Please, Please No Generators

Yea I agree with that.

I go away to get away from hair dryers and TV and crap like that..

Onya Jeff,

If ya can't power it with a 12v battery then it's no good for the bush! Everyone seems to take the whole house with them these days including all sorts of electric stuff. Anything I take runs from a 12v battery pack and is small. If it needs recharging I go for a drive and take in the scenery. If it flattens the battery pack too quick then it will be staying at home next trip out.

Like you, I go to remote areas to be remote from noise and city living.

Steven

Frankly I tend to camp away from anybody else. If I arrive at a campsite and there are one or two parties I will go and ask if they run generators. If they do I push off somewhere else.

My hearing is not all that good these days and I tend to say to my companions...."I can hear a genberator running somewhere'...or..." I am sure I can hear a vehicle".....and all the time it is my fridge that I can hear....silly me!!

The silence of the bush or the natural noises of the bush are the only ones to hear.

There are responsible generator users out there. I would never start up my genny if there were other campers about. If I needed to charge something I would go for a drive and make sure I wasn't disturbing anyone.

I really cannot stand it when people 'preach' to others. Last I heard the bush was for all to enjoy.

bleeppeople being rowdy annoy me. I say leave all your beers at home boys - do us all a favour.

.........get a life Jeff, and respect other people and their right to enjoy the bush the way they want to.

I don't have a generator, but I have thought about it.

I am a considerate camper, and enjoy the sounds and the silence of the bush more than anything.

I eventually want to run a laptop when I am out the bush.....that is why I had considered a generator.....can a laptop be run for any length of time on a battery system?

Blame the Chinese,when hondas were the only thing available,and cost a lot,solar and other means were the norm.
Now you can get an oriental unit for $198,So cheap that they are the cheapest and loudest power source.
I guess used just to recharge batteries they have a place,loud music gets up my nose more.
Regards

We have a solar panel. More by luck than design. Works fine for everything we need.

The quiet genys (eg Honda) are fine IMHO and don't disturb the 'serenity of it all'. As in many cases with these types of debates, blanket rules shut down too many people who are considerate of others and can't afford the cost of the better gear. Even the cheaper units are OK if used in consideration of others.

Its not the gear itself thats the problem rather the user.

Sheeezzz - Next thing you know people will be wanting 4byers to stay out of national parks because they wear the tracks!

Gaz

Well I don't know about you, but when we go away we enjoy a bit of music at night, sitting around the camp fire having a few beers (and sometimes when I say a few I mean a lot!)
Cor blimy I like the peace and quiet as much as the next guy but we all enjoy ourselves different ways. That's why we always try and find a bushcamp somewhere away from other people, so we can enjoy ourselves without being disturbed by idiots, and so we don't appear to be those idiots to anyone else!
Just because some people who play music feel that they need to let the entire state here what their playing, doesn't mean we are all like that, and the same with drinks, we can all sit around and have a laugh, it doesn't mean we are all going to be climbing trees and doing circle work around the picnic table! Sure there are idiots out there, but fair crack of the whip fellas.
Just for the record, I love getting up in the morning, frost, the smell of the camp fire burning out the sound of the birds and the water running, it's why you go! Does'nt mean you have to sit there and look at the same tree all day sipping on a cup of tea, whinging about those kids having a ball with their new 4 wheeler. Don't like it, go for a bush walk. I think the key is to just think about it. I know there is always going to be a mongrol who doesn't think, but it is a free country, thats why our camp is quick to put up and pull down. Move somewhere else if we don't like it.

Most interesting lot of comments.
Having run a "terrorist park" for about 7 years I became most wary of those who asked for a quiet site on our beautiful 40 acres of bush. Usually they wanted to drink most of the night then go on the roads over .05 next day after laughing & shouting most of the night with music they did not consider loud.
In a bush environment the noise TRAVELS a long way and it spoils the holiday for
others and makes the park owner mad from lack of sleep.
If that is your style in a park or out in the bush I suggest you sign up for a stint in Iraq or some other place.
Sometimes I would have to get up 3 or 4 times to shut up noisy people particularly women and on occasion just threw them out & rang other operators to warn them too.
Just cos you are out in the bush on public ground gives you no right to disturb the peace of others to satisfy your "right" for drunken revelry.
Trust & fellowship between people seems to be fast disappearing judging by the
number of comments on this topic alsewhere & the wish by many to camp alone
and avoid the "terrorists".
I guess whatever I say here will not make much difference to the yobbo's who think they have a particular right irrespective of the wishes of others but I live in hope.
And yes, I have recently bought a chinses genny for those emergencies that can crop up too.

Jeff I an not a fan of generaters and lucky only ever had one away with us and he was very thought full when using it only about miday and walked around and told everone he was kicking it over.
The biggest thing in the bush is music. What i like not every one else does and visa versa and It always causes trouble unless your some where on your own with no one aroud then you can do what you like.

All the best
Eric

I've got a generator. Its a 4KVA Honda and it sounds like the Ghan going past. I only use it to run the bore pump during bush fires when the power is off. I can't imagine why I would need a generator when I go camping. Every thing runs off the battery or the inverter. I have had a weekend away ruined by a turkey with a generator- ran power tools by day and then Slim Dusty til 1.00 am with the place lit up like a suburban street- constant drone of the generator in the background.

So many people telling others how to live their life. All these experst telling whats right for others.

I have been camping all my life and generators have never bothered me. Their are lots of others issues that really are more important to our lifestyle than intolerance towards each other.

People who advocate bans of such are incredibly self centred and selfish. THese people exist everywhere in different guise. Some want to ban fourbies, some music, some groups of young people, some motorbikes, some dogs, some firearms, some scantily clad women, some asians, some everyone else but them, and the list goes on and on and on.

Are gerneators really such a bid deal. I dont think so. Are there other issues. YES.

Sean

I would happily join the "BAN Portable generators from the bush party", and the "ban music from the bush party". We were camped on the weekend as far away from the other groups as possible. About 09:00 pm a group turn up and camp right next to us, and then start up the chainsaw having knocked over a couple of small trees. That was after they had left their Diesel truck idling for half an hour while they set up on top of us. Next day they start playin EMINEM first thing in the morning. I do not think their is any acceptable volume to play music while camping in the bush, as I can hear it 300 metres away, even if it is turned down very quitely. The BASS travel huge distances, even if you can not hear the rest of it. If people want to listen to loud music and get raucous why not stay home and do it? (Put National Geographic channel on in the background). Some of my most memorable expreiences in bush camps are when the animals come around at night, and the bird songs in the morning. Neither of these things will occur when you make too much noise.

The loud and disruptive behaviour is one of the reasons that many areas that I could visit 20 years ago with my father are now not available for me to take my family too. Landowners (Government and Private) just can not see why they need to put up with this anti social behaviour, that on occasions leads to property damage, so they do the obvious thing and lock it up.

just my 2cents

Mickey

Heres a happy story about camping.. and people with a genny.

Hi there folk, I would like to just share/vent experiences I had at Scott's
Reserve just out of Woods Point this Easter.

We had been planning this trip for some time, had 3 families involved in the
planning and it promised to be a great break.

I got out of work early on Thursday and shot home on my bike to find my
trusty paj all loaded up by my wife (ever notice how they forget unimportant
things to them (like a ground coffee for peculator) and its all good for
them), and she did a great job. Got out of the sth eastern burbs of
Melbourne and on our way there by 3:30pm.

We made Woods Point in good time and found Scott's Reserve to not be overly
crowded. We found our friends easy enough and set up camp and did a wood run
for the cooking fire. Then it was just relax time, have a feed and then some
bourbons and bullbleepround the campfire.

Had a bit of a sleep in on Friday morning and then a bit of a walk, on
looking at the entrance to the reserve I noticed a heap of commodores and a
couple of 4x4's parked up on the rd. I thought maybe they were waiting for
the group to catch up and go onto kevington or something. How wrong can 1
person be?

They pulled into the camp and warning bells should of rang out loud when I
spotted the trailer mounted cool room coming down the driveway, but they
didn't.

By lunchtime we had the drone of a big 240volt Gen set going, this was to
run the cool room. The next thing that they pulled out was a peewee50 and a
peewee 80 trail bike, great I thought, a reasonably safe place for the kids
to play up the back of the reserve.

By Friday late afternoon, we were thinking "wow, sure hope they turn the gen
set off soon and stop the kids riding through everyone's camps". Sure enough
they turned it off just before dark and the kids put the bikes away.

WE had a feed and got all the kids to bed and started to have a drink, there
was a campsite 200 metres away supplying everyone at the reserve with some
80's music, all was nice...until our gen set bike toting comrades (lets call
them the Feral's) decided they wanted their music, so we had battle of the
sounds till midnight.

I was up early on sat morning and went and visited a family I had met at
this campsite maybe 6 or 7 times in the last 18 months and asked how they
enjoyed the battle of the sounds (they were between the 2 camps playing
music), the folk here informed me they had visitors at 12 midnight, the
feral come over to introduce themselves and to brag about their hunting
exploits with an air rifle and a possum.

We escaped the camp for most of the Saturday by going into Mansfield for the
Easter market, it was nice to get out of camp and get away from the gen set
and the bikes (they started both at about 8:30am). We returned from
Mansfield late afternoon to find the feral's quitebleepand noisy. There
was one feral with an air rifle with 10 kids following him up the river I
spied as we went over the little bridge into camp.

I had a bit of a session myself on Saturday night and managed to sleep in a
bit Sunday morning, on looking at the camp I had visited the morning before,
it was deserted. I wasn't feeling 100% from the night before and decided to
cancel my plans of going out for a 4x4 through the local area.

The gen set was up and running and the kids were back on the trail bikes. I
heard a car up on the road and looked up to see the local copper coming, the
Gen set got turned off and the bikes were suddenly off and parked by the
time he got into the reserve.

He soon left (not before 7 girls under 9yo from our camp run up to his car
with Easter eggs for him, (ever seen the cop at Woods Point?, he doesn't
need them)). An hour later the bikes were back out and the fridge back on.

The shovels came out next as the feral's decided to dig up the main driveway
into the reserve and make a jump for the trail bikes. Soon 1 of 4x4's took
off and came back 15 minutes later dragging a piece of tree about 3 metres
long and a metre wide, wow we are in for a night I thought.

The people I visited the morning before had returned, so I went and paid
them a visit, they decided to escape for the day, they had had enough of the
feral's and needed to escape. The hunting feral had paid them a visit the
night before to brag about his prowess hunting fish with his gun.

I had an early night as the camp was quiet, as most people including the
feral's had gone into Woods Point for the local bush dance. About 4am I was
woken by headlights and a car doing doughnuts in the middle of the reserve,
he crashed into something and took off. I managed to get back to sleep and
woke at 6am.

I got up and noticed the people from the camp I pay regular visits to were
up so wandered over with a coffee and a cheery hello and sarcastically asked
how their nights sleep was. They were ropable, I didn't know the half of it.

WW3 had happened over night with the feral's and another campsite, a man had
got up and asked them to be quiet at 2am, they were proving their man hood
by spotlighting an owl and trying to shoot it. He said they were a disgrace
and should be ashamed, he explained he had kids and they couldn't sleep, the
feral's said they had children and they couldn't sleep either. He went to
bed and they terrorized his campsite, kicking over stuff, smashing bin lids
etc.

The bikes started very soon and I decided that was it, i'm outa here, by 9am
I was packed and on my way back to Melbourne.

Rego's of cars were taken and reports are going to be made to DNRE and the
local Police.

I doubt I will ever go to Woods Point again for Easter, the feral's had such
a good time, they will be back.

So moral of story is, be wary of trailer mounted cool rooms on your camping
trips, they are probably feral's.

P.S. If you're reading this and a feral from the weekend, you're a disgrace
to human kind!

Slej
90 paj

The morons you encountered over Easter are going to be morons no matter where they are, what gear they have, what sort of car they drive, or what sort of accommodation they choose (beit bush camp, caravan park, motel, or home in the suburbs - I bet their suburban neighbours had a wonderful holiday)!!!!

I have camped since I was a child - we started taking our kids camping when they were still in nappies - when they were teenagers we bought them their own tents and they still came away with us with their friends - now they have babies and toddlers of their own and are looking forward to more camping.

My husband and I camp in the bush at every opportunity. Maybe we are just plain lucky, but we have rarely been so annoyed by a group of campers in the bush that we have ever thought about packing up.....and, yes, our main reason to go camping in the bush is to enjoy the peace and quiet and nature.

Yes, I know they are out there, but extreme morons like you describe surely are a minority, and yes, if your account is spot on, then they are a disgrace to humanity.
But most campers with music, generators, kids, grog etc are considerate to a degree.

Don't blame the genny, the 4x4, the kids, the music etc....we all have a right to use these bush sites and we are all individual....one day, morons like that will get what is coming to them!!!! but most people who are 'annoying' you out the bush, would probably be unaware of it, and would most likely tone down their behaviour or noise if they were asked.

Now, where will we go this weekend?......Out with the maps...........

I too have been thinking about this issue since it was first posted, and am a little mixed in my thoughts relative to the rights and worngs, so I did a bit of research to see what noise pollution is.

I have copied below some examples of what I found from EPA and other sites.

This is not pointed at responsible people but is provided as a source for further discussion and thought.

I must say that y I personally dislike the use of gen sets in the bush camping scene and particularly dislike music (of any sort) in the bush, yet I love all types of music.

However I also recognise that some people need to use gen-sets, and that others enjoy music while camping, no dramas. Therefore I accept this.

What I do get annoyed with is those people who do not recognise that noise does carry a long way in the bush, and who tell others to 'get !!!!!!!!', when they are asked to turn it down etc.

I am also more than a little disturbed by some comments made in this post such as, 'if you don't like it move on'. It is the repsonsibility of the person/group making the noise to ensure it doens't effect other people. After all if my neighbour at home is generating unreasonable noise I have the right of Law to have them turn it down or otherwise control it. It is not the right of my neighbour to tell me to move away and buy another house.

Also remember what might be considered reasonable noise in a suburb, would be considered loud and offensive in the bush, due to the nature of the bush etc, etc.

Anyhow enough said, read on if you wish to see the exerpts I have posted from other sites.

" Noise is unwanted sound — barking dogs, loud music, passing traffic. Studies show that over 40 percent of Australians are disturbed at home or lose sleep because of noise pollution."

"Noise pollution can be defined as unwanted or offensive sounds that unreasonably intrude into our daily activities. It has many sources, most of which are associated with urban development: road, air and rail transport; industrial noise; neighbourhood and recreational noise."

"Noise pollution can disturb our work, concentration, relaxation and sleep. It can cause stress and create or worsen physical problems such as high blood pressure, chronic exhaustion and heart disease."

"A quieter environment is a restful place that promotes relaxation and a happier and healthier community because neighbourhood noise can cause annoyance by disrupting normal domestic activities."

"Everyone reacts differently to noise. What can be unbearable for one person may pass almost unnoticed by another. How annoyed we become depends on the loudness, time, place and frequency of noise. Distinct features of noise, such as screeches or rumbles, are also important."

"Being a thoughtful neighbour means ensuring noise in your household doesn’t annoy other people."

"Everyone has a different tolerance to noise. This means that a relatively low level of noise may disturb one person and someone else may be able to tolerate it at a higher level. Tolerance to noise is influenced by the degree of acclimatisation (how we get used to it), the level and type of intruding noise and the level of the background noise at the time. Particular activities will influence your tolerance. "

"Sometimes it’s the timing of noise that creates the problem"

"Problems caused by noise
Annoyance
When we think, talk, relax, listen to music or sleep we need quiet. Even relatively low levels of noise can cause annoyance and frustration. Sudden increases in volume and tone makes sounds annoying — the reason why sirens are so penetrating. A quieter background can make noise more intrusive."

Natural sounds are generally less annoying than ones we think unnecessary or controllable."

Lots of interesting comments on this post and just goes to show how peoples views & attitudes vary. Theres no real solution to the problem unless you divide the country in two and those who want peace & quiet and the right to appreciate the bush for what it is live on one side & those who want noise destruction & have little consideration for their neighbours or the enviroment live on the other side. Problem fixed ! if only it was that simple. Welcome to human nature folks.

Personally I don't have a problem with generators as long as they aren't next to me or run at night. I think there can't be anymore insidious than loud music and screaming yard apes (kids) which I go bush to get away from.

I don't think it matters where you go there will always be something that will piss people off.

I have endured similar ignorant and selfish "feral campers" myself. I just move or leave.

My van has been modified to go off road to avoid the possibility of having vermin like that near me as they usually drive cars and not 4WD and tend to habitate established camping areas. The less facilities the less of them there are.

We usually avoid school holidays,long weekends, etc. when we can. Not having kids is great. We travelled up to Darwin from Perth APR/MAY and the more remote spots next to the sea were basically empty. The others that were there camped hundreds of metres apart.

I carry a generator as a back up. Always a big believer in insurance (you never know in the bush, so Murphy's Law applies). I might not run it all the time, I am a responsible and mainly considerate camper/caravanner, so cut me some slack when I do (it is very quiet). I have dual batteries in the 4WD as well as Waeco Outback battery and inverter which I use to run most things all for about $1000 which is also portable and flexible. I can't see the justification in spending $2500 plus for the pleasure of power from the sun for my van.

Fact is you will never avoid everything. So unless you camp on your own island then learn to get over it.

Prado TD
Jayco Freedom 16FT

LOL, what a bunch off sooks. Can't take a bit of noise eh! well get yourselves some earplugs or move. No I don't own a generator, a bit of noise doesn't bother me.