To live in Australia it is impossible not to have come across or experienced the concept of camping. It is intrinsically linked to our national identity through song, literature and art. From First Nations camps, to early explorers going on the road, or wallaby track, camping has had a huge influence on our national psyche.
In our teens camping meant that if you had a tent you could have an adventure wherever you could hitch a ride, catch a train or bum a lift in a friends car to. Combie convoys to surf sites around Australia, joining the blockade and rafters to stop the Franklin Dam in Tasmania. These shenanigans always involved camping. At 16 , disillusioned with school, I did the bolt and headed off to Great Keppel Island to camp with two of my girfriends. We hitch-hiked our way from Sydney to Yepoon the idea being I would get a job on the island and begin a seasonal workers life. Camping on the island under palm trees, southern cross and crystal waters, free from adult constraints, school, it was intoxicating and exhilarating. We could stumble out of our tent and walk 10 metres and be in the water…what could be more blissful!
I shudder to remember how naive we three girls were and how narrowly we escaped disaster. We were unprepared but we were resilient. Many more camping trips in my 20’s and 30’s but by the time I became a single mum to 3 children the organisation of a camping trip somehow slipped out of reach.
In my 50’s , in walks Michael Bunney. Now this man really knows how to camp. I had always been a bit random in the camping department. If I had a tent it was enough to throw it in the car and hope for the best. Oh yes… a pillow would be good. Not so the man I now travel with. We have camped many times in tents up and down the coast, at festivals and events. Its always a well set up and organised, gourmet food, coffee, comfy bed…but a lot to organise. So we thought we would make it easy for ourselves as we got older and buy a van. I had images of a modern combi van …always set up and ready to go at a moments notice. Michael, however, always the practical one, argued that it would be more useful to have a van that fitted onto the back of a ute , that could come off so you could use the ute once you had set up camp… Logical and practical. ( remember I am the random one).
Our set up is modest. It’s the tiniest of tiny houses on wheels. We have a bed, fridge, stove, cupboards and a bunch of additions that MB has installed to facilitate the internet, solar charging of batteries, extra food and fridge storage, a blow up kayak, foldable tables and chairs… the list seems to go on. Thing is we are mobile and we can get on the road and sleep under the stars… almost.
That idea of taking off and pulling up stumps anywhere and camping…not so easy to do these days. So here is the thing, along with the throngs of Gray Nomads, there are families who have taken their kids out of school for an extended learning adventure, there are people who cant afford to rent a house in towns, there are backpackers from all parts of the globe, there are itinerant workers who follow the season to find work, there are the older women who have downsized to a van and are travelling until they cant do it anymore, there are the older men who find the cameraderie of the old timers in a caravan park a balm to their spirit. Then there are the rigs, from the massive 4WD trucks towing carvans, boats, bikes and small cars, the camper trailers, the pop on top tents, the swags, the lean to, the back of a van, the 5 star every mod con and more motorhome……the fishing rods, electric bikes, starlink set ups, the list of gear goes on and on and on.
Right now we are in Broome at the Cable Beach Caravan Park. Its nice enough. Handy location, there’s a pool, a laundry, hot showers ( the only reason I go to a caravan park) but there are over 500 sites in this one caravan park, and there are many in this town.
The mind doth boggle when I think of how much all this touring wallaby track accoutrement is worth- squillions!
There is a herd mentality that prevails on the road to do with leaving one town, the dumping of waste, filling up with water, booking in or getting a spot, getting groceries, taking in the bucket list sights….last night we had been exploring the coast and came by way of a dirt track to the far end of Cable beach and there were hundreds of 4WD and campers on the beach- all angled to take in the sunset. I felt like I was at Burning Man - Australian style!
It’s kind of uncanny, that after the big spaces and open skies of Purnululu and other National Parks in NT and the Kimberley, the lack of private space here brings a kind of quiet respect for diversity. Voices drift past with accents or languages from across the world, fairy lights adorn awnings and each “camp” has its own identity. There is the aggressive rumble of 4WD vehicles rolling past, but they are just looking for their spot in this town camp.
This is Australia and its own modern day refugee camps.
