WA has a tiny population and is the size of Europe and yet you have to book months in advance for a cp. Uk could fit in WA god knows how many times and people are crammed in shoulder to shoulder and yet there are cps everywhere and temporary holiday sites that cost no more than $18 per night. The temp sites are great, a field is rented and always has disposal and water. Wake up WA!!
On a trail base’s,great idea,hope it’s a positive experience…with on going availability…
If councils wish to do this then they also need to waive all council caravan park fee’s to allow these parks to lower their fee’s to compete, or alternatively pay the caravan parks a mutually agreed fee to allow free parking, then councils don’t need to supply, clean and maintain free sites.
We stayed at Bridgetown, first in basis, no bookings, four sites and self contained only.
The big thing is Free Power and Water Hook up.
Congratulations to the local council.
Short Answer; YES
I have a completely self sustained 4×4 set up with rooftop tent, shower tent & toilet facility. Does the ‘RV & caravan’ rule include my type of setup?
Bunbury has similar sites along their foreshore. A visit to the council offices to book in. They give you a wealth of info on the area, what’s going on around town. Stayed last year for 2 nights. They told us if someone has taken a spot and not displayed their booking receipt call them and a ranger would come down and move them on. Beautiful.
This would be great if some of the other shires jumped on board..some caravan park fees are quite high and don’t offer senior discounts.. I’m happy to pay a fee for stays. Being a single traveler I have to pay full site fees which becomes quite expensive.
It is a trial… If people flaunt the rules made you can be sure that this will end and others thinking of doing it won’t.
I am all but certain based on comments here and what other site have said, as usual there will be people stuff this up for everyone else.
Self contained means just that, what you bring with you you take, or take to the disposal areas provided. Not go to the loo in the bush, not leave rubbish, not drop grey water on the ground. Not rocket science.
The shire has both dump points and bins. If you don’t have a loo or grey water storage then you are NOT self contained.
Spend some money in the town, do the right thing and we may just see this expanded.
Good on you Harvey Council to appreciate the Grey Nomads – we are nomads, have been for 10 years and always use the local area to buy food and fuel when we free camp, good support of the free camp areas, as well as keep it clean is much appreciated. A must for council to police this though, as the non self contained always creep in to stay and end up spoiling it for all of us.
We always spend in any free or 48 hour stop over as a way to say thanks.