Is free camping wicked?

Am I the only one here feeling a little guilty parking a motorhome for the night without paying a fee? The ‘Free Camping' debate has been prominent in the media of late so that could be it.

Or perhaps it's the constant approaches from inspectors and even a caravan park manager masquerading as an inspector that have me a little jumpy. Perhaps I am a little sensitive, perhaps I am being singled out for special attention -- but I don't think so.

Some say free camping in Australia is facing extinction and they just might be right. I have been free camping in Australia for a long, long time but when I look at all the options, I'm not completely convinced the end of free camping is a bad thing.

Free camping used to be a discrete thing that kind of flew under the radar and was quietly tolerated. If people did the right thing (and they usually did), no one really complained.

These days, 100,000 ‘Wicked' hires has taken its toll on Australian foreshores and parks and thanks (at least in part) to these Wicked…. er free campers, the rest of us are also well and truly in the spot-light.

Five years ago, I could park quietly at a beach with my wife and two children for a night or two in our 23ft motorhome and this would rarely raise an eyebrow.

These days, taking such liberties has become a serious transgression in many beach side communities up and down the coast. Signs, fines and ‘dawn raids' is the talk of the town and dear friends, it's spreading West.  

Let me digress slightly to say I love international visitors to Australia - yes, even the ‘Wicked' ones. They did not create the business which has ridden the free camping wave all the way into the beach and half way up the bloody sand dunes.

John Webb, founder of Wicked campers did all that but let's not blame John either.

Here is a guy who would: “…put a bag of pot in all the glove boxes if it was legal”.

So I don't think we should attack John Webb over the success of his business or even rise to the bait of his latest offensive slogan -- it just fuels the fire ‘man'.

No, the real issue is the free camping opportunity itself. Camping is not free. The caravan and motorhome industry generate sales in Australia of around $2billion a year and we pay for those vans with hard earned taxed Australian dollars.

We also (mostly) pay rates that go back into the community. Our beloved international rental campers however do not pay rates and this is where the trouble begins because there are just so darn many of them.

Simply put, the issue with free camping in Australia is that there are just too many people hitting the road in search for that free experience and it's overloading the system.

Everyone knows for example, Australia has an increasingly ageing population. Should we be surprised then to learn that there are more grey nomads on the road than ever before.

What about families wanting to ‘escape the every day?' Thanks to the internet, it's never been easier to educate kids on the move so why not?

The mobile internet revolution has also unleashed an entire segment of previously desk bound workers to take their work on the road so things are getting pretty busy just at a local level.

Add to this menagerie of freedom seekers, our ‘Wicked' little friends from around the globe -- all 100,000 of them (‘Wicked' campers are not the only hire company out there promoting a holiday promise of ‘cheap and free' to the world,

John just happens to be the most successful and I could not resist the ‘Wicked' analogy) and you start to understand how things need to change if we're going to preserve peace, balance and harmony for us all.  

What's needed is a new system underpinning a strategy to encourage tourism based on ‘value' that also supports local campers and protects our right to enjoy our country at a fair price.

‘RV friendly towns' are a great example of an option for towns wanting to give a little more structure and balance to the influx of ‘free campers' entering their town but it's surprisingly expensive to set up.

A small fee for use would certainly be fair. Or perhaps a validated parking ticket system if you like but let's make sure there's clear value for the towns, not just a promise that we'll buy a few groceries and fuel as we pass through.

I might make a few people mad by saying this but I'm completely happy if all the ‘free camping' in Australia disappeared tomorrow if it were replaced by a system that offers ‘affordable' camping for everyone with better facilities and clear and fair boundaries we can all abide by.

This doesn't mean I think we should have to pay for parking in rest stops by the side of our national highway network -- these are ‘rest stops' not ‘camping spots'. That said, if there was the option of being able to dump my toilet and refill my water at these rest stops for a fair fee, I would gladly pay it.

Power and internet for a fair fee? Let me swipe my credit card. The same applies to any designated RV camping place in the country.

I most certainly don't have all the answers but I believe if we move to a system where every user pays something, we must surely end up with better facilities, more flexible options for travellers with different needs and a fairer outcome for business, communities and travellers alike.

Do you have thoughts on free camping in Australia? Join in the discussion and post your comments below.