Campers rubbish

Yes it's a disgrace to our country, I won't go into the nappies or I'll loose my life membership...lol.
I have been to USA back in 1998 & 2000 and last year beautiful Germany and the rest area's are just fantastic, and clean. in Wyoming USA way out in the middle of nowhere you stop at a rest area, it had Carols playing , a coke machine, and a TV screen in the wall for snow/weather reports, to enter you go through GLASS doors, I often think just how long it would last out there between Kulgera and Marla, at the Border, my guess would be less than a week it would be trashed beyond use.

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Gday
I had a warm discussion with Ranger Smith some years back about the mess we had made in our camping spot. I asked him how long he had been observing us and he said about two hrs. My reply was ' if you have been there that long you would have seen us arrive an hour ago and the mess was here when we arrived. Maybe you should have talked to the people that had just left before we arrived '.....He threatened me with a $10,000-00 fine and I said go ahead ,Ranger Smith backed off very quickly...

Good on you Mick
Hope they get a bloody big fine - but somehow doubt it.
Have lost count of number of times we've had to clean up other bleep s' crap.
I doubt that the problem of littering will ever be solved.

Interesting comments Doug re comparison to OS areas.

Mick,
Curious! What were You going to "light in the bush"?
LOL.

Mike.

Bloody auto correct! ;-)

G'day Bruce, yeh Confiscation , you go and raid a native bird nest or catch to many or wrong type of fish and see what happens to your vehicle, and it don't matter if it's a $500,000 Kenworth, it's gone.

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Ahh now, having read the article I can see the specific problem and it is a wholly different story. I also agree with the sentiments in the article.

This puts a specific spotlight directly on this particular problem.

Seasonal workers are the problem here, not regular campers or grey nomads or the younger generations in the general community.

Now this is also happening nearly everywhere seasonal workers are required.

I spoke to a chap at Jackadgery Rest Area on the way back home in November when returning from Queensland. He said that he lived at Stanthorpe and went on to say that the backpackers working as seasonal fruit pickers had made a very bad name for themselves up there by camping in all the rest areas and free camps. He said they leave rubbish everywhere and generally make the whole area look very untidy. He was disgusted with them and further said that the whole town of Stanthorpe had had a gutful of them.

I can vouch for that as I stopped at the Dalveen rest area and free camp just north of Stanthorpe on the way down and that was the case there also.
I had a high regard for the rest stop at Dalveen but that is now out the window as far as we are concerned.

Now in my opinion the problem belongs to these farmers who hire these backpackers and seasonal workers and the farmers should be made to have camping facilities set aside on their properties for such workers. This is the problem, they don't. It should be a condition of their being allowed to hire such people, that they accommodate the needs of such workers by setting aside areas for them.

Cheers, Bruce.

The back-packers cause a major headache for authorities in Darwin too, they camp and foul the areas alond the beaches.

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I am a firm believer in the athletes creed Doug, "No Pain No Gain"

A thousand dollar fine is nothing these days, it is to you or me but plenty of people these days spend that on a weekend or a night out, apparently, so what good can that thousand dollar fine do.

I say take their pride and joy away from them and see how they feel about that. But catch them in the act first or you could be hanging the wrong person of course.

Actually Doug, I never twigged what was happening at Dalveen other than the place looked untidy and the campers beside me got up, dressed, generally messed around for about half an hour then took off leaving their tent errected. I thought what was that about???.

Then as I headed to the toilets I past a couple of fellows sitting at the picnic tables eating what looked like egg soup, some sort of soup with an egg dropped in it, and when I asked them how they were going they looked blankly at me. I heard them speak and it sounded somewhat like German but I could not be sure. They were backpackers also getting set for the day ahead. I think they were in a bongo type van or something, certainly they were not in a tent.

Now these people should have been accommodated at some location on one of the farms. It would not take much to set it up. Two loos, his and hers, two basic shower facilities and a rough sort of camp kitchen. That would have been better than what was on offer at Dalveen for them.

How much would that cost the farmers, "sweet fanny adams" but then they would have the problem in their backyard I suppose.

Don't get me wrong, if I was employing seasonal workers I would have a camp set up here for them no trouble. It is not that difficult.
So there are no excuses, other than the hoary old insurance ones which have been done to death.

Re fouling beaches Doug, it does not matter to them, they are moving on in a week.

Joe used to tell me that you got severely fined in Germany if you so much as washed your car in the street. That is why it is so clean and maybe we need to start doing something along those lines here.

Cheers, Bruce.

Hi Bruce,

My guess is that if a farmer wanted to set up a proper camp facility on his farm he would have to jump through all sorts of hoops festooned with red tape. Otherwise the farmers would be making it easy for their workers and maybe even cashing in on the camping facility by letting grey nomads use it in the off-season.

Just a thought...

Cheers,

Val.

Hi Val,
I agree re the bloody red tape. That is the trouble with this country, we are drowning in red tape, or should I say choking on it.

Our competitors do not have to deal with it, so much for the level playing field. Nor are they hounded by OH&S or whatever its new name is.

In China, so I have been told, they get two weeks leave a year, unpaid, and lookout if you take any longer.

The comment from the Chinese supplier, after hearing that Australian workers get 4 weeks paid leave each year and a loading on top, was "You can't make money doing like that Johnie".


Either way it is still the responsibility of the farmers to arrange accommodation or facilities under these circumstances where itinerant workers are concerned.

On another point re farmers
I believe that many a farmer struggling through the drought could do a lot worse than cash in on the Grey Nomad economy. It would be a source of much needed income and hopefully keep the wolves from the door for them.

This is what was done along the Hawkesbury River near Sydney back in the 60s. They could not make money sending their produce to Sydney so they got into camping along their river frontages. They called it recreation farming and I could think of a lot worse enterprises to get into.

We are all looking for somewhere to camp far from the madding crowd and what better camp site that one that helps someone in need.

I feel for those poor buggers I can tell you. As a neighbour said to me one day, Feeding cattle is like standing out in the back paddock tearing up $100 dollar bills. He sure is right. I heard one lady farmer on Ian Macnamaras show the other week say they had spent $40,000 that week alone on feed. I guess they were lucky they even found some to buy.

Great way to see the superannuation disappear.
No wonder the kids prefer the city life.

Rant over.

Cheers, Bruce.

Pop we could always stamp their passport, "Public Offender" and threaten them with deportation, that would work I guess.

It is always the minority who make it difficult for the majority.
We need to get tough with them.

Cheers, Bruce.