Camp grounds

G'day Sam

The dumbest questions are the ones you don't ask.

We've stayed in both CPs and NPs without any strife. 99.9% of the time you will be safe and your equipment and belongings secure.

There are caravan parks that post specific warnings about security and that can be a bit of a worry, but apart from sensible things like securing valuable gear in the boot of the car, or leaving the site so it looks like you are not far away, or being nice to neighbors, there's not much else you can do.

At the end of the day, if someone is determined to knock off your gear, they will, wherever you are. Camping / caravanning is less secure than some other forms of travelling, but the enjoyment outweighs the risk.

Go for it

Cheers
John

Hey thanks for that!
So just leave your setup sometimes and go for it?

Leave it set up if your comming back that day, just put valuable stuff out of sight. Dont forget to leave things that can blow away easily secured. Also dont leave rubbish out in the open, animals love to tear apart rubbish bags when no one is there.

I've always found that campers are generally amongst the more honest people you will encounter (caravaners included of course). I'm sure there are some crooks amongst 'em but we have NEVER had a problem in 40 years of camping. In fact the opposite. Once we had a tent set up down the coorong. went away for the day and came back to see a note pinned to tent saying "your tent was blowing away so we fixed it for you. We are in campsite X. Drop in for a beer if you like".

From October onwards you won't have to worry about it, the snakes will keep the thieves away.

In 40 years of camping in this country, the only thing that has walked was Dads 4 ltr cask of red he forgot about and left over night on the c/t mudgard. He was not a happy camper.....but someone was!!

In a caravan park, you will generally pay an overnight fee, so it's a bit like a motel, most will have a time you have to be out by about 10am the next day (depends on the caravan park rules). But yes if you have rocked up on Friday arvo and paid for two nights (Fri & Sat night) then you would leave your tent set up all day Sat and go out and about sightseeing or whatever you have planned. Like others have mentioned make sure anything valuable (wallet etc) is safe or with you.
With Nat Parks it's the same, but a lot have an honor system where you pay for how long you plan to stay.

I don't think there would be many people camping if they had to pull their set up down every time they wanted to leave camp :D

Hope you enjoy your future trips!