Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

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hels
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by hels » Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:28 am

We stay in both we maninly do free camps as we love having a fire which you can’t do in most caravan parks. We always go and check out the sites in the caravan parks before booking to make sure they are what we want. I think there is a place for both myself, free camping is great but we wouldn’t want to do it 100% of the time. Naturally other people have their own opinion on that and thats what is great.
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Motherhen
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Warrnambool showground

Post by Motherhen » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:59 pm

Warrnambool showground closure to camping was reported in 2011. I don’t know what has happened there since then. The closure was reported at that time to have been instigated by the Greyhound Racing Club, who share the Showgrounds.

The previous years the fees were increased to cover losses from the many reported visitors who cheated the system and did not pay. This is probably incidental to the reason for closure.
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Billybotswana
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by Billybotswana » Wed May 18, 2016 7:33 pm

I sort of figure horses for courses,
some people travel to be part of the CP plan IE go from larger centre to larger city ,to shop, to see the sites, to gamble, or just socialise.

you rarely get free camping in cosmo areas.
so it figures that you are really asking a bit of a stilted question.

1 ask why free camp
2 why CP

I imagine the reply will differ.

Billy

Jay&dee
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by Jay&dee » Thu May 19, 2016 12:52 pm

Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

The answer to the subject title is this..Caravan Parks will be part of the Australian tourist industry until forever.
As will as “Freedom Camping”
The danger with “Free Camping is the individuals within this sector who do not abide by the rules will play a major role in seeing our right to free camp taken away from not just them, but all of us, including the supporters of Caravan Parks.

We all respect that fees must apply to caravan parks.
What we the Freedom Campers must understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch,Father
Christmas or the Tooth Fairy.
If there is a honesty box … kick in some $$$ to ensure that we have this concept now and forever/.

I think the word FREE probably should be taken out of the conversation and the industry and replaced with say…. Bush Camping.

All I know is that I would like to be able to bush camp where ever it is allowed by the local authorities.

More than 80% of what is an expanding industry will always want the security and services on offer from a Caravan Park.

Bush Camping will never Kill the Caravan parks.

Jay&Dee

Shaggy Dog
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by Shaggy Dog » Thu May 19, 2016 2:44 pm

Wot J’n’D sez !
SD
Let’s do a three sixty and get out of here !

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dieseltojo
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by dieseltojo » Sat May 21, 2016 8:51 am

What I like about free camping is that often we are just passing through…..that it. We are not stopping for any other reason than a rest and off again to our destination.

So it is great to pull off the road somewhere and just stay there. I want nothing, I leave nothing. I love the caravan spacing as there is no one else there, and you are free to have your own drive through site.

I often wonder why more towns don’t accommodate travelers as some do with a pub offering a free space out in the back paddock for blokes like us, the caveat being to buy a meal.

I mean that’s all it has ever been about hasn’t it?

That’s all the Cobb and Co company ever traded on except they tried to get their passengers to a hotel. They were the first travelers and all they wanted was a peaceful night.

We have all pulled into a town where some lazy slob takes your money and points you some where down the back, into a dead end site that takes you 5 turns to get into in the dark, and when you get there the other guests have taken up half your site.
Then its a march back up to the office to get a lot of grumbling and angst cos it took them away from a tv. Meanwhile your family is getting more tired.
If this hasn’t happened to you good luck, but it is why i decided to start a self contained type of travel.
I now have to note that I cannot accept owners ship, truth, quality, or veracity, of articles I may quote off the internet.
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jock
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by jock » Sat May 21, 2016 5:08 pm

On the other hand D.T…..What about when you pull into a freebie and, after settling in to what you thought seemed a good possi. This d/head sets up nearly on top of you and starts up his generator which is at the back of his van 5 metres from your awning. Then, to cap it off, another arrives and circles around and around looking for a spot.. sending up huge clouds of dust over everyone, then lights a fire smoking you out.
I could go on…Plenty more bad things that you wont see in Caravan Parks….certainly most of the above has happened to us in free camps.. more than once.
No good trying to paint a Utopian picture of one style of caravanning and denegrating another to make a point…. To each his own.

Jock ;-)

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dieseltojo
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by dieseltojo » Sat May 21, 2016 5:35 pm

Hi Jock,
I have to say you were unlucky. The only time I had an appliance make noise near me was in a van park.
It was a couple in a tent and they must have thought a wireless going all night would save them from attack.
Problem was it was only 4 metres away.
I let it go for an hour but at around 11 pm I had enough and just went out and pulled the plug. They might have heard my van door open but it didn’t come back on again.
I will tell you now if I am first at a site, no one will have a genny that they care about going all night.

I reckon the busier the place the more problems, no doubt. In Dargo there were plenty of campers and there is always a camp with motor bikes etc. and you just know they are going to be a noisy lot.
I must say I do make an effort to get out of sight of the traffic. I won’t pull in with a few vans if I can help it.

We had a beauty one night out past Broken hill from memory and the mate and I went onto a track a fair way to get out of site. we were not far from a rail track.
We were all around the camp fire at 11 pm when a train came by and the driver gave us a welcoming toot, and waved to us turning on his cabin lights. Funny how you remember little things like that.

I reckon you only get as annoyed as you let yourself be. If you want a blue, I’m your man, but it is going to be a very last resort.
I now have to note that I cannot accept owners ship, truth, quality, or veracity, of articles I may quote off the internet.
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A’van
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by A’van » Sat May 21, 2016 9:30 pm

A caravan park doesn’t guaranty you peace and quiet. We stayed in a park in Rockhampton, on the main road that was one thing, but they were shunting trains al night on the other side, we only stayed one night.
In Cairns, they put us next to an all night noisy factory. We moved the van that night to another site, not far from the toilet and the toilet door banged all night :roll:
We are not the type that complains a lot and in peak times, you sometimes have to put up with a lot. But that got to us.

Hans
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Motherhen
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Re: Is free-camping killing caravan parks?

Post by Motherhen » Sat May 21, 2016 11:24 pm

Ah the peace of the campground and out in the bush :razz: . We have not had difficult neighbours and generators if any generally quiet Hondas. Only once caravanners next door hand a noisy one, but they ran in only in sociable hours. I was pleased to hear it stop in the evening even though it was well before bed time, but they were really nice people to have next to us, and that is more important.

Caravan parks; we have had television going loud a couple of metres from us until one or two in the morning :o, trains and a noisy light industrial area, highways close by, town dogs parking close enough to wake us, and a loud “domestic” a couple of blocks away. The most disturbed night was probably at Yulara, where we were packed in closely in small sites, while areas of the caravan park remained vacant. We were surrounded by ‘Fritz in Britz’. In front of us they were outside talking loudly in German and drinking with companions almost all night. Behind us the larger sized Britz motor home was parked only inches from our rear bedroom window – the sites were short! We heard their every movement every time they got up and walked through the van during the night; they were travelling with children. Alongside us was a T-van, and they kept undoing the zip up and down all night. Next nearest was an Apollo hire van with the whiz-bang door.
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