5 things only grubs do when camping
Australia is a beautiful place. It’s got world heritage areas, incredible national parks and some of the best beaches in the world. Unfortunately, some Australians are grubs, and they go camping. They are the sort of people who have no respect for anyone or anything, bar themselves.
You’ll bump into them from time to time, or at the very least see evidence of them being out in the bush. Even worse, some of them own 4WD’s, and being a grub is simply un-Australian.
Here’s 5 things that grubs do when they go camping:
Leave their litter behind
You walk down to the most picturesque beach you’ve ever seen. Perhaps its in Esperance, or maybe Coral Bay, or even Broome. Admiring the scenery, you soak it up, only to see a pile of rubbish some grub has left behind when they visited. What a shame; do you pick it up? What with?
I went to Kelly’s knob in Kununurra not so long ago; an amazing place with fantastic views of the town and surrounding area. I walked up the first set of stairs to the lookout, took a few photos and stood there, admiring the views. I then made the mistake of looking down, over the edge of the rock, which was probably about 10 metres below.
What I saw disgusted me, and made me feel extremely angry. There were more aluminium cans and broken glass bottles than I’d be able to count. Filthy scum who’ve come up to a beautiful place to see the scenery, and have thought its a good idea to throw their drinks over the edge. How thick do you have to be?
Want to know how to deal with your rubbish? Check this out – Camping and rubbish; how to manage it.
Don’t bury their toilet activity
Nothing is more off putting than arriving at a beautiful camp site, only to find toilet paper and excrement sticking out of the ground. People who don’t go to the toilet with a bit of sense in the bush are worse than animals. At least they know how to bury their waste.
What is the next person, and the person after that, and after that supposed to do with a pile of human waste and toilet paper? It takes years for it to break down, and no one wants to see human land mines ruin the thousands of amazing places we can visit in Australia. If you haven’t already, check out our guide on Portable Toilets.
Have some respect for this great country, and your fellow human beings. Seriously. It’s not that hard.
Throw cans and glass into the fire
I don’t know what it is about fire, but some people seem to think its all consuming. I can tell you right now, that there are a number of things that your camp fire will never get rid of.
The most common items include aluminium cans, glass and steel tins. No camp fire is going to get hot enough to burn these away. How common is it to arrive at a camp site and see cans and glass in the bottom of a fire pit?
It stays there until someone has the decency to pull it out and throw it in the bin; where it should have been put in the first place. They make a real mess, are a pain to dispose of and often stay there for a long time.
Burn wood they shouldn’t
Fires are a great part about camping, but they are also a right pain in the backside for a lot of people. I don’t have a problem with people picking up sticks and dead timber from the ground, providing its done with a bit of common sense and respect, but don’t go cutting down trees that are growing.
If its got green leaves, or the branches break very difficultly, the wood is wet, live and won’t burn well anyway, so leave it alone.
I really can’t believe I have to say this, but the bollards, board walks and timber steps you see put in places to make access better managed, safer or easier are there for a reason, and it isn’t for you to rip up, cut down and burn in your fire.
How dumb and self centred do you have to be to rip up public property just so you can have a fire?
Vandalise anything and everything
If there’s one thing that makes my blood boil, its people who intentionally vandalise other peoples gear, or public property. The work that goes into installing some of the great gear found in Australia to make camping and travelling easier costs a fair chunk of tax payers money, and requires a great deal of effort.
Even worse, like the Victorian mountain huts, sometimes its built by volunteers, with their own blood, sweat and money. To read of a beautiful hut that’s been restored knocked over or burnt to the ground in a blatant form of vandalism is absolute trash at its best.
Australia’s a magic place, and most Australians are awesome too. However, if you see someone being an absolute tosser and grub in the bush, pull them into line if its safe to do so or report them to the authorities. We don’t need this great country wrecked by people who don’t know better.
