Messy freedom campers who trundle around the country in sleeper vans without toilets or self-contained utilities should be “shot”, the president of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA) said yesterday…

…NZMCA president Dick Waters said tourists in “whiz-bang” backpacker sleeper or rental vans should be banned and the drivers should be shot.

Not quite the right way to go about it,  shooting them just makes more mess for the poor old council workers to clean up.

From ages past, education has always only ever been good for “them that want to learn”. We all know there are just as many people out there will continue to drop one on the side of the road regardless of any enforcement strategies, information pamphlets, fines etc advising of the correct way to manage waste. Crikey! Some of em with toilets int he vehicle will still pull over and lay one out just to avoid dirtying the toilet!

While on the out and about a few weeks ago, I pulled into a rest area to find a rental campervan (with toilet, so its not just the freedom campers) emptying their cassette over the fence onto someone’s farmland. They were English tourists of Eastern descent..

“Oi,” I says…”Whaddya doin? You can’t dump that there? What about other people that stop here to rest?”
“It’s biodegradable, whats your problem?” was the really fast reply.
“How about I go and dump a load of sh*t in your front yard? I doubt it being biodegradable would make any difference to you then”
“I’d like to see you try,” he babbled, “I’m from England!”

I took the licence number and  reported the numb-nut to the local constabulary on the way through the next town (and to the rental company, who basically told me “who cares?”.)  But there you go! Just happy in the fact that what they were doing was ok.

“The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge” – Elbert Hubbard

Anyway, if you’re going to this Clutha Valley caravan club 20th anniversay in Lawrence, make sure you have a great time! Summer has arrived at last!

Wellington City Councillors have approved the construction of a campervan park on Wellington’s waterfront and asked the Council’s waterfront company to prepare a business case to demonstrate the financial viability of a proposed ice skating rink and temporary tensile fabric structure.

http://www.wellington.govt.nz/news/display-item.php?id=3746

So now there is a choice in Wellington. No more having to put up with the stink from the waiwhetu stream…

A new bylaw comes into effect that will see anyone pitching a tent by the beach, rather than at a camping ground fined $40.

Usual story: the few (including tourists) that spoil it for the many. You know, like dumping your waste on the side of the road because you can’t be arsed driving to the local dump station. This ban on freedom camping applies to all types of mobile accomodation, including the big ol’ housebus with full amenities.

I don’t expect it will be just by the beach either.

The council, parking the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, reckon they might lift the ban in the future, but if we don’t start hitting litterers real hard, then it will never work. $40 fine is jack all. It should be at least $500 for littering. We need to deter the activity, not punish the 95% of the population who are law abiding.

Dont stand up for the system – day of action on October 1st

Youths terrorise elderly couple in campervan attack
Stuff…

Dunedin police say they are closing in on a group of youths who terrorised an elderly couple in a campervan during the weekend.

The couple, believed to be in their 70s, were asleep at Warrington Domain, north of Dunedin, early on Saturday morning when a group of youths surrounded their campervan and began rocking it, the Otago Daily Times reported.

David McLaren and his partner Norma Hart were staying nearby and were woken by shouting. Mr McLaren went to the couple’s aid while Ms Hart phoned police.

About 18 young men and women were kicking the sides and windows of the campervan, throwing bottles at it and at least one on person jumped on the roof while another hung from the door. A bottle was thrown through a window, showering the woman in glass.

“The man told us he tried to back the van out to get away from them and accidentally nicked one of the group’s cars and that was what set them off,” Mr McLaren told the newspaper.

The youths left, but before police arrived one carload returned and began searching the ground, telling Mr McLaren they were searching for a lost dog.

“I started to have a look around, too, and saw a cellphone. That’s what they were looking for, I’m sure. Who looks for a dog at 1.30 in the morning?”

Police arrived and escorted the couple back to their home in Mosgiel.

Mr McLaren gave them the cellphone and registrations from two of the group’s cars.

Constable Greg Park said “very strong evidence” had been collected, including fingerprints and they were closing in on the group. The phone’s owner would be identified along with those who had been called from it. “We are pursuing this investigation with vigour.

“If the offenders don’t come forward, we will be throwing the book at them.”

Throw the book at them? Thats a bit soft isn’t it? Why don’t they throw bottles and rocks at their parents houses? Or even better, at their ghey cars. I’m sure the brats will get the message then…

House buses are getting around Grey District Council rules aimed at preventing makeshift camps by moving from one site to another — and then back again. Last year, a new campervan effluent dump station by the Cobden Bridge became overcrowded as house-bus owners on their way to a convention in Otago parked up for days on end. The sight of washing lines, and even someone sleeping on a picnic table, prompted the council to review its freedom camping policy so that anyone in self-contained buses and campervans could stay up to five days, as long as they got a permit.

I note that the article is about housebuses and campervans and the “freedom camping” bylaw. It specifically states that a member of a house-bus was “sleeping” on a picnic table, but at the end of the article, it states that motorists and occupants of vehicles were relieving themselves in the bushes nearby.

It lends me to believe that perhaps the occupants of the vehicles were from another country? Tourists methinkst, who do not understand the importance and stature of maraes as most NZ pakehas do.

And housebuses are not generally hired by tourists (unless they are the big new coaches, but the picture on the article indicates that all the outside toiletry antics are being done by house-bus owners) and most campervans have thetfords and waste tanks. Why go outside?

Anyway, check the article out and draw your own conclusions.

Jennifer Graham became well-known in Wellington for parking her house truck and Morris Minor on Stout Street for several months accumulating thousands of dollars in fines. The Wellington City council already have taken her housetruck because of unpaid parking fines, now they are trying to force her to move on by making her remove her possessions.

I don’t understand Jennifer Graham’s motivations, she could have moved on some time ago and avoided losing her truck, car and now possessions, but has insisted on camping on the street. I understand she is doing this as some sort of protest, but have never been able to find out what she is upset about.

Have to agree with Michael here. For the life of me, I can’t understand why she won’t accept all the offers of help. Originally, the council offered to waive her fines, fix up her truck to get a warrant of fitness and a register it…if she’d only move on so other rate paying citizens of the greatest Capital in the world could use the spaces she’s been occupying.

From what I remember, she was protesting the Fat Cats in Parliament being able to walk to Bellamies without getting rained on No?, then it was about the Fat Cats in Parliament not looking out for the Little Guy.  Does she think The Man is out to get her? The very same Man that’s trying to get her back up and running again? Geez. Some people just need to get over themselves.

A woman is living on the street after her illegally parked housetruck was seized by Wellington City Council.

Housetruck being towed from Stout St - image used without permission

Jennifer Graham has lived in her truck in the same central Wellington parking space in Stout St since September even getting mail delivered there. About $5000 of parking fines had been issued before the council instead tried moving her along. The council has issued written warnings saying it is illegal to camp on a city street, but Ms Graham has refused to acknowledge the council as a legitimate authority.

Ridiculous. Ignorance is not an excuse 

Yesterday the council had a towing company remove the housetruck and a 1957 Morris Minor called Annabel, which sat on an attached trailer. Three police officers, requested by the council, were on hand.

Ms Graham was given two hours to remove her possessions including suitcases and cardboard boxes on to the Stout St pavement, where she remained last night, sitting on a cushion and covered by a tarpaulin. A postie briefly interrupted her move to deliver a handful of mail. Letters found their way to Ms Graham, despite being addressed to “Jennifer at concrete pole No 462″ or “Jennifer in Stout St”.

Ms Graham refused to comment.

Council spokesman Jon Visser said negotiations to help her had broken down. “She has voluntarily decided to live on the streets. Obviously, we couldn’t leave her vehicles sitting there, so we organised for them to be taken away.”She would be charged several hundred dollars in towing fees.

Council citizen engagement director Wendy Walker said the situation was far from ideal. “We don’t want Jennifer to live on the street. We are very concerned for her wellbeing. However, the central city is not the place for people to commandeer a number of parking spaces and set up semi-permanent camp.”

Of course not. What was she thinking?

Council offers to make the housetruck roadworthy and have it warranted and registered, as long as she stopped camping in a public place, had been rejected. Accommodation with the council-funded Downtown Community Ministry was also refused.

How headstrong can you get? I really can’t believe she didn’t see anything wrong with what she was doing, and then not to take up an offer to get back on the road again.

By MATT CALMAN – The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 26 November 2008

A woman who refuses to pay parking fines risks losing the roof above her head as Wellington City Council considers impounding her house truck.

Jennifer Graham has lived in the truck in the same central Wellington parking space for 11 weeks, racking up thousands of dollars in fines she refuses to pay.

Ms Graham said that, if her truck was seized, she would live on the street. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. What will be will be.”

Personally, I think there are other places you can park instead of the city center car park racking up fines. Jeez, if I were you, I’d move on. You have a car you can get to the city in if need be.

For over a decade they’ve lived in a house bus, loving a life where they can pick up and move whenever they want. Just over a year ago they moved onto their own property in rural Rotorua but last week their lifestyle choice got the marching orders from the Rotorua District Council. They’ve been told to move out within two weeks or face imprisonment.

Close Up speaks to Nigel Wharton, Environmental Services Manager for the Rotorua District Council about the house bus owners who have been given the marching orders off their own property.

Link to Video | From TVNZ