Filthy, disgusting campers!

Huggett's Crossing on the Avon River.
We generally avoid campgrounds, but we had a window to go camping & it's only about 90 minutes from home.
There was even spray paint graffiti on tree trunks, who takes spray paint cans camping?

"There was even spray paint graffiti on tree trunks, who takes spray paint cans camping?"

the kids from dysfunctional families 20-25 years ago are now breeding dysfunctional families of their own. and so it goes.

Huggerts seems to be the centre of bogan bush life.
Haven't stayed there for many years and it was bad back then, sounds like it's even worse.

Yes, I think they are from the shallow end of the gene pool!

I guess for normal people that goes without saying, we always seem to carry other people's rubbish, but if the brain dead morons to which I have been referring could only remember one thing, I would insist on a shovel.
I would rather carry out a few cans, than have to wade through piles of human excrement & toilet paper!

You're dead right on that , totally agree people that do that are just disgusting!
Animals are better than that !

You are right Shane, animals are better than that, they don't wipe their butt. :)

Bob, It is why I so like going truly remote and only camping where "No-one has gone before" (Why does that have a familiar ring to it?).

Only a black-tracker would detect where we camped. It's not hard really.
Might be a champagne cork or two in the nearby bush...... I have rotten aim!

Along the beachfront camping zones on Fraser Island is a major "sewage farm". There are no bush toilets so everyone digs a hole of sorts (some don't) and the next good breeze uncovers the crap. Even if you dig a hole, the odds are that you will uncover a recent deposit. It is a biological hazard to camp there.
We always camp at Cathedrals campground but Fraser is losing its attraction for me anyway.

'these "types" are just too mobile these days, and can pollute almost anywhere, no matter how remote!'

It doesn't get much more remote than the Canning Stock Route. It's a few years since I was there but some of the wells were festooned with toilet paper.

Cheers

Rocco

backpackers, anyone?

If only what you write is true NZ has a huge problem with Freedom Campers and is gradually toughening the rules.
Most are still ignoring what rules there are and are increasingly alienating themselves with the locals getting absolutely sick of them
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/should-freedom-camping-be-restricted
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/317127/christchurch-latest-council-to-ban-freedom-camping
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/77912237/Tekapo-freedom-camping-hotspot-closed-because-poo-threatens-publics-safety
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/77350438/Freedom-camping-numbers-out-of-control-at-Christchurch-park
So where did you go ???

Hi Tom,
Of course NZ is certainly not perfect and I take your point that there are issues, however where we travelled, north and central North Island, things appeared to be considerably better than out here. DOC's campsites that we visited require you to be gray water self contained and provide excellent cold showers and very acceptable long drop or composting toilets. Some even provide flush toilets. And as a bonus they are often located in wonderful locations.
We can do much better out here!

Dont go to the South Island then as thats where most of those links pertain to and its really bad down there.
Has been two scrub fires near Queenstown with idiots chucking hot ashes into the bushes at Dublin Bay near the town.

Also illegally parked campers are getting wheel clamped in Qtown as well $200 fine and $200 to get the clamps removed

Somehow I doubt it but presumably you asked to see their social security cards and canvased their views on the environment and climate change just to be sure?

G'day Bazooka

My last two encounters with "the particular campers" I mentioned - 1st was at Eringa Waterhole where I spent the night camped near 3 of them in one van and had a couple hours chatting with them around their fire where I asked them what they do for a living. With puzzled looks on their faces they replied with " we're just travelling the country looking for work " and I just assumed by all the climate change and save the environment stickers on their van they might be greenies of some sort ! They were there for two nights, myself only one and in the morning when they were getting ready to depart I approached them to see if they were going to clean up the mess they had left - again with puzzled looks they said what with and where do we put it ? So I gave them a couple of my red white and blue $2 cheap as chips plastic bags I use for rubbish and lent them a shovel as they didn't have one !! Great way to go camping hey ? I wonder what their other campsites looked like.

2nd encounter was between Louth and Tilpa on the inside track where I stopped to help out a couple who had mechanical trouble with their old holden wagon, also covered in save the planet stickers etc. They said they were only there for about 6 hours but you should have seen the mess they had left - looked like they cleaned out all the crap they no longer needed and threw it on the ground all over the place. I gave them a lift to where they could call for assistance and along the way found out they too did not have a job !

So Bazooka - my assumptions may have been wrong but I would certainly put money on these two occasions I was right as I was there and you weren't !

I wasn't knocking greenies should you be one - just saying what I saw !!


All the best

Gazz

I'm well aware of what you were attempting to do Gazz but thanks for the great stories. People who trash the environment - in a variety of ways - come in all shapes and sizes, with the common denominators being ignorance and a complete lack of care for others, ie selfishness (mentioned elsewhere in this thread iirc).

I'm a "greenie" in many ways although perhaps not in the way you think, as are hopefully the vast majority of people, particularly members of this forum.

"" I'm well aware of what you were attempting to do Gazz but thanks for the great stories.""


Bazooka - please let me know what you are well aware of what I was "attempting" to do - might also make a great story as you put it !


Also, could you please let me know why it's ok for you to have an opinion but not me ??


Cheers

Gazz

Personally I'm not big on stereotyping Gazz. Often it's OS tourists who cop it in the neck but anecdotally I'd suggest the lack of respect for our bush and its fauna is a home grown problem. I guess if one group might be blamed surely it's us - the "4WD mob" - but that group is more diverse than most others as we all. know. Wonder if the police ever found that bloke who intentionally mowed down the wombats in his 4WD at Kangaroo Valley some time ago.
Opinion "persecution" is a common enough complaint around the traps, most often appearing after someone takes issue with a comment. Your opinion wasn't blocked, censored or altered by anyone was it?

G'day Bazooka

I'm certainly not looking for an argument ( I can do that very easily with the missus lol ) but you seemed to have avoided my question and I'm very very curious as to you thoughts on your awareness as to what I was attempting to do !!

Look forward to your honest reply !

All the best

Gazz

Sorry Gazz, thought it was clear. It's in the first line of my previous reply. Perhaps I totally misread your intention. Problem with forums is that it's easy to convey something unintended, just as it is to infer something which wasn't meant.

All good Bazooka - I certainly understand the problems with posting stuff on forums - my weird sense of humour combined with my say it as I see it frank writing style often gets me in strife !!

All the best

Gazz

I would say that society has reached a tipping point socially, crossed a bridge, or turned a corner etc since the sixties, from which there is no coming back. That generation wanted to break away from the "shackles" of conformity, well now we are increasingly seeing the price.
Stories of violent unprovoked reactions to Non issues have become commonplace. People actually used to feel shame when confronted with something they had done, now it's more common to flare up because some have taken on this sense of entitlement that they have complete freedom to act regardless of others.

Sadly even the remote places suffer Mark. Several years ago, I collected over two rubbish bags full of dunny paper and rubbish from around Desert Queen's Baths camp ground. While there, a veterans group of 30 or more arrived and camped for a few days on their annual pilgrimage. The mess left behind, and strewn along the gorge (empty grog cans) was disappointing. This was a mob with more than a few kilometres and experience under their belts who I thought would have known better and shown a bit more respect for our environment! It may only have been a few careless ones in a group but it's enough to taint them all.

If you're out bush, we recommend carrying a pack of brown paper sandwich bags. Put your used dunny paper in it and bring it back to camp to burn discreetly in the fire or carefully burn it out there. No.2 will compost back into the environment quickly enough but in a dry desert environment, dunny paper can last for years.

Cheers

Mick

Cheers

At the particular campground that I am talking about, there is a drop toilet.
It is a quite new steel one as the original timber one was burnt down by bogans, as were the rough hewn log tables & benches, which were cut up & burnt in camp fires.

The other thing these idiots need to understand is that glass & aluminium doesn't burn!

I wish I was as smart as you. It must be very rewarding to set yourself up as judge and jury over other people. I wonder at what point a fire becomes a deliberate polluting of the environment. If you aren't careful someone might stick your camera where the sun don't shine.

I support Rob It is because of apathy that these people get away with what they do. Be it from ignorance through a bad upbringng or just a dont care I will do what I like attitude.
They need to be held to account either legally or by shaming them into a better attitude.

Pity there isnt more like Rob, things might improve.

It'd be nice to think these people are just ignorant of the right thing to do outdoors, but of course it is more likely they just don't care one iota about their loud noise or antics annoying other campers, just like they don't give a toss about rubbishing the bush or anywhere else they go.
Someone else will pick up after them, that is their way in life.

I'm sure 99% of people on this forum can determine the right / wrong thing when they see it.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that burning infrastructure, doing donuts in camping grounds, leaving rubbish etc is not the right thing.
Recording such things can be fraught with some personal risk, so do it discreetly if possible.

I've just had this vision of RobandFlip up North with his camera lost where the Sun don't shine and TomH trying to find it.
Dave.

Thank you people for your follow up comments, although terryt thinks I am a judge and jury, he would have to appreciate that at least I am proactive for taking a stance on this issue. Having been abused for politely asking ferrals in the past not to desecrate the environment, we decided on our next trip to be more observant. Terryt, camp fires, like bush fires, have been around for centuries. We always ensure never to burn green wood, leave the site safe and ashes contained. We would hope any follow up campers would sensibly spread the cooled ashes around as fertiliser.

When I was a kid in the 60's, Cooks River in Sydney was a filthy smelly horrible river that you wouldn't dare catch fish in. It seems quite ok now in comparison. The good old days weren't always good. People left to their own devices can be pretty ordinary, you just have to visit some of their homes to see it. If that's how they treat their home then a campsite has no chance.