The cost of free camping

[Chonga]

Hi Ant@Shez,

We packed up the house, sold it, and have been on the road for over two years now.
We have all those expensive nasties that you write of.
I have done the calculations and it appears that we will have, at the end of this year or early next year, recouped the total cost of the caravan, generator, Engel, Solar panels, diesel heater, satellite dish, communications gear and other bits and pieces.
I added up the cost of these components and compared it to what we would have paid in rent for a similar home to what we had originally. I also note that the house values have dropped considerably since we sold.
Your argument may be valid if your gear was only being used occasionally.
One of the main reason we camp is that we have enough room around us that we don’t intrude on our neighbours and they don’t intrude on us. In caravan parks you are packed regimentally and close together – if I wanted that I would have stayed at home.

Cheers CHONGA

[Motherhen]

You do not need 4wd to get to Carnarvon Gorge in fine weather Ant@Shez. There is now only 11 kilometres of unsealed road usually in good condition. When we visited in 2009 http://www.australiasomuchtosee.com/200922a.htm when the access road was mainly unsealed, a vintage small sedan with vintage caravan had no difficulties. In wet weather the road is likely to be closed as Carnarvon Creek crosses the road, and the walk may well be inaccessible due to flooding anyway. We loved Carnarvon Gorge.

[jock]

Ant.. Sorry to be a bit incredulous here…..There are hundreds of really good 4WD’s for Sale at around $30,000. or less….Dont get petrol…get a diesel..most of them are returning 12 to 14 lt. per 100 kms. these days..
Also agree with you 100% re the economics of paying out to buy a monster unit with all the bells & whistles (including washing machine)…As Chonga says though..if you’re on the road full time, a different story….But for the average Caravanner who would travel less than 3 months per year, from a purely economic point of view, you would be behind the 8 ball big time….From the non economic viewpoint, people like free camping for a host of other reasons. Have said this before though..the more that people advocate free camping, the more likely that the good spots will get as crowded as C.P.s and there will be more abuse of the sites resulting in inevitable closures.

Jock

[Rick P]

Hi all
Just some of the reasons why we free camp is that we find the best locations thanks to Camps 6 and that we meet the nicest people around and we have stayed in touch with heaps over the last 3 years on the road.
We just love sitting outside after a day behind the wheel, get a small camp fire going and it’s like a magnet at happy hour, try doing that at a caravan park where you see people come in for the night, the satellite dish comes out and aircon goes on and you don’t see them again till the morning.
Don’t get us wrong we are happy to pay $20-25 a night for power and water at a camp ground, National Park or showgrounds but not happy to pay $40+ for a patch of dirt in a CP with all the bells and whistles we don’t need.
Cheers
Rick P

[Azhure]

Our van came with a shower and toilet, caravan parks or not I wouldn’t be without a toilet, or at least a porta potty, night time urgent visits make it a necessity not a luxury. It also came with a battery. To allow for free camping we added a 130 watt solar panel which from memory was under $300. Thats all the power we needed, our fridge runs on gas and we cook on gas.

At $30 a night our solar cost only 10 nights worth of caravan park fees. If you needed to buy a porta potty and even a portable shower allow a bit more. It really doesn’t have to be an expensive thing with all the bells and whistles.

We still use caravan parks for part of the time, probably spend more nights in parks than free camping on average, but we have the flexibility to choose to camp in some lovely spots away from power, and we also find that when just travelling through free camping is sometimes simply more convenient.

[villatranquilla]

QLD has some lovely free camps on weirs and rivers -some with hot showers and many that don’t need a 4WD.

[Ant@Shez]

All exellent info thanks everyone. It sounds like canarvon gorge could be a goer for us then, we thought that would not be on our places list. And the info on free camping well, some of what has been said did cross my mind, caravan parks can be a bit clostraphobic and that is why we try to travel in quieter times. But yes you cant have a camp fire going in most! When we had one at Cania gorge we thought it was like christmas!

[Jeffie]

Ant@Chez,

Can’t afford to freecamp???

We usually travel for 4 months each year and mostly freecamp.

Should we have stayed in Caravan parks for say 100 days the costs would be something like:-
@ an average of $25.00 pn = $2500.00
@ an average of $35.00 pn = $3500.00

We do stay in some parks, when we have to, and National Parks as well but our total camp fees cost are usually well under $1,000.00 for the entire 4 months.
You can purchase a 1kva gennie for around $400-$900 depending on the make.
We do not have solar but have 2x 100amp marine type deep cycle batteries that cost $250 each (1 would really do) and we run the gennie for about 2 hours every second day.(about $1.00s worth of fuel)
You can also buy one of those pop up shower tents(we had one for 3 years) and they work great – also there are some places like Home Hill that have hot showers and some Roadhouses have free showers or for a small fee – just ask.
There are many freecamps especially in FNQ – have a look at Calliope(on the river) Camila (right on the beach) Chinchilla (free power) Blackwater(Bedford Weir) the 5 camps around Townsville, – etc etc etc and none of these require a 4wd.
As far as leaving your van while you look around or go shopping – just talk to others that are camped nearby and they will look after your unit while your away. We do this all the time and never a problem.
Freecampers generally look after each other.

Just one 3-4 month holiday and your in front, $ wise.

Can’t afford to freecamp??
Can’t afford not to freecamp!!!!!


Jeff.

[Boroma577]

Can’t afford to freecamp??
Can’t afford not to freecamp!!!!!


Jeff.

Very well said Jeffie…..have just had 230 days of traveling and not $1 was spent on CPs. A few dollars in donations, yes and happy to do so.

[Gran’n’Grumps]

How should I put a cost on this?……..

Regimented:





The way we like it: