Caravanners left ‘terrified’ after hoons invade campsite

Published: July 20, 2022

A traveller says she and a group of other caravanners were been left ‘terrified’ after a horror night at a South Australian campsite.

Speaking to the Border Watch newspaper, the woman known only as Elizabeth to protect her identity, said she had pulled up for the night at the Admella Reserve campground at Carpenter Rocks south west of Mount Gambier when things started to go wrong.

She told the newspaper that, in the early hours of a Sunday morning, a group of five to six caravans and their occupants were terrorised by a group of unknown individuals, who drove erratically around the campsite and threatened campers.

She said that she was woken up by shouting and bright lights and that, when she looked out at what was going on, she saw four individuals in a grey Toyota ute.

Police attend campsite terror incident

“They proceeded to circle us and do burnouts around us,” Elizabeth said. “Then they poked their heads out the window and said, ‘come and talk to us, come and fight’.

Elizabeth said she had never heard such foul language in her life as the group continued to threaten the campers.

“They then told us they would be back every half hour, and they were,” Elizabeth said. “We were petrified. I thought I was going to die. I have never been so terrified in my whole life.”

Elizabeth and her husband managed to get a photograph of the number plate of the vehicle and contacted the police, who thenhad to travel from Port MacDonnell. She estimated the vehicle came and left five times before the police arrived.

Despite being given a driver’s plate number, a SAPOL representative told the Border Watch police that had been unable to determine the individuals involved or find the vehicle.

“Police were called to Carpenter Rocks camping area after reports of a car being driven erratically through the grounds,” a spokesperson told the newspaper. “On arrival police spoke with witnesses and searched the area however were unable to locate the car or occupants.

The experience has left Elizabeth rattled.

“We have travelled quite a lot, and something like this has never happened to us before,” she said.

Grant District Council chief executive Darryl Whicker told the Border Watch that the incident was deeply concerning, but not indicative of most tourists’ experiences.

“This is the first time since I have been at Council I have heard anything of that nature, and it is deeply saddening that it has occurred,” Mr Whicker said. “It is certainly not behaviour standard with Carpenter Rocks or our other coastal locations.”

While Australia is by and large an extremely safe place to travel and camp in, there are occasional unsavoury incidents.

Most veteran grey nomads will admit to be a bit wary when they pull up at a new camping area and will have certain ‘protocols’ that they follow to try to minimise the risk of unsavoury incidents. Many, for example, vow not to park up at a camp within a certain distance of the nearest town, or not to do so on a weekend.

  • What are your safety protocols when looking at stopping at a remote free camp? Comment below.

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Dawn Powell
2 years ago

Surely if a rego number was given, they could at least find out who owns the car. Surely

Wayne
2 years ago
Reply to  Dawn Powell

Quite likely either false or stolen number plates.

Tony Cochrane
2 years ago
Reply to  Dawn Powell

If hadn,t payed a fine they would find you quick enough.

Dianne
2 years ago

If either of us feel uneasy about the area, we move on. Never stay close to a town at anytime.

Alan Lovett
2 years ago

Make sure I’ve got ammunition

Ric
2 years ago
Reply to  Alan Lovett

Same, and I do.

Jessie Black
2 years ago
Reply to  Alan Lovett

Slingshot with a 3/8th ball bearing

Brad
2 years ago
Reply to  Jessie Black

Yep, works a treat. I actually put one through a back side window of a car early one morning whilst they were near my van hooning around. I can assure they left immediately & never came back.

Annette Hermens
2 years ago

Unfortunately, the same happened to us at Julia Creek. We lodged a complaint with the Visitors’ Centre and they identified the hoons from our car description and passed on the i formation to the Police.

86GTS
2 years ago

Carpenters Rocks has long been known as a trouble spot.
This is not the first incident at the campground not far away from the pub.
Its a real pity because its a lovely area.
We were going to camp there but read the warning & decided against staying there.

86GTS
2 years ago
Reply to  86GTS

I forgot to say that this location is nice & quiet mid-week but from Friday night thru the weekend its a no go zone.
Unregistered trail bikes tearing thru doing donuts.

Bruce Earle
2 years ago

Yes I have seen this has been happening across Australia for some time so I set up a dahua security camera system on a Network video recorder , not only can I look through the cameras at night it records movement of people and vehicles only
I can be away from the van and if there is mobile coverage I can keep a eye on the van using a M5 nighthawk modem which you use for internet access as well
Wow got some fantastic footage of thousands of other things as well
Really I don’t know why most vans don’t have them prewired out of factory

Rick
2 years ago
Reply to  Bruce Earle

Great idea but it won’t work if there’s no internet.

Tony
2 years ago

Gun rights have been taken away, which leave we oldies at the mercy of every criminal. Just knowing we were armed would stop this pretty quick. In the US…molesting someone like this could very well turn out poorly for the criminal.

sklyjd
2 years ago
Reply to  Tony

Do you think you would be a match for a group of gun totting criminal teenagers? a bad situation would likely become a far worse situation.

Klaas Mastenbroek
2 years ago

We camp there with the Blue Lake Campervan chapter of the CMCA and never had any problems but there are a lot of hoons in and around Mount Gambier. Carpenterrocks is 30 km from Mount Gambier. There is nothing to do for these mentally challenged induviduals .

Wayne hill
1 year ago

Quite simply take away there car and squash it to bad if it’s mum or dads then if on dole take part pension and community service same if there working ,if there drunk lock them up for the weekend they’ll get the message.

Jenny Alderton
2 years ago

We had a similar experience at Dartmoor earlier this year. The police came but did nothing.

Stephen Dove
2 years ago

I guess there is some merit of staying at a caravan Park….

Paul Rice
2 years ago

We had a similar thing happen on the East Coast Nz . 5 young guys pulled up around 6 pm, having themselves a few drinks I did think hell this is a great spot but only one way out .
The dudes left 20 mins later but came back at midnight parked there vehicle in the entrance as to block it . We were the only ones camping there , they got out of the vehicle started walking towards our van .
They got about 3 Meters away from us when our Rottweiler sleeping on the front seat let them know you are to close , never saw them again .

Deb
2 years ago

Even staying in a caravan park is not safe in some places. In Derby 2 months ago, when we checked into a van park with a high security fence and gates that are closed at night and lights everywhere, the park manager handed me the information sheet which had the local police number highlighted. He said to call them if there was any trouble and they would be there within 15 minutes. He also warned “If you hear a rock land on your roof, don’t go outside, because they’ll get into your van while you’re outside!”

swinks
7 months ago
Reply to  Deb

Bali is starting to sound better already, with the crime rate, restrictions on free camps, the rising cost of park stays and exorbitant fuel prices. My whole working life was to be able to do the big lap when I retired now I am not so sure.

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