camping

In WA, as in other States, some of the rules and regulations are correctly designed to reduce damage to the environment, limit risk to the public, protect the investments that Park owners have made and so on. There are examples where these regulations have been applied that distinctly disadvantage travellers.

An example of this is camping at the Ashburton River crossing of the Northwest Coastal Highway. Camping was allowed there until the owner of the nearby Nanutarra Roadhouse was granted permission to construct facilities and call the place a caravan park. Now, I use the term caravan park loosely as the facilities are crap and you would be better off camping in the bush in my opinion.

Once the so called "caravan park" was in place, the Main Roads Dept.... immediately banned access to camp-sites on the riverbank, forcing travellers to stay at Nanutarra. End result:

1) Anybody that has been to Nanutarra will know that the owners practice "robbery without violence" with the prices they charge.
2) You can no longer enjoy the serenity of the river, instead you have to listen to Bruce's lighting plant all night.

Scenarios like this lead to travellers "bending" the law to avoid places like Nanutarra. I know, for instance, that there is a track heading west just before you get to Nanutarra, that leads you to a crossing of the Ashburton River. There are several places to camp there. So I do.

According to the law what I do is illegal, but the only thing we leave at camp-sites are our tyre prints. So we take the risk that we won't get caught. Others might not be as friendly to the environment, but by forcing them to seek out these places because of bad application of regulations, the Govt... bodies are creating a whole new problem.

We need two things to happen:

1) we have to find a way of educating the travelling public not to be morons and respect the places they camp at. This might encourage more landholders to free up land for camping. To do this, if you see these dumbies desecrating camp-sites, photograph them and their vehicle rego's. Send the pics to the appropriate Authority - be it Main Roads or the local Council, or whatever. Councils can issue infringements for littering.

2) lobby Government departments and Politicians and get them to monitor the consequences of enforcing some of the regulations that they impose. If the Main Roads Dept.. created 10 or 20 distinctly marked bays on the riverbank at Nanutarra that could be used on a first come, first served basis, then this would put downward pressure on prices charged by the Roadhouse. Also, Main Roads WA has many free 24 Hour stopover places. Lobby for more of these to be built.

We all need to be more pro-active if we want to continue the travelling lifestyle that we all enjoy. To do nothing will see the costs of accommodation become prohibitive and the availability of it severely restricted.

Sounds like good advice to me.

Here in Vic its generally supposed to be in a camping area of which there are a great deal , but in practise its common sense as per above and not near a no-camping sign.

Robin Miller

hope you are going to get a commission if he buys

Hey Member No 1 - as everyone knows, they call it PMS because its "putting up with men's bleep "

Motherhen,

hahahahahahaha good one :))))

you mean Marital sheit dont you?
and no prizes for coming second Motherhen

Im with you Steve and Jackie it is a great book and we use it extensively and is well worth $50