The Sunshine Coast News inbox continues to be flooded with letters about rows of campervans lining the waterfront at a popular tourist spot.
On Saturday we published some of these letters but we have received so many more since then that we have decided to run a special Your Say today.
It comes after our story last week, with photos by Suzanne King, about scores of campervans at the end of Noosa Spit at sunset, which prompted outcries from some locals.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
It seems that Noosa has become the Byron Bay of Queensland.
Nobody except locals are permitted to enter there or at least have an invitation to visit.
Bazza, Currimundi
The illegal campers around the old Tweed Heads Hospital are the same and have been for ages. Washing hanging out on trees and rubbish left. Not good.
So you’re not on your own. Looks like Tweed Council is just as bad at policing it, or just don’t care.
Kent Luttell, Tweed Heads
What would the likes of Suzanne King think if tourists stopped going to Noosa and stopped spending money, which supports local business?
It seems to me that the likes of people like that feel very entitled because they live there, probably own a house there and probably will never ever try to enjoy what Australia has to offer. But if they did, they would then realise that paying $50-plus for a bit of grass to put a tent on is absolutely off the planet and is greed.
Australia is a free country (supposedly). Let’s enjoy it with out pompous self-entitled la-di-da nuisance people getting in the way.
Scott Saunders, Tasmania
Local councils should wake up to the fact that campers spend money in their towns.
A special area just for RVs of all kinds would welcome more visitors to the town and boost the income of local retailers. Take a leaf out of the Home Hill book. They provide a 48-hour park with free 24-hour hot showers, toilets, stainless steel sinks, barbecue grills, tables and benches.
The town had died after COVID but the rest area brought back the business in town. This is a different world we now live in. People now live on the road due to lack of housing and smart councils have learnt that and capitalised on it.
Barbara Uridge, traveller
Your council advertises to come to your area and experience your lovely area.
To be ridiculed by the ‘not in my area’ residents is sickening to read. Please remind these people that a lot of the tradies may dual purpose their vehicle to transport their family and/or surfboard, stand-up paddleboard, sea kayak etc.
Please, I implore your council to be more receptive to visitors to your area of Australia, and I remind your councillors there is a huge huge amount of tradespeople that don’t advertise their business on their vehicles.
Bernard Fitzgerald, Newcastle area, NSW
Well, what a surprise. There used to be a camping ground at the end of Hastings Street, the Woods. But goodness gracious we can’t have that can we? What with those rag-tag individuals mixing with the righteous folk of beautiful Noosa.
Hilarious.
Graham Stockwell, Ferny Hills
There used to be a fantastic camping ground at the end of Hastings Street, which the council reduced then closed after much protest.
The camping ground at Sunrise closed. There are just not enough good areas to camp. Open a camping ground on the Noosa Spit – plenty of space. Or has Noosa just reserved for the elite?
Marcus Tyle, Nundah
In New Zealand we have signs stating four vehicles only and one night parking only, in some places. We find it works as they are fined if they are not obeying rules. We have other places around NZ to park for longer times before being fined. We also have a self-containment certificate rule. If you are not fully self-contained it is a $400 fine. This works.
Dorothy Beardsmore, Tauranga, New Zealand
As a motorhome owner I am not happy with these vans coming in and making us look bad.
I have a motorhome, which is self-contained and tidy. I am so sick of vans and people in cars taking our spaces and giving us a bad name. The true motorhome owners, like myself, have to pay $95 for 1000km, which is only about 15 hours travel, and I pay $200 every six months for a CoF (Certificate of Fitness) and pay $30-plus a night to stay at a camping ground, which I refuse to do, so freedom camping is what I enjoy. I feel that I pay enough to park wherever I want. I am clean and tidy, I don’t make noise or leave a mess, I have a tradition that when I stay somewhere I grab a rubbish bag and my grabby stick and pick up any mess that was there before I came. I am so tired of good motorhome people copping it for this other lot. Most of the people that are living in their motorhomes are older people and they are also very respectful and clean to the places we stay at.
I say put signs up in places that motorhome stay at, that does not allow vans or cars to park there at all, and maybe it’s about time we started looking at the government: they are making it harder for people to live in a house with the rents rising.
It’s time to stop taking from us decent motorhome owners and start getting rid of the ones that are making us look bad.
Amber, New Zealand
Quite frankly the council is not doing nearly enough to deter the campervan crowd.
They illegally occupy valuable parking space, denying residents and pay-to-stay visitors the right to park and they litter the area with their unwanted waste at the expense of respectful tourism. The problem is the deterrents theoretically in place to stop the practice of freebee temporary residency are so pathetic in their consequence and so poorly policed they amount to no deterrent at all.
If Noosa is to retain its rightful place as a top residential and tourist destination, thereby saving itself from becoming an unnecessarily overcrowded, cheap hang-out, then the required laws and law-enforcement measures must be put in place without further delay, otherwise it will lose its hard-won status and become nothing more than an economy tourist enroute stopover.
Andrew Mackay, Noosaville
You councils are all flops if you think fining people and clamping cars is solving the problem.
No-one wants to spend 70 per cent of their income on a house that can go up in rent anytime and they can be told to go at any time. At least with cars, vans etc the people have something they can pay off or own and they can have a security blanket. They all are in numbers because what else is there to do when a beer is $16.50 at a pub and going out is too expensive and everything’s a mess? You need to find out what’s causing the headache rather then eating Panadols and handing out Band-Aids.
Jay Con, South Beach, NSW
I live in Wollongong and council does nothing about illegal camping.
I pay over $7000 in rates to council for roads garbage etc. Why do I pay and illegal campers don’t? I have people camping two doors away who pay nothing and are given the same services as I pay for. They even clean toilets for illegal campers.
Council has signage saying ‘no camping’ but refuse to enforce their rules. They are very vigilant on illegal parking. It’s not that hard to enforce illegal camping. It’s the same as illegal parking. Photograph the rego and van location and send out a fine.
Same as illegal parking. Wollongong Council say their rangers don’t work outside of 9 to 5. This means no one looks after illegal camping. I pointed out that Byron has enforced no camping for over 50 years. Police and rangers work together on this issue. Why don’t councils contract rangers with night vision cameras if their rangers can’t do the job? It’s too easy.
If councils don’t want to do their job then stop charging ratepayers rates.
Ray Jaeger, Coledale, NSW
There never has been a lot of space in this section, even before the arrival of campervans.
Many of these people are surfers who use vans to carry their boards. If the Noosa Council was more proactive, recognising the contribution of campers and surfers to the community, which has been a tradition in the area since the 1970s and probably before, they would allocate an area next to the ocean for campervans. Why blame and complain and fine people? Why not solve the problem pleasantly?
Christine, Noosaville
I park at the spit three times a week and walk on the beach, usually between 6.30am and 7am and often have problems parking.
I have medical issues and need to park close to the sand. I think there should be a four-hour limit to park so the parking inspector has a more defined time frame as well as no overnight parking. On the other hand, why not allow overnight parking at the AFL grounds where the markets are and charge a modest fee, the same as Eumundi and Cooroy do.
Think of the income for the club and what they could use the money for to benefit the sport for young and old.
Don Reed, Noosaville
Put in paid parking meters, residents exempted with a card system or token to insert.
They could also put in a boom gate entry with token or card only for entry free of charge to the permanent residents submitted with their council rates.
Kay Hall, Happy Valley, SA
It’s funny that they always choose most scenic places to park.
Don’t believe these vans are being lived in by homeless. It’s very much a health problem with many just doing their business in nearby bush. Council needs to do their job better and not listen to Hastings Street supporters who may well be using van users as staff.
Pam Brownlee, Noosa Heads
Cascading down from global to local, you could say the situation is akin to illegal immigration.
Perhaps campers should have to apply for, and be granted, a visa or confiscate their campervan and send them packing in a boat back to where they came from.
Philip Veale, Perth
I’ll turn a blind eye to this if people appear to be genuinely homeless.
However, from my observations, particularly at Yaroomba, most of the people camping overnight for several nights are just on holidays. They don’t want to pay caravan park fees so they camp in our car park at the beach for free. They have their deck chairs, their surfboards or sea kayaks on their roof racks and their gas cookers. They often have Mercedes or VW expensive campervans or sometimes hired ones. They fill the bins up. I’ve seen them take doggy-do bags to use them for purposes other than doggy-do. They use the barbecues, toilets and showers provided in the park and have a great time, all for free.
Homeless Sunshine Coast residents who have been misplaced should have a permit that they can display on their windscreen and they should be allowed to stay in public car parks but everyone else should go to caravan parks or designated campgrounds.
Lynette Saxton, Yaroomba
I have been a resident of Noosa for 30 years. Every day, I go to the Spit for a surf and spend an hour or two socialising and exercising.
It has become very difficult now with many campers taking advantage of free parking, free water, a wonderful view etc. Many days I have had to return home as there are no available parking spots. These people do not contribute whatsoever to the local economy and are a drain on the economy. My friend keeps joking that I must be proud to pay high local rates to give those who deserve it the least a place to stay.
Just last week I asked one ‘camper’ to please not smoke next to me as I have an allergy to smoke and it is illegal to smoke in a national park. He flew into a rage and told me to mind my own business.
I have seen the campers washing their dishes in the shower facility. Just about all of them defecate in the surrounding bush. I have stepped in numerous piles just off the path and there is a pile of toilet paper metres from the sidewalk.
The simple solution would be to charge $5 per hour to park at the Spit. Legitimate users would not mind a small charge to park but the freeloaders would not be willing to pay. I don’t think Noosa should be attracting freeloaders under the guise of being ‘campers’. Staying in a parking lot is not camping in my book. A parking fee would turn the area cash-positive and allow Noosa to hire someone to supervise the area. If the council wanted to be extra nice to their tax-paying residents they could issue a resident pass but personally I would be happy to pay and contribute to making the place better instead of allowing it to be destroyed.
Alex Springer, Noosaville
I’ve seen them stay all day then all night day after day. It’s a disgrace. These people are not homeless, they are using areas paid for by local ratepayers. The solution is easy, create free camping areas outside the Noosa area, west of Cooroy on government land.
‘Tourist’, Sydney
They do the same at Shelly Beach, Caloundra
Les Scott, Caloundra
If council can’t provide enough areas for people to camp in such a beautiful environment, then they have to realise that this sort of thing is going to happen.
Our governments, on all three levels, are making people homeless and some of these people now live in campervans and are on very limited incomes. If councils stopped being greedy and power-hungry politicians and started being real human beings with empathy, our country would be much better off. Fining people for having nowhere else to go is a low act and they should take a good long hard look at themselves for the contribution they are making to the decline of our society. The campers aren’t the problem. The way our governments run this country is.
Graeme Glanville, Chinchilla
They need to be banned, along with caravans, from going along and accessing Hastings Street at all and this needs to be policed properly.
Campervans are also parking in the yellow barrier road off the roundabout at Eenie Creek Road by Noosa Civic. The whole process is a mess and the council has failed in its duty to residents.
Ban them from Noosa as they do nothing except make a mess and cause congestion.
John Alwyn-Jones, Peregian Springs
What on earth are the Noosa locals complaining about?
I’ve toured Europe in a motorhome and many towns welcome tourists travelling by such means. Parking areas with rubbish bins, dump points, toilets and showers are the norm.
These tourists spend money in the area, giving employment to locals, or do those in Noosa not wish jobs for their fellow citizens?
Tom, Noosaville
I’m not a resident but a regular visitor.
I own a proper motorhome, fully self-contained. Although we don’t sleep overnight at the beaches, we do visit, park where we can and leave for the next destination. We spend quite a bit of money on our road trips but choose to free camp. There are many RV-friendly towns in Queensland: the Sunshine Coast is not one of them.
Although the council runs caravan parks in the area this is a conflict of interest. There used to be so many areas which were open and available for travellers to stay for free but sadly these areas have been shut down.
What incentive is there for the council to open free camps for self-contained vehicles? Take your rubbish with you and there’s no significant cost to either council nor ratepayers. In many of the free camps we stay at there are toilet and rubbish facilities and they are cleaned every day. Admittedly, many of these are inland.
There are also several towns which allow vehicles to stay in their Lions parks, Rotary parks and others for a simple donation. Travellers do appreciate these gestures and more often than not, these are the towns we choose to spend our money at, restocking, having a meal or coffee, or filling up on fuel. It’s a win-win situation.
And for those who regularly criticise travellers who expect free camps, most of us have worked our entire lives, we have paid our taxes, contributed to society and now simply want to see the beautiful country at our pace. Many still have a home and cannot afford to stay in paid caravan parks, especially when we don’t need the facilities, nor do we use them. We simply need a spot to park for the night.
Sure, there will always be those who disrespect what’s been provided and leave a mess but some of the spits we stay in now have cameras to capture details of those who misuse these areas. There are options. It is beneficial to everyone concerned to keep everyone happy.
As for the smaller campers that aren’t self-contained, they can be dealt with, with areas that are open with some basic facilities.
The last thing anyone needs is more regulation. If metered parking was introduced, locals get stung also. If timed parking is introduced, it will impact locals and visitors and only benefit the councils raking in more income. Enforce the no overnight parking.
As for the homeless, that is a totally different issue and needs a well thought out approach to deal with their plight in a humanitarian way. This needs addressing at a national level. It should not be left to local councils to deal with.
Husam Mohamed, Killarney Vale, NSW
I have visited Noosa many times since the 1960s.
Last year, I competed in the Noosa Triathlon and stayed in Hastings Street. I did notice many campervans/mobile homes at the Noosa Spit. A lot appeared to be staying overnight and a lot had dogs and there was lots or rubbish near their vans including toilet paper etc.
I love Noosa but these campers are ruining it. Issuing fines is pointless as these people don’t have a fixed address and taking them to court would be a waste of time and money. In WA, at Broome, they had the same problem at Cable Beach and they wheel clamped the campers and it cost $100 to get it off. The problem was solved very quickly. The council did provide an area near the beach away from the public. Maybe the Noosa Council could look at this.
In my opinion, wheel clamping is the way to go. The campers cannot go anywhere until they pay the fine.
Ralph, Albany, WA
Stop complaining, residents. If the vans are legally registered like your own vehicles, those owners have every right to park anywhere they choose, so long as they legally parked.
Wayne Walsh
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
