Lonely Campers

Your'e just so likeable Jebs. lol

Very irritating anywhere. When someone arrives and parks so close that I can touch their van and mine I have been known to be less than polite...... and in extreme circumstances have been known to suggest they may like to consider sex and travel.

John

Yep you're not on your pat malone there West J as had that happen many times. I have gone to fairly quiet beaches, walked considerable distance from the access point & sat myself well away from within cooee of anyone else only to have people rock up and set up 6 foot away....with literally miles of open unoccupied beach. Why? I have no idea, maybe it's insecurity, perhaps it's a thought process or lack thereof that they think "oh that is where we have to camp". Dunno, but it's rather frustrating when you're not a people person.

Yep .......... certainly know what you're on about. On our recent round trip to the Kimberleys et al we noticed the "greys" present a serious flock mentality, wherein all roadside laybys were packed van to van.

This was generally well accepted by us as it meant we could wander off down the road and find a quiet spot far from the madding crowd, albeit it did give us cause for some mirth. However on our return run we pulled up in an area of perhaps 20 acres and set up happily by ourselves, only to have a couple towing a van pull in, drive all over the area and then set up within about 15 metres of us which gave me a severe dose of diarrhoea I can tell you.

They set up on the side we had arranged our bush shower so I thought .... up you lot and proceeded to bathe prior to sundown. Herself was a tad more modest, but I wonder at their mental state.

Because most people are sheep, watch a flock of sheep and you will understand where i am coming from.

Nearly every time this has happened to us the offenders had Vic number plates; strange people.

Yep, been there done that. Now this doesn't always work but does on occasion.
Ever seen the ad on TV for BCF I think where the 2 old mates have found a "nice spot" to set up. When the next mob come tootling down the track they turn the ghetto blaster up to full volume and twist the caps sideways.
All you need is some scalp hair, preferably longish and failing that a wig. An axe like you would use for firewood and a file.
As the potential close neighbor rolls up do the following.
Wet your hair and muss it up so it looks like you don't own a comb or mirror. Splash some water into your eyes to get that red rimmed look. Get your axe out and slowly run the file across the sharp edge while adopting a wild eyed look and emitting a low cackling noise. A high pitched maniacal screech works too. Smile at them as with as close an impression as you can do of a cat playing with a captive mouse.
You can also add an optional splash or two of red cordial or food colouring to the front of your tee shirt. A nice finishing touch is getting your good lady or camping companion to gaze imploringly out of a van window or tent flap while miming a heartfelt "help".

Hey I ain't saying it will always work but worth a shot.

Oh, by the way, if that doesn't deter them and the bloke wanders over, puts his arm around your shoulders, licks your ear and whispers "nice axe, how many you got so far", it might just be an idea to pack up camp and leave.

(;=))

Cheers and happy hunting
Pop

Dude! I know just what you mean.

Forget about the camping for a second, it's the car parks.

I go out of my to park well away from all those who 'park by touch' and then proceed to adjust your door line an duco with a tad of door rage. This doesn't include the demented ones that take great delight in re-arranging your side mirrors whilst 'squeezing past'. These creatures are in another league unto themselves.

I will park at the back of car parks, further-est from the entrance door to shopping centres where my vehicle will be the only one in a 50m radius, and when I return there will be one or two vehicles parked along side of me. The aforementioned 50m radius will still be empty of vehicles.

Back to the camping thing. I find that if possible, set up your camp along side of some trees/scrub etc, then a fire on the other side of the camp , and park the vehicle on the other side of the fire again.

Have a generator set up and fire the sucker up if anybody else shows up and then turn up the music real loud. Classical music for the young ones and Iron Maiden for the older ones.

DD

Had me scratching my head for years. Happened numerous times.

Weirdest one was when I camped at Wolfe Crater for the night - had the whole campground to myself - was looking forward to night of quiet reflection or cranking up the music etc. Just after sundown a couple of Fritz in a Britz pull in and proceed to park within 5 feet of my troopie. I thought at least I might get a bit of chat and cross cultural exchange going.

Nope - proceeded to ignore me and give me filthy looks when I tried to chat. It was one of those WTF??? moments

I've been thinking of immediately on arrival of setting up a table outside and with suitable big signage setting up a collection of Gideon's Bibles with further signs on all sides of the van of "Have Bible, will travel". Trouble is, with my luck it will immediately attract a couple of well dressed gents on bicycles.

yep, the old herding instinct, whether your in Litchfield or Westfield. Guaranteed to turn up.

We were never much for the herd, but I do like the lonely places to camp so if I see a spot I don't like I camp there as no one else will, except once on the nullabor we found a truck bay and a track that led into the bush so we followed that for about a couple of miles and came to a mill with a water trough and it was getting on to dark so we thought we were safe, next thing we know about a half hour later this old Toyota bus come trundling down the track, and pulls up ten feet away he comes over and starts chatting so I ask if he knew about this spot he said no he just followed our tracks, so I gave up it was my own fault. sometimes you just can't win.

Lucky bugger,
We get quite the opposite?
No one camps anywhere near us and if forced to camp near others they quite often move on??????
Just lucky I guess....LOL

I used to get annoyed with this. I discussed this issue with a good friend of mine once. He was perplexed at my displeasure as he sees such occurrences as an opportunity to make a new life long friend. Glass half empty/ half full? Depends I guess

For the record I prefer solo camping. Kinda defeats the purpose of camping in a massive carpark.

And I want to officially complain that the other posts on this forum are too close to mine. Can we have more space between the forum posts please? Some threads are a crowded nightmare....

Had 2 families with 6 kids in a remote mountain campsite on a bend in a river about the size of a small town. We had been there for a week and looked like it, we had spread out pretty well. Came back from a trip downstream to find we had neighbours camped right where the kids had made another fireplace just away from the adults. No more than 10 meters away. They had at least 20 grassy flat acres to choose from.

To say we were devastated was an understatement - but they really floored us when they complained that we were too noisy!!