Hello from Australia

[MultiplexMan]

Hi All,

I'm a Kombi Beach driver from Australia.  My Beach is a 2.5TDI auto.  The interior has been modified from standard and is now in its third revision in four years!

I found the web site a while ago.  The technical posts have been very helpful. 

Hopefully my Spanish wil improve and I will be able to post in the other areas.

Cheers,
MM

[elmaridodelola]

hi, MM, welcome to our page, my nick is "Lola's husband", but in Spanish. Greetings from the antipodas!! I drive a VW T3 Multivan of 1989, and I love theses machines!

[quiberon]

Hi!
Welcome to the web.
If you need any information about your van, maybe that link would be interesting:
http://anuncios.ebay.es/D/LkFaCTKwAqE2fudaCpRLuf8U36Us5G7fRbfuVQGw5k-8313762
Enjoy the web and we are here for whatever you want.
Bye!

[elpachindemelas]

hello from Spain, vanfriend. We ´ll start a new spring next monday so Today I´m excited and very happy about it. Welcome to Spain and I hope  I can write you again. I reach out and get faith.

[alemantrad]

Hi Vanfriend!
I hope you enjoy your stay in Spain. This page is very helpful for every thing related to the van. May be you know a similar page in Australia that you want to share with us.

[MultiplexMan]

@ All - Thank you for the welcome!

@ alemantrad - There are several Australian forums that have van sections:

vwwatercooled
http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f136/

Kombi Club
http://forums.kombiclub.com/index.php


I generally visit the English web sites as they have access to more vans, a lot more options and are very active!

The Brickyard
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/

VWT5Forum
http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=147

[gussi]

Hi Multiplexman, wellcome to this web. What part of Australia are you from?
Have you got the same problems there about sleeping wherever you want? Here in this shit country , we have to be very carefull about it, because we are treated as criminals. We are punished only for sleeping in our vans, and authorities want us to go to campings to control us and making us to spend money to sleep. The situation is completly different when you cross the border with France. There you have camper areas almost in all the villages, very very cheap or even free of payment. And if those areas are full of campervans, you can pass the night in usual parkings, and you feel free.
Here is different, there aren´t almost camper areas, and in some of them is impossible to sleep because they are next to  roads.  So, if we decide to sleep out of a camping or and area, we have to check it and think about if we are going to have problems with local police, civil guard police, regional police.... Trying to resume you, this is a great democratic shit in which you are not free in this world of the camper vans.
What´s your oppinion about this, and how are this things there respect to this problem?
Regards

[lander]

Hi Multiplexman, wellcome to this web. What part of Australia are you from?
Have you got the same problems there about sleeping wherever you want? Here in this shit country , we have to be very carefull about it, because we are treated as criminals. We are punished only for sleeping in our vans, and authorities want us to go to campings to control us and making us to spend money to sleep. The situation is completly different when you cross the border with France. There you have camper areas almost in all the villages, very very cheap or even free of payment. And if those areas are full of campervans, you can pass the night in usual parkings, and you feel free.
Here is different, there aren´t almost camper areas, and in some of them is impossible to sleep because they are next to  roads.  So, if we decide to sleep out of a camping or and area, we have to check it and think about if we are going to have problems with local police, civil guard police, regional police.... Trying to resume you, this is a great democratic shit in which you are not free in this world of the camper vans.
What´s your oppinion about this, and how are this things there respect to this problem?
Regards

After this speech, I believe that we will loose an Australian tourist XD

[gussi]

Tell me Lander if I´m wrong or not, but things here are this way I have exposed. It´s a pity but it´s a real situation. We are  Europeans only for paying.  Concerning to freedom, salarys and more civil rights we are  in the north of Africa.

[lander]

Tell me Lander if I´m wrong or not, but things here are this way I have exposed. It´s a pity but it´s a real situation. We are  Europeans only for paying.  Concerning to freedom, salarys and more civil rights we are  in the north of Africa.

Jajajaja that´s the real truth!!

[la bego]

G´day from spain.  So good to hear from  a fellow  aussie. I currently live in spain, but I grew up in Victoria, and used to live in Melbourne.  Europe is fantastic to travel around, everything is so close, while   those who live in down under are so far away from all this history and culture.  In spain it gets difficult at times as we are often distubed by the police, for not staying in camping sites, which the majority of us refuse to do.

But, anyway we are all fighting for our rights to be free living spirits, and bit by bit we will get there, and have free parking spaces  like in france, germany etc.

So good to hear from the lucky country, I love australia dearly, but I prefer this. Welcome, and if you ever need information about anything, we are all willing to help.  By the way I´m spanish .

[MultiplexMan]

I have lived, worked or travelled in every state of Australia.  "Free camping" varies according to the area. 

Generally in smaller country areas you can discreetly park and camp.  Many towns have facilities (toilets, showers, BBQs) for visitor use.  These facilities have been removed in areas where vandalism occurs as small towns cannot afford the maintenance.  I frequesntly use truck parking areas.  I park off in a siding in order not to block the big rigs or be disturbed by them.

Some towns that have camping grounds (caravan parks) would naturally prefer visitors to use them.  These are generally very cheap.  Private  caravan parks can be very expensive. 

Whilst visiting a friend on the Victorian coast (Mornington Peninsula), it was cheaper to stay at a hotel than on an unpowered site in the caravan park.  It was illegal to "camp" in any of the beach-side parking lots.  I was questioned whilst I was eating my dinner and enjoying the sun set...before checking into a hotel.

The main problem is unfortunately the result of some tourists/back packers.  There are areas of Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane that are filthy with "campers" throwing garbage and toilet waste onto the street.  The obvious back lash from the community is very strict policing of "street camping". 

In country areas, farmers get very annoyed when campers leave garbage and waste on their land.  Even worse, is when gates are left open and live stock gets loose.

I personally believe you should be able to "free camp" provided you do not polute - noise, garbage or waste.  I always believe in behaving as you would wish visitors to behave in your home.

[gussi]

As i can see, you have more or less the same problem that us. But you at least have camper areas. We have very very few here. I have arrived to pay 46 euros ( arround 40 usb) to pass a night in one fucking camping.
But the main problem is that people is not enough evolutioned and due to this, authorities have to put doors to the fields.
So, i think  this is a problem with no solution, at least at this moment. But, sometimes i wonder what would one of our granfathers think about sleeping in their caravans (with horses and donkeys) 50 years before, when they travel to sell their producs and a law could forbide them to rest in the night in the middle of one of their trips.  For my, it is incredibly that one person could be punished only to sleep in the van, when other can do it in his normal car. We have had cases in which one van has been punished for sleeping in a truck area. Only for beeing a campervan.
Thanks for your information. Now i feel a little better. We are not alone in this shit problem.
Regards.

[MultiplexMan]

Another problem in Australia is that most caravan/camping grounds are located on beautiful land.  Those sites next to water - lakes or ocean are now worth millions.  Many have been sold to "developers" and are now houses 

Future generations will never know what it was like to camp as our fathers, or even as we did as children.  It is sad.

A second problem has been the appearance of "grey nomads".  Grey nomads are wealthy retirees that cash in their superannuation, purchase a mobile home/caravan (house on wheels NOT a camper van), and then travel.  Often prices are "adjusted" to suit these "campers".  The grey nomads help a lot of small towns by visiting and spending money.  It is a pity that some towns take advantage by overcharging.

Fined for using a truck stop!!!    Things have not got that bad over here yet.

EUR46 - well I have come across camping grounds that wanted to charge over AUD60 for a powered site...

I am lucky in that my Kombi Beach is rare enough in Australia not to be recognised as a camper van.  Most mistake it for an emergency vehicle with its yellow/lime stripe  .  I think the roof racks, steel wheels, UHF/mobile antennas, and work lights help with that illusion   

[gussi]

Concerning to the soil speculation  spain can teach a lot. Here those beatiful places next to the beaches have almost desapeared. Many many mountains and beaches have been developed and now are full of ghost buildings  empty of people due to the economical crisis that here in spain has been very hard.
The rest of those places that have not been destroyed, we cannot stay for the night. And in many of them we even cannot park our campervans, because local governors have invented a traffic signal which forbide it.
Talking about life prices, imagine that a corrent salary here is 800- 1000 € (if you are lucky ) The minimum salary is 640 €. While corrupted politicians (nationals or local, is the same) are getting rich and rich stealing to the population that  agree.
So, as you can see, things here are very well for small part of the population while almost 5 millions of people now have no  job, and subsist with very very few money a month.
You are very lucky about your van, yes, and very lucky too for living there. And if it was not enough, my van has broken something of the clutch this saturday when we were going to spend one night at 50 km far from home. This is to cry
Thanks and regards