U: Understanding Free Camping

During our holiday in Truby we free camped. In fact of the 28 days that we were away we only stayed in a caravan park 4 times. For my husband and I this was a very new experience. We were taught the rules and how to go about it by other family members who had been doing it for decades. For anyone who doesn’t know what I am talking about, free camping is stopping anywhere to sleep the night that costs you nothing.

Sometimes in Australia there are designated free camping places. These are the ones my husband and I are comfortable with. However, there is a whole new world out there that we are only learning about. Some of the places we have camped recently include:

  • Beside lakes and rivers
  • Bush carparks
  • By the side of the road
  • Empty carparks
  • Industrial areas
  • Lookouts
  • On the grounds of motels/pubs with the owners permission
  • Picnic areas
  • Private land out of sight of the public

Once I got over the initial anxiety of whether we could or couldn’t park overnight somewhere I loved the experience. On one occasion when we were camped in a lookout the police did a drive by. Rather than ask us to move on they waved so we settled in for the night.

Now I am counting done the days till we can hit the road again to find more hidden gems.