Had a camping party on our bush property recently with a big group of teenagers almost all of which were within 1 yr of age 18.
Son turned 18 and that day got license and next day got bike learners, girlfriend got her license two days earlier and several others had also got theirs and this was a big adventure out with most never having been in charge of a vehicle by themselves
so far from
home.
So all
young teenagers, just with cars/4wds and in an enviroment were they could more or less go wild, along with more than a dozen trail bikes, and all were in for one of their first camping/4wd experiences.
We stayed low key, just hanging around the edges looking to trim any real excesses and were probably the only people there up tight because of the potential of something going wrong.
Like to observe human nature and it was quite fascinating to listen and see real
young culture in action, and compare to how we behaved when that age.
One of the main topics around the huge bonfire was various experiences with getting their licenses and the negative atitude of those who couldn't book in to get theirs pre-july when in Victoria the rules get tougher.
In general the approach to authority was pretty negative, with many pointing out how unrealistic a requirement for zero blood alcohol was and that new rules meant that those with bikes (most) could no longer tow trailers and that the new in car for "Teens" is a Ute as it can carry bikes.
So the new rules effectivily push these kids into less safe cars (air bags are rare in price range of utes they can afford).
Our son, with driving experience from
Cape York to the Corrong, Big Red to the High country, got thru his driving
test with highest score possible.
For a bike learners permit now in Victoria you are required to attend a one day course.
So next day with more than 10 years riding and racing experience all over the place he not only breezed thru his
test but was used by instructors to do the various demo's.
We were relieved now that we don't have to look out for the law any more when we go camping with the kids and their bikes, espically as he is one of those on our bike Simpson trip in a few weeks.
Back at the party, their BBQ was ugly, their was lots of skylacking and general carry-on as you'd expect and camping experience was quite mixed ranging from those who forgot there sleeping
bags and sleep around the fire to those who had no idea of tents, and those you new it all and ended up getting drenched in the condensation of there new Swags.
Almost every type of 4wding mistake had been made this day and this made for great and exaggerated stories throughout the evening.
Hard issues for this age group seemed to revolve around drugs smoking and binge drinking.
Despite this event being billed as a sort of "exercise in freedom" for the newly independant and with almost no oldies around, we were pretty sure that the drugs issue scored zero, smoking
was about 5% and I think only one had to much to drink.
Indeed we said almost nothing apart from e couple of gentle reminders about using bike helments .
But the real
test came when the convoy drove thru a country town next day on way
home and a police breath
test operation was in progress.
For most of the newish drivers this was a first experience and there was much nervousness about. The previous evening I took a few questions on this subject and it seemed that advice had been taken.
While all were tested only one got pulled out of the line and this turned out to be because of having an out of date South Aussie rego sticker.
All in All I ended up with improved respect for the younger mob, but their camping and 4wd skills will need a lot of working on.