Alice (not her real name) has had enough. She’s had enough of going to the beaches she loves to find car parks crowded with campers; she’s had enough of rubbish ruining the pristine environment; and she’s had enough of the stench of urine; and the omnipresent ‘everything is free’ attitude.
As a keen surfer, Alice visits numerous beaches in her home town of Port Macquarie in New South Wales. And the story is similar in all of them … stealth campers are trouble.
“While backpackers take up one park for their van and another car park to set up their tables and chairs, grey nomads park parallel across multiple car spaces with their vehicles and caravans,” she said. “And then there’s wash basins in the public loos blocked with food gunge from dirty dishes, and faeces and used toilet paper left in bushland.”
Alice fears normal beachgoers are losing the amenity of the beach, and ratepayers’ funds are being wasted on a near endless clean up.
“Some free campers just want everything for nothing … a 5-star beach view and not have to pay,” she said. “It seems like free camping is a badge of honour, but why? Do people really want to spend their holiday in a manky car park? Is that their idea of freedom?”
Monica says Port Macquarie Hastings Council recently surveyed free campers to gauge their spending and came up with $76 a day … and that’s when the ‘No Camping’ signs went up in parks.
“Do these budget campers really shop at small local grocery stores or small local bottle shops?” asked Alice. “Time to be honest … it’s the big supermarkets that are the beneficiaries.”
She says country councils have a massive backlog of maintenance they can’t afford and stealth campers are just adding to the financial burden.
“Grey nomads and backpackers should just camp in allotted areas, and national parks don’t cost that much and are a lot nicer,” said Alice. “Perhaps some honesty in how much travelling really does cost and an end to the obsession with spending the night at the beach would help.”
Comment below
It’s not necessarily nomads it’s also backpackers
Mainly backpackers
Backpackers were the 1st mentioned group, however we get a lot at our local beach carpark and they are better behaved than some motorhomers and Caravanners . Why someone in a 7 mtr motorhome
I often wonder what their homes van or camper and are like when they treat facilities like this it is disgusting, we always leave no foot prints and even pull the van out and check before we leave that nothing has blown under the van….please don’t paint us all with the same brush …most of us are very careful as to what we do and how we treat the place we are staying
Totally agree with you Jean we are not all grubs. As grey nomads we usually collect more rubbish left by other users when they leave a location. Unfortunately we will always have these grubs leaving their rubbish and this includes not picking up after their dogs. We travel as a lot of others do with our fur babies and the majority do clean up and pick up their doggy doos. As stated it’s only a small number who do the wrong thing giving us all a bad reputation.
Regards Terry
I agree with Jean. Spent the better part of last year in the West and SA. Many times we parked in a pristine location one day, only to have little camper vans visit then leave early next morning leaving piles of rubbish, human waste and toilet paper where they had parked. Kept venting on WikiCamps.
This happens in Broome WA as well. Overseas backpackers park in the carparks at Cable Beach overnight and leave before the rangers come at 6am then come back during the day. In the peak season it looks like a tip. I have a caravan and I stay in a local park. These grubs pollute our country and then go back to their own. Show some respect.
Get rid of them.
I live on a nsw south coast beach and is overun with vans every year even though it’s clearly marked they cannot be there.
All it takes is for somebody to post it online and the following year there’s even more.
Had enough and it won’t be long before locals will take things into their own hands.
Maybe if we didn’t have such a monopoly on campsites? Maybe id counsel let private campsites open the cost of camping would drop. Im not condoning what grubby people do. But as a country our fees are rediculas compared to other countries. Cheaper camping is needed and this wont happen all the time it’s counsel controlled.
Unfortunately council is their own worst enemy and is giving people not too many choices. A lot of beach camp sites are becoming privatised and are building cabins and or glamping sites and taking away a lot of space . Illegal campers are a big problem in southern Queensland and northern new South Wales . I don’t agree with what these campers are doing but also don’t blame them either. There aren’t as many camping parks as there used to be or the price is out of reach for most people. Not all of us can afford $55 off peak per night or even $80 during school holidays. I can’t ever see public caravan parks coming back to the numbers they once were. So I say to council you made this problem now you need to fix it
Hello Allice, your right to say that some of the free camp set are grubs ,however that is not the majority. I free camp when I can and my mantra is leave no trace.We need to educate and self police the offenders so when they are court making a mess in our camp sites there is a real penelety from community expectations
How many council park areas by beaches have parking for vans to park for a couple of hours before moving on. These local residents want it all for themselves and not to share.
I totally agree. .
And we are environmental caravan campers..we see so many dirty filthy lazy dont care attitude on our journeys. .
Think they have the goddamm right to park their arse for free without any respect for others..leave their filth behind.
Not all overnight campers will leave a mess. I’d eat at a local restaurant or cafe, likely shop at local stores, especially if they’re unique to the area. For many an overnight stealth stay is because they’re just too tired to drive safely to the next major town with a camp ground.
Yes. I agree. But it is only a few ignorant arrogant sods WHO ruin for all. When camping ares become very expensivr you can see why. Lake Monduran. $35 a night unpowered camp site is exhorbitant. Uluru . $21 cup of coffee and piece of toast. Get real. That is why people rogue camp. Australia is so huge yet we cram and land so expensive. Australia is one the most overvalued overregulated overpriced places in the world now. Councils please use remote areas for stops with bins. Charge a small fee $5 to cover usage. Better in a controlled area than disposable nappies and rubbish about.
Well said I agree we went to Uluru last July overpriced camped in a free camp on the Edge of Town we always leave no trace
Alice I think you should not label all campers in the same vane, I am a Grey Nomad and I can assure you where ever I camp when ever I leave it looks the same as when I arrived there, unfortunately there are ones that don’t care, also it has been found in some cases that some locals don’t worry too much wether they take their rubbish with them when they leave, I do apologize for the careless people, the grey nomads I know usely run around with plastic bags cleaning up other people’s rubbish.
Out of all the places we have been camping with our caravan, we have never seen any mess left by grey nomads. Usually the grey nomads are the ones that clean up the mess left by back packers.We have camped in free camps as well as caravan parks all over Australia and have never seen anything like the mess described by so-called “Alice” caused by grey nomads.
I to agree that there is some campers that ruin it for others by not showing respect. I to love the freedom of free camping but would never park illegally or leave a mess. And there is a lot of us like that.. l reckon the best way to resolve the problem is for the council to provide more free camp grounds or for a small donation you can stay.. And if the parks stop being so money hungry and lower the price more campers will come of the street. I’ve been to parks where they have charged someone $40 to just park there small campervan on a site with no power for one night. Which is outrageous.. this is why a lot of them park in car parks. Not everyone is rich and can afford those expensive prices. Caravan parks need to change..
I agre with you If caravan parks didn’t get so gready with charging us
For pools jumping castles ect and charged us for the things we used
Maybe we wouldn’t have to look for free camp sites.
The gray nomads breathe new llfe into the outback towns that would otherwise die out. We shop local whether it is a small shop or the local supermarket. We buy fuel there and visit the local museums and places of interest. We contribute to the economy of these towns, which would otherwise die out completely.
We threw in our jobs onthe Gold Coast 2.5 years ago and live on the road free camping in our camper trailer. We go to the more remote parts of Australia for seclusion and tranquility. We are fully self contained with our own toilets, hot water, washing facilities, solar, battery and wind generation. We clean up our camp site to ensure the next camper enjoys the beauty and nature of our great land with freedom. We do not go to the coastal areas as no free camping is available. I too think it is deplorable that these camper vans and some motor homes do park in public spaces. To leave bits and pieces on full view is not acceptable. There is an element of individuals whose lack of self respect would litter prime coastal towns! We spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars in small townships to support these small towns and their existence. We live our freedom and enjoy the outback regions more so than the city regions.
Just enforce litter laws and put up signs reminding people . .instead of banning campers altogether. unfortnately there will always be those people that expect others to clean up after them .
My advice to Alice is start free camping with the repect most of us have to explore this wonderful place we are privileged to live in. Sell your your million dollar view and see some mega million dollars views and then you will see the beauty of Gods creation to be enjoyed by all
Hi fellow responsible caravaners…and you know who you are!! I would like to add my 2 cents worth here. Personally I have travelled all around Australia and can undeniably say this with experience under my belt. Us Grey Nomads in 99% of cases leave only our footprints. All rubbish is either placed in bins provided or taken with us to the next identifiable bin..
I am truly fed up with the ‘Wicked Vans’, backpackers and troublesome travellers who crash a site and leave it in a despicable filthy state!!! These mostly young inconsiderate travellers have no place in modern free camping sites and they are the ones that are banned. Why don’t we take their (and the offending van’s) photo and post it on their face book page and see how they like being shamed???? Gwynnie
Can’t agree more, Gwenda . Start the “name and shame” page and let people post some photos.
Not a hundred percent sure, but don’t know if the costs at caravan parks are purely their fault. I am guessing that some of the expensive cost could be attributed to Council rates being so high, as per some shopping precincts?
You can take people out of the slums but you can’t take the slum out of people. Also never let it be said to your everlasting shame that this place was clean till you came. Two quotations that my dad always said.
Maybe these people who leave rubbish around these places should adhere to them.
Most grey nomads are very responsible. Alice needs to wake up and take notice of that. I love free camping as I am tired of paying exorbitant prices in caravan parks only to be packed in like sardines. Some of the more expensive ones are run by the council. Grey nomads don’t need jumping castle, and most don’t need tennis courts and pools and most of the other facilities that we ate charged for when staying in a park. What we really want is phone coverage and Wi-Fi so we can keep in touch with family whilst travelling. Most national parks are out of range of Wi-Fi and phone.
Come on, the bulk of grey nomads are draging a big caravan with a big 4×4 . They cant fit in most beach side car parks . Especially in coastal towns where the locals park in all the streets. We’ve been travaling for over two yrs in a biggish motorhome and i can tell you we miss out on so much because we just cant get parking . Most of NT and Nth qld wee $50 for a powered site and that’s only if your lucky enough to get in. We were turned away at many major towns. As for national parks , most are dearer than caravan parks in towns. It quiet obvious the the state governments are keen to price you out of camping in most national parks , it’s just not worth their while.
Do us all a favour and just police the self contained rule in sensitive areas and help the camping bodies like CMCA to instal dump points and get better roadside camp spots. It’s little wonder that ppl act like pigs when in this day and age you can’t find a road side toilet. NT AND S.A. was littered from one end to the other with tissues and toilet paper… and I can assure you I haven’t pooed on the ground since I was in diapers… better policing of the rat bags and more roadside camps with toilets ……and have you ever really looked how many caravan parks there are in major cities ? No wonder
Well “Alice we have free camped allover this beautiful country picked up after the mot so clean and tidy knowing these places will get shut ddown if mot kept clean as most grey nomads do. Another thing it is not YOUR beach most of us pay our rates as well for all of the ALICE’S to come visit our beaches in wks etc. A lot of us can’t go stay in national parks because we have animals with us and aren’t allowed in. A lot of folk love beaches and preferre them to n.ps.
Maybe there could be more access to beaches so we can park for the day lunch time as well as locals and visitors alike. We are pensioners and travel on a show string and have the right to travel and visit lovely beaches etc without this extra burden put on the no so financial.