Camping in rest area's

Or just simply, "Oh, sorry mate. I am totally buggered and can't drive another kilometre. I'll be gone by morning".

And then, "Oh, is it that late already?"

You would want to be sure that your vehicle & camper were 100% RWC & legal before making any smartarse comments.

Well put, Roachie

Gday Roachie,
Good advice if you really had to use it , but I would try the "Im buggered" avenue first or you might end up with the..."Yes I agree you need to stop for a while, and while your here you can call a tow truck because I dont think your vehicle is road worthy!"

Im not sure about other states, but in the NT the coppers are more likely to praise you for pulling over rather than anoy you.

Cheers

I would reeely hope the coppers have better things to do than harass roadside campers

Not a roadside stop but i popped upm the the Avon Valley NP just for a night in the bush. - Should have checked because the Avon decent was on and sighns stated no camping over the weekend.
well last i checked friday was a weekday so I pulled up up and started necking a few.
Sure enough some guy who i think was one of the descent officials camre over and told me the ranger had asked him to make sure no one camped there.
I looked at the bottles and at him.
He muttred and said if the ranger comes tell him i never saw you and I had a good night in the bush

In 5 years of being on the road full time, we never got chased away from a spot. At some places in Queensland we parked theLC and the 27footer in front of the No Camping sign....hahahaha. Maybe we were just lucky. But we stopped those travels 10 years ago so things may have changed by now.

I worked how just what I would say, as you mentioned, if I was to be accosted by some official, but never got the chance....lol

Some of the roadside stops were a tad noisy while others were great places to stop.

One memorable place was a small reserve off the road past Lake Bookar in Victoria. I saw the sign as we sped by. Then had to turn the rig around and found when we opened the gate to the reserve that it was quite overgrown with grass and other foliage. Undaunted by this I drove down to the lake's edge and had to do a 9 point turn to get the van turned around for an exit the next day. There was no road noise but the ducks honked that much that we were put into a trance by them...or maybe it was the scotch???....lol

Cheers

15 years of camping anywhere I like... including in the suburbs of major cities.

Only asked to move on once by a friendly policeman. Moved 100metres and settled down for the night.

Guys! It pays to read the signs, then again a second time, then have a good think and interpret what you have read.

"No Camping"
This is, I believe, generally interpreted as setting up a camp site as distinct from parking then sleeping inside a caravan. Virtually impossible to police if you are caravan based. Starts to get a little grey I believe when using a tent trailer and you are under canvas with the floor on the ground.

"No Camping Or Staying Overnight"
This one is a bit different, the "No Camping" bit is pretty well as above because once you have set up camp then it may be said that you are camping. Now the "No Staying Overnight" bit is interesting, it hinges around the word "overnight" which is generally accepted to mean from a period of darkness till sunrise.
For a Council Officer to issue an infringement notice he/she is required to have his/her "proofs". i.e. In this case, the caravan/motor home was in place at darkness, stayed through the period until dawn/sunrise and therefore stayed overnight. However! What if you had pulled up at 02:00am. Is this overnight? Interesting scenario, now the Council Ranger is in a quandary.

An immediate way out here, specially if travelling, might be to set the old alarm clock, jump into the drivers seat in your jim jams and move the rig the necessary distance down the road before sunrise then have a leisurely breakfast. As an alternative you may challenge the Council to prove that you did not just stop the previous evening for a meal then spent the night touring the district and had not long returned to cook breakfast.

A Council Ranger cannot "force" you to pack up and leave, regardless of whether you are "tired and emotional" or not. To do so would open them to all sorts of liabilities, they can however, most certainly issue you with the appropriate infringement notice.

I don't wish to sound like a smart alec, however after having been employed by an "instrumentality" for some twelve years I have met more backyard lawyers talking out of their rear ends than you would believe.

Some Local Government Ordinances are iron tight, it's bloody hard to prove that you are in control of your dog in a public park when the bastard just bleep in someone's picnic box then ate their first born child. It can be quite another for the Ranger to prove a case in another situation.

Government Instrumentalities have all sorts of by-laws and ordinances,some are purely deterents due to the difficulty in acquiring the necessary "proofs" to enable a successful prosecution. You may very well use that to your own advantage.

If you believe that you are in the right then by all means state your case in a polite and couteous mannner, in the way you would wish to be addressed. I have seen any number of situations where someone has loudmouthed themselves into an unnecessary iinfringement notice.

Ian

Camps Australia Wide 4 shows it as having nearly everything including free showers & power - max stay 48 hours. If you don't like it, Silver Wattle Tourist Park at Mt Morgan is OK. As others said, get yourself a copy of CAW.

PeterD

Gday Obee,
You reckon thats bad, come to Alice Springs....I think we have developed a new name.... "The overflow town", the place looks like an overflow camp permanently. Only difference is people dont line up for the toilets and they are'nt overflowing ..infact most people dont use them, and when they do they dont even aim for the bowl (except with rocks of course)....

Cheers

Eeeeyew !!

I think I'm glad I bought a van with its own toilet and shower.

There's no doubt that there are some disgusting people around.