Thread: End of free camping in Victoria?

Corralling campers into managed sites is already happening. Free sites along big river have been closed so campers have to now use sites with facility`s. Next will be the fees to stay there. But have to say that there is a fair proportion of campers that use free sites or sites with out facility`s that are pretty feral. This does not help the argument for free or no facility sites. Parks or DSE though are taking the easier option though of minimal camping sites with fees. They have the manpower now to manage the parks as they are. Soon there will be a reduction of work and still the same level of man power. Should bring this up. If they as in parks or DSE want to bring in managed sites then there should be a review of the number of staff needed. Less camp sites to police, less rangers to police them.
Cheers Hall

I think one of the reasons they want to do this is because of all the arsehole campers that leave their rubbish, **** and everything else behind after them. A lot of free sites look like tips after the holidays and long weekends, so it's not so surprising they are looking at ways of managing this.

Thank all the Bogan dipsticks out there that don't give a ****.

I have observed over the years that most of the sites that have rubbish left around them are 2WD accessable. If these are the ones the Parks are targetting then I commend them.
So long as they leave the more remote (4WD accessable) campsites alone then I can only see good coming from their (Parks Vic) actions.

Originally Posted by Xtreme

I have observed over the years that most of the sites that have rubbish left around them are 2WD accessable. If these are the ones the Parks are targetting then I commend them.
So long as they leave the more remote (4WD accessable) campsites alone then I can only see good coming from their (Parks Vic) actions.

I think you are right there - most of the rubbish I see is on 2WD accessible tracks going to and from other sites. There is still the dickhead 4WD element out there as well, but they wouldn't make up anywhere near the same numbers.

I've seen plenty of rubbish in paces that are accessible by 4WD only.

In a 2WD accessible campsite (on the Bridle Track at Hill End) I saw some 4WDrivers camping. When we went past the next day they had neatly bagged their rubbish and left it bagged beside the fireplace - and gone home, as if the rubbish would be ignored by the animals just because it was in a bag.

One day I was on my way to the end of Sunnyside Ridge Rd in Newnes State Forest (Lithgow). A few minutes before we got to the lookout, two 4x4s passed us going in the other direction. When we arrived at the lookout we found fresh human excrement by the side of the road and there was toilet paper that had just blown into the shrubs. Disgusting.

Unfortunately I have little faith that 4WDrivers as a group are any better than the general population as a whole.

Hi

When you read the press release and the impact statement seems to be directed clearly towards cost recovery on parks with facilities, and introducing fees for basic (ie bush) camping - $9.70 per person per night. Looks like only National Parks at the moment.

How they enact and police this will be the key to how it pans out. I guess they want everyone in the same spot so they can have one of those PAYG envelopes like you see in NSW.

This due to lack of Money 'n staff for fee collection may end up being everyone gets corralled into pine bollard-ed camping areas. I guess they'll find they needs toilets/etc, etc as everyone is grouped in one spot and the 'basic' fees will be upped as they will loose money hand over fist. Probably they'll be privatized as this is the preferred ideological bent with the government.

I understand that the Napthine government does not want state government agencies competing with caravan parks, amd this is one of the drivers of the changes

It looks like isolated high country bush camping is under threat even though to anyone who's camped up the high country knows it never was a threat to traditional commercial camp sites - its a different thing all together.



Clive

Originally Posted by clive22

Hi

When you read the press release and the impact statement seems to be directed clearly towards cost recovery on parks with facilities, and introducing fees for basic (ie bush) camping - $9.70 per person per night. Looks like only National Parks at the moment.

How they enact and police this will be the key to how it pans out. I guess they want everyone in the same spot so they can have one of those PAYG envelopes like you see in NSW.

This due to lack of Money 'n staff for fee collection may end up being everyone gets corralled into pine bollard-ed camping areas. I guess they'll find they needs toilets/etc, etc as everyone is grouped in one spot and the 'basic' fees will be upped as they will loose money hand over fist. Probably they'll be privatized as this is the preferred ideological bent with the government.

I understand that the Napthine government does not want state government agencies competing with caravan parks, amd this is one of the drivers of the changes

It looks like isolated high country bush camping is under threat even though to anyone who's camped up the high country knows it never was a threat to traditional commercial camp sites - its a different thing all together.



Clive

Clive,
Big secret - ssshhh !!

Welcome to the future. In Canada in the late 90s, I found that in order to book a campsite at one of the big and very popular provincial parks you needed a CREDIT CARD. Yes, to go camping. Apparently it was because people would book and then not turn up, so this way the authorities would get their money anyway.

I didn't have a credit card then, so I never went. But this is just typical of what happens with busy camping areas.