The issue of what actually constitutes a self-contained camper is one that has been perplexing and dividing grey nomads.
In recent years, there has been a strong growth in camping areas that are clearly marked as being for self-contained only.
While some seem to see it as meaning people in all mod con rigs, they are adamant that a PortaPotti and a toilet tent can do just as good a job for a short stay.
While the debate rages in Australia, across the ditch in New Zealand the Government is stepping in to make things very clear … and it’s not good news for PortaPotti travellers.
The Self-Contained Vehicles Bill is scheduled to be introduced to the New Zealand Parliament next year, and it will outline fresh new standards that campers will have to adhere to.
Local media reports that only self-contained vehicles with fixed toilets will be allowed to stay on land managed by councils. And fines for illegal camping will be ramped up from NZ$200 to NZ$1000.
Unveiling the plans, Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said the current system had created an unfair burden on small communities and damaged New Zealand’s reputation as a high-quality visitor destination.
“At the heart of the new law will be greater respect for the environment and communities,” he said. “We are setting clear, minimum expectations for campers … higher standards must be met before vehicles can be certified as truly self-contained.
He said that, in the past, some sneaky campers had put bogus blue stickers on vehicles to falsely claim compliance.
If and when the new legislation passes, vehicles will be certified as self-contained with fixed toilets. The rules will be overseen by agents authorised by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board.
The changes will be phased in over two years to allow owners time to ensure their vehicle meets new certification standards.
There will also be a ‘right vehicle, right place’ approach, meaning there will be places for backpackers in budget vehicles, and places for motorhomes and caravans.
The new law will mean freedom campers will need to be in certified self-contained vehicles to stay overnight on land managed by local councils, unless land is designated for non-certified vehicles. Vehicles that are not self-contained will be able to stay on Department of Conservation land, unless there is a formal prohibition. Freedom campers can continue to stay overnight in tents, where permitted.
During it consultation process, the New Zealand Government said freedom camping had continued to create issues including the inappropriate disposal of human waste, general littering, and uncertified vehicles parking on private driveways and front lawns.
Mister Nash said it was time to act.
“When international borders re-open tourism will not match pre-Covid levels, but we can expect greater pressure,” he said. “The changes will also benefit small business owners who run backpackers’ hostels or campgrounds and who have lost business.”
Porta potty’s are fine. Inappropriate waste disposal will still occur for built in toilets by the selfish few.
I reckon the rules will come here too, but they will ban tents, hikers cycletourers, campertrailers etc vans without S and T’s, they will go the whole hog here, and you will have to be totally self contained to camp anywhere in Australia. That will cost Australian tourism %70 of their income.. the government and CMCA org’s and similar groups wont care.
Responsible campers is the phrase. I cannot see why a porta Potti should be classed as different from a fixed toilet.. usage is the same and both get emptied at dump points . We have a grey water tank to contain waste water from sink. We aren’t in the financial position to just go out and buy a new van fitted with an en-suite ( buying a van near impossible currently) Porta Potti does the trick and even when we tented in Tassie 2 years ago the porta Potti was contained within the tent. It’s not fair on responsible people who do the right thing.
Agreed
I agree with your thoughts Jean.
What’s not fair Jean is the historic evidence that there are a lot of campers not doing the right responsible compliance to guidelines. These are the ones we should be angry at because they are ruining it for the responsible campers. The situation will only be fixed by either clearly defined and enforced RV specification and certification or closure of campsites to freedom campers. Sadly the old days have gone.
Jean is spot on
Agreed!
If it happens here what percentage of camps will be for non-complient vehicles?
So will the camps for non self contained vehicles be able to turn away the big self contained rigs? Or is this going to be a case of the rich can go anywhere and the poor have to lump it.
When I camp I take only photos and leave only footprints and because my rig is so small I rarely even leave tyre tracks. Unlike some big rigs that can chew up the ground (if it’s wet).
I’m passionate about the environment to the extent that I don’t even pollute camp sites with noise let alone anything else. I’m sad that the irresponsible campers are making it hard for the rest of us.
I can see my retirement plans going down the drain, unless enough places are left for people like me.
I agree Lucy, we went back to a campertrailer recently, because we couldn’t afford the services of our big diesel, nor repairs, nor fuel costs, went back to a petrol that does less then 7.5 lts/100 towing. So we have a new portapotty, and 12 volt shower and tent. Was not hard to do, we have been of 4 trips since 26 oct when we bought the camper, as opposed to one trip in the van last year. I hope we will not be discriminated against for not being self contained, but I suspect it is coming to us pretty soon.
How long does the portapotty last before it needs emptying and what do you do with the soapy shower water?
At home they call that greywater(i think) and its good on lawns, as such all should be bio-friendly..the dung Beatles LUV a challenge of a disregarded turd.What’s good for the cows/horse/goat?? is it good for us.
They might want to check the risk campers to people.Its all well and good looking at the envior impact and the odour,the aforementioned will not kill you albeit uncomfortable odour.When i was looking at the purchase of a camper wow,,,so may 240 v wiring issue/gas and so much more.so lets get the life and death issues fixed first
We have a caravan with full ensuite, but I don’t see a problem with a porta potti used inside your motor home or small caravan. I agree with no tents.
It sort of slays me that whenever ‘officialdom’ sees a ‘problem’ the immediate reaction is to ‘legislate’ rather than ‘educate’.
No amount of legislation will stop ‘d******s’ doing the wrong thing.
Before the country went ‘Covid crazy’ we did the big half lap in our self contained van, however to look after the van we hired a camper to do the Gibb River Rd, relying on a Porta Potti and an ensuite tent. The difference in our ‘footprint’ for the 2 vans – zero!
Excluding a significant portion of people, who are still doing the right thing, is not in the spirit of of seeing this great country of ours.
Its about cash for the goverment.I am very surprised that you do not need to pass(pay) for a licence to have a trailer/caravan. That would be a money grab.Let’s consider for a moment may folks did not want to get married as a peace of paper should not define the luv that a couple would have…so the governments could see how they are missing out and they created the de-facto…$$$$,when they see a cash grab…UK TV licence..In the UK i paid for a licence at the age of 17yrs( 1978,did not need to be renewed until 2035.So the UK missed out,we pay at 1yr or 5yr intervals..
The biggest problem I see is rubbish left everywhere including human waste. The only way to stop that would be to ban backpackers. I don’t agree with containing grey water but I do as it is the right thing to do.
No such thing as a truly responsible camper under all conditions.
Cmca were going to do wonders and force everyone to comply with their scheme but does it even exist nowadays. The one and only rally I attended, on the day of departure the road out was awash with grey water pouring out of open valves
Yes we have been on the road 10 years and have seen many motorhomes releasing grey water as they drive away.
How do you police the porta-potti’s? There is no real answer that everybody will like.
I witnessed a rather large motor home at distance on the side of the road in front of us, it pulled onto the road and we had to slow down behind it. Guess what it was doing? Yep dumping its black water as it drove along, I rang the police at the next town and trust they did the right thing.
The above seems to relate to New Zealand, we are not there. So what is going to happen in Australia??????? That’s the real question. I will certainly not be taking my rig to NZ.
It’s quite cheap to take it there but totally unaffordable to bring it back
due to Ag and other sundry restrictions. I tried.
The town-based free camping or low fee sites, sometimes on bitumen pads usually require full self containment of waste water for vans and motor homes in on-board storage. The use of the Wikicamps symbol for self containment of Black and Grey water is correct for these sites. Some of these sites also have toilets available, even showers in a nearby ablutions block and a potable water tap nearby. The meaning of the Wikicamps Self Contain symbol for waste water should not be confused with, or extend to cover a requirement to be Self Contained/Self Sufficient. The responsible local authority usually has specific signage at the site to identify other requirements such as an on-board toilet, and the penalty applicable to breaches of the local regulations. Some of these sites have caretakers or rangers who can assist travellers who may be confused about the site rules.
The Wikicamps Self Contain (waste water) symbol relates specifically to the requirement to have on-board waste water storage tanks or an approved storage alternative.
There are many sites identified where the the Wikicamps Self Contain (waste water) symbol
is applied incorrectly and which actually do not require water waste to be self contained. Such sites actually require users to be self sufficient as no water facilities and/or toilet facilities are available on site. Wikicamps has other symbols to correctly identify if toilets and/or water facilities are/are not available.
The Self Contain (waste water) symbol has often been incorrectly added by Wikicamp users without reference to the local organisation or authority responsible for the site.
There are many small country communities with camping facilities who cannot afford to employ caretakers, or erect explanatory signage, and who rely upon donations from travellers for the use of their facilities. Generally on-ground disposal of grey water is allowed, often encouraged in drought times. Editing a site incorrectly with a Wikicamps Self Contain (waste water) symbol instead of using the symbols for No Toilet Facilities or No Potable Water financially penalises these smaller community camp sites as travellers without on-board waste water storage tanks bypass these facilities.
The Self Contain (waste water) symbol is not appropriate for the requirement to be fully or partially Self Sufficient.
I don’t see other symbols for self contained in WikiCamps other than the 3 (Grey, black, Blue) as one symbol.
I agree with Rob we have purchased a self contained van as the amount of human fecal matter and toilet paper gave a whole new meaning to Tip Toe Through the Tulips. If you did run the gauntlet when you got to the toilet they we’re filthy the paper had been taken and the floors were gross.The same for any tables and chairs. On our first ever trip we purchase a bucket with a lid for urine emergencies and used Roadhouse facilities where ever possible. I believe road side stops and toilets are breeding grounds for all sorts illnesses and gastro. Although I do not believe it is only backpackers causing the problems.
It would be a benefit to the environment and the responsible travellers if self contained vehicles were registered however the offshoot of this should be more free camping areas permitted and less restricted. Australia should be free to roam. But there must be porta potties provisos for the tent campers eg 4 wheel drive campers, camping fishers, be they on the beach or in the Bush and family camping holidays, there’s nothing comes close to mum, dad and the kids altogether under canvas.
It should be obvious at this time that human wastes can carry infectious diseases therefore I believe that the most probable carrier waste, that is faeces, should always be dropped at the legal discharge point where there is some form of dissolution. This includes cleaning materials. One of the worst things to have seen in some 85 years of bush and outback is bits of soiled paper caught on branches or on top of the ground, at least please bury it deeply. It’s obvious that every living thing on earth excretes waste and waste can be a help to soil improvement.
As for “ grey “ water , our country absorbs and uses every little that falls, drops, drips and is poured on this usually water starved land , but not where it can be a nuisance to others.
The most important law or regulations to institute is manners and care.
I definitely agree with fixed toilets however people are still dumping the waste from either fixed toilets or porta potties in the bush which is absolutely disgraceful.
What about animal waste on roads in rivers and creeks, thats doing far more damage to the environment .
The Nz situation reeks of a small vocal minority who are p…ed of by back packers not staying in camp grounds , get real NZ every river bar a few in remote areas is so polluted it wont sustain human life .
It is not whether your toilet is plumbed in or not but what you do with the waste when it is time to empty it. They are both equal until emptying time.
There seems to be no mention of catching sink or shower water in this legislation.
I wish we would stop using the term “responsible” campers. There are clean people and there are the rest!! Go and ask such a one if he were responsible and he would swear on the bible He were so, that’s after giving you a punch in the face. Probably with unwashed hands. Don’t know the answer probably education like the smoking adds. But who would pay? Nup, lost cause I think.
Responsible campers!!! Definitely. Vehicle size even size of a can significantly limits the practical compliance of a toilet installation- there are very practical ways of disposing and managing our waste. Secure bagging being an obvious easy solution to protect and respect our environment. The greatest issue I see in bush camping is the misuse of toilet paper disposal which is just wrong on so many levels. A fold up portaloo and sealed bagging methods are realistic responsible ways that support all sized vehicles and camping styles.
Self-contained certification is not a treatment of the root cause of the issue- and essentially destroys the activity of camping. A hotel on wheels- is not the solution to people’s behaviour, behaviour management and the dumping of toilet paper and rubbish at camp sites. ParksVic have a low cost booking system at $14… is an example of how we can manage behaviour. Registering your stay even at free camp sites is one way we could hold people responsible, small fees to support official site visits seems more reasonable than limiting the camper to excessive van fit outs and vehicle styles. All small vans, 4x4s and tenters will effectively be written out of the activity of camping- not a solution at all, an overshoot to the problem at hand.
responsible campers
a fixed toilet does not mean that it will always be used or emptied at approved dump points.
in fact emptying a cassette in the bush will cause a greater mess and hazard than single dumps at a number of locations
There will always be a percentage who cause problems regardless of regs etc
the old 80/20 rule but split a little as a corollary from stealing/shoplifting
80% honest, 10% outright thieves, 10% just waiting for the opportunity
The same applies for tidy campers