Free camps

We use the site as an overnight stop ie arrive about 5pm leave 7.30am next morning in self contained caravan. For that we are charged $20... If there was an alternative rest stop in the area we would use it. Kman

Somebody has to pay for them to be there, may as well be the people who are using it.

kman1, but when you arrive at 5pm, it's probably a lot cleaner as there are serviced bins in the area and people have used them. If you went for the freebie, without amenities, it could quite possibly have you parking in a rubbish tip.

By "Wiki travels," do you mean WikiCamps? WC generally show whether they are a free camp or paid for camp. If the entries are wrong, then the WC users should feel obliged to correct the error and correct it.

Yes, meant Wikicamps, but meant it generically; ie, any open source info can be suspect... Was just asking but no response yet.

The camping sites referred to are known as the Coastal Nodes. They have always been free until Monday 22nd March, 2021 when the Shire of Irwin implemented paid camping with fees applied to all camping along Indian Ocean Drive within the Shire of Irwin. Visitors are now charged $20 per vehicle per night. I believe the facilities are very basic or nil.

Other Shires along the coast are about the same cost but with much better facilities.

If you are just travelling you can stay a bit further inland at the Eneabba Recreation Centre with a hot shower and toilet for $5 per person. Also $5 per person for fully self contained at the S Bend Caravan Park on a grassed site with no use of facilities.

For some time now, many of us have been referring to these non-regimented style of camps as 'freedom camps.' This covers most of the eventualities, they can be anywhere from free up to around $30 or perhaps even more. A lot have dunnies and a few have showers. Some even include a few 15 A power points for travellers to hook into for a night or three. The term freedom covers the lot.

Who is the “they?” Was it the council or was the 'fact' gleaned from socially maintained guides? If it was the latter, then you should not get overexcited when they're wrong. Instead, you should do your civic duty and correct the information on that site and suck up your disappointment.

I do not think the local council would have promoted them as free campsites.

See my response regarding the terminology “free”, it does not always mean “no cost”.

Macca.

' “free”, it does not always mean “no cost”. '

I look at things the other way around. Free does mean no cost. It is just that some people do not have a good command of the English language and use words incorrectly.

My Boss used to say,
"No such thing as free. You just want someone else to pay for it"
How true.

Cheers
Stu

Sandy Cape comes under the Shire of Dandaragan. The sites being discussed are around Cliff Head, south of Dongara, Shire of Irwin.
If I remember correctly the sites were shut for a time during the initial stages of Covid and when they opened the Shire initiated the fee.
Prior to that it was well known that a fee was going to be implemented and it was discussed at length on some sites. To my knowledge there has never been any attempt to hide the fact that there is a fee.