Avoiding Crowds at Free Camps

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRINA MORRIS

As more and more nomads hit the road, our Australian caravan and RV industry is experiencing a boom. Caravan parks can be booked out for weeks – sometimes months – in advance, and even freedom camps are now experiencing some serious space pressures.

Beating the crowds when free camping is all about being where others aren’t! This requires flexibility, planning, and a certain amount of resilience.

To avoid the crowds, first consider a less popular tourist region/season, then a select quieter free camp at that destination, and, finally, find a more secluded site within that camp ground.

One easy solution to finding a less crowded tourist region is to head inland when others are fighting for space at the hugely popular coastal destinations. Our beautiful Australian coastline is just as spectacular in the cooler months, with far fewer flies, mozzies and people. So while 90% of the population are crowding en masse into our stunning beachside campgrounds, consider some of the gorgeous waterside camping opportunities inland.

Our inland lakes and rivers may not have that legendary surf break or breaching whales, but they provide awesome fishing, boating and waterside relaxation. They also offer great facilities, reduced hype and considerably cheaper fees.

Enjoy your beachside stay after the coastal crowds disperse. This does not necessarily mean you avoid the coast only in summer, because our northern coastline is considerably more popular in winter.

So do your homework – ask the local tourist information centres at your intended destinations when their peak season is, and plan to visit them in their shoulder season, or even in their low season. Check local weather conditions carefully, though, because visiting inland destinations in high summer involves extreme temperatures, which can be debilitating, no matter how empty the campgrounds are.

Another solution to beating the crowds is to head north when others are heading south, and heading south when others are heading north. Of course, this also necessitates seeking local advice, because there are tourist regions that should not be visited at certain times of the year. Information centres will advise when it is unwise to visit – during the wet season or cyclone season in the tropics, for example.

Touring the southern regions of Australia in the less traditional time of winter can be a fantastic experience. Not only will you avoid the queues and crowds, but the locals are less frazzled and will shower you with attention and cheaper prices. If the cold weather is a problem, throw a down jacket into the van and have a diesel or gas heater installed - you will remain beautifully cosy in your southern freecamp!

Once you decide on a less populated region/season to visit, it’s time to choose a quieter free camp. The best way to beat the crowds in this selection process is to go for the less obvious freecamps, by selecting the sites that offer minimal facilities.

The popular ones are those that are free, have a scenic view, offer nearby attractions, are in close proximity to a town, have water and trees/shade, or offer toilets… even a dump point can raise their popularity. Resilience is everything! Being prepared to forgo the offerings of a free camp’s obvious attractions and facilities will usually provide a quieter and more secluded stay.

Ensuring your rig is correctly fitted out for free camping is an excellent way to be able to beat the crowds. While keeping a close eye on your rig’s ATM (to ensure you never exceed your legal carrying capacity), consider adding an extra fresh water tank, an extra solar panel and battery, or a larger black water tank. You could carry an extra toilet cassette… or even a shovel! Be prepared to pay a low fee at a different camp ground, if this ensures a more pleasant experience away from the crowds living cheek-by-jowl at the nearby no-cost freecamp.

Once you have chosen your freedom camp, the next step is to select the most secluded site. The commonly accepted method in nabbing the best site – or any site at all - is to arrive early… VERY early! Ray and I marvel at those nomads around us who rise at dawn and flee a perfectly wonderful free camp five minutes later, in order to travel a squillion miles to the next one, just to secure a good site – and all this before we’ve barely thought about morning tea!

We prefer to rise at a more reasonable hour, eat a hearty breakfast to sustain us on our travels, wander here and there on our way, stopping at every possible point of interest, to arrive at our intended destination by mid-afternoon.

Sure, we sometimes miss out on a good spot to camp, so we shrug our shoulders, remind ourselves of our resilience, and take whatever spot there is. This may be up the back away from the view or waterfront, or it may require setting up nearer the road – but we always head away from the crowds. If we are only staying overnight, this is never an issue, but if we want to stay longer and covet a neighbour’s better location, we remain poised and alert, with our caravan hitched, ready to go into action the next morning. When a better site becomes available as others leave, we ease ourselves into it - and only then do we unhitch, unpack, spread out and chill!

Funnily enough, we often stay exactly where we are, because the ‘better’ positioned campsites are always end up much more crowded, much earlier in the day.

One good example of this was during a trip through inland QLD this year. Forewarned by experienced nomads before our visit to the Longreach Waterhole free camp, we pulled up and stayed overnight in a less-popular roadside rest-area, 25 km north of Longreach. This enabled us to arrive at the immensely popular riverside free camp soon after other travellers had recently departed.

On arrival at 10 am, we identified who of those in the best sites were packing up. Once chose our favourite, and wandered over for a chat, to let them know we were not hassling them to get out, but that we would like to move in when they were good and ready to leave. We waited patiently for an hour or so, then rolled our rig in as they waved goodbye.

Within several hours, the campground was wall-to-wall with caravans, campers, motorhomes and tents – to the extent that we wondered if paying for a caravan park site in town was the better – more roomy - option! (No doubt they were all booked out, anyway.)

After two days of having next-door’s generator running beneath our window all afternoon and then cranking up again at 9am for an hour, we decided the ‘less desirable’ roadside rest area 25 km out of town – which had been virtually empty - was far more appealing.

Sometimes, securing a more secluded site may involve heading off the beaten path and ‘walking’ your caravan further down a bumpy track, or into the trees, or behind a boulder. If your rig isn’t built for this, take care - check out the route on foot first. Look for big dips, soft ground, low branches, tight turns and signs that indicate you may be trespassing on private land. It is also important to ensure there is space to turn your rig around before you dive off into the bush, since reversing back up a narrow track can present problems!

An off-road rig is ideal when searching for a more secluded camp site, but is not always essential. A suspension upgrade on a well-built, high-slung caravan can make careful off-roading into a beautiful camping location possible. One note of caution – never unhitch when camping below the flood line, close to a river. During flash floods, water can rise very quickly and unexpectedly, even in the dry season – you must be ready to move fast!

To avoid the crowds on your Australian travels, prepare your rig, do your homework and be flexible in your plans. Head off in non-peak periods and drive in the opposite direction! Once at your destination, if it isn’t possible to find a spot to make your escape as quiet as you’d like, move on to your second option, even if it takes a little more time or fuel, or if it means you miss out on one of your top criteria for the perfect campground.

Don’t be restricted by established travel traditions! Think outside the square and reap the rewards of exploring far away from the masses - by only going where they have already been… and gone. In the end, you’ll be the winner, as you relax in the peace and quiet of a secluded free camp, far from the Madding Crowds.

TRINA’S FAVOURITE LOW-SEASON CAMPS:

Autumn: Cosy Corner, Bay of Fires Conservation Park, NE coastal Tasmania

Winter: Fisherman’s Park on Balonne River, Surat, QLD

Spring: Albert Tognolini Rest Area, near Karijini National Park, Inland Pilbara, WA

Summer: Jingellic Hotel Reserve, beside Upper Murray River, Snowy Mountains, NSW