Parking
Places you can generally park without being bothered.
Rural Parking.
Out in the country you can park almost anywhere on public land without problems. Highway rest stops, quiet run offs beside roads, dead end streets, camping grounds, mineral springs, lake shores, pretty much any place that is beside a road and is public will do. Rural parking rarely presents much of a challenge. Make sure you obey no camping signs though.
Places to park in cities and towns.
The important thing to remember is to not park in the same place all the time unless you have permission to. Either work out a good free spot where you can always park, or work out a number of spots and park at each one for only a night or two at random.
I would strongly suggest avoiding casing any disturbance to the locals. If you do, don't be surprised if that draws attention from the authorities. One night some years ago my neighbor and I were standing out the front of our flats chatting when a young fellow walked up and asked if he could park his car in our driveway. I explained that I didn't know him, so why should we do that? He said he was planning to move in to the house at the end of the street and wanted to park his car somewhere secure so no one would break in to it. We explained that he could park his car on the street and he would have no problems, no one would break in to it. I said I had left my car parked on the street unlocked with no worries. He still pursued the point however and asked if he could park his car behind our flats. At this point I became a bit concerned as this guy clearly was not quite with it, and was not getting the message that we didn't know him and no we were not going to allow him to park on our property. I also knew that the house at the end of the street that he pointed to was occupied and has been for years with no sign that the tenants were moving. I reiterated that he was a stranger to us and again suggested that he park in the street and no harm would come to his car.
The young man then walked back to his car and started to rearrange his belongings within it. He had quite a lot of stuff. He proceeded to unload most of it on to the road and spread it out to the point that cars could not pass his car. He rearranged it to let cars pass (Not many cars travel down my street) then spent more than an hour rearranging stuff in his car. He had loaded and unloaded the stuff at least three times before he started talking to himself in an angry manner. Eventually some one called the police who came to check him out. After the police left the young man started hurling abuse up and down the street. At this point several of us walked out and asked him to leave, myself included. Though I felt unhappy to ask a car dweller to leave, this guy was being a pain in the ass and disturbing the peace. He eventually left.
He made a number of mistakes. First, he drew attention to himself by making an unreasonable request of strangers. Would you let a stranger into your home, your car? At night? Probably not. Then after the request was denied he persisted. Finally, he started to become loud and seemingly crazy. If he had have driven into our street, parked and gone to sleep in his car I doubt anyone would have noticed, or if they had they would not have worried. It is a quiet little street. I've seen vans parked in it from time to time with people obviously (to a fellow car camper) sleeping in them. There was even one parked in the street for about a week once which myself and my neighbors presumed must have belonged to another tenant. The moral here is, don't stand out, don't draw attention to yourself and don't become a pain.
William R Alford's article about car living has some valuable tips about blending in and how not to draw attention to yourself.
Free places to park.
Residential areas.
In small towns and suburban residential areas if you can avoid attracting attention you can usually park on any quiet street without too much problems. If you have a car, if you can sleep in it without being seen you can generally sleep without problems. I would very strongly suggest that you don't park on private property without permission. You can be charged with trespass for parking on private property.
Shopping centers.
In America parking at Walmart seems to be the rage. I can't imagine though wanting to park in a noisy shopping center. I could imagine parking there one night, but every night? We don't have Walmart in Australia. You could probably park at any major shopping center over night without attracting much attention. Some have security guards, but most Australian Security guards are pretty okay. You can choose to tell them the truth, or just tell them you are driving through and are parking there so you can buy some breakfast in the morning and make an early start in the morning. Once again, shopping centers are noisy, crowded and you probably won't get much sleep there. But if it is your thing, then it is your choice. One good thing about shopping centers is that they tend to be a reasonable source of cheap or free food.
Industrial areas.
I like parking in industrial areas. That's because I like industrial areas full stop. I love big chunky machinery and photographing it. I find that parking in light industrial estates, particularly ones with shop fronts and modern buildings can be very very quiet. While these places can be very noisy during the day they are extremely quiet at night. That's because no one is around. In Australia such locations will rarely present you with problems. You should avoid the industrial estates with obvious security problems where there are fences with holes in them or ample barbed wire indicating security problems. Newer industrial estates with their standard blue flashing light boxes out front usually deter thieves, so you can expect a quiet night. Dead end streets and quiet culdesacks are your best bet. Don't park on private property in industrial estates as you might be considered to be preparing a break and enter. Also in industrial areas you will encounter security patrols. In most cases this won't be an issue if you are not visible from outside of your car. Guards might come up and try shine their lights in to your car or van out of curiosity. They may even take down your rego but that's not a big issue either. They record those details in case there are problems like a break an entry later. Most often if they don't see or hear you in there they will go on their way.
Churches.
Churches are usually not busy week days, and rarely at night. Some people I know have just pulled in without asking, and others ask. Your choice. At night I expect if some one is there it won't be an issue.
Abandoned buildings.
If you can locate the owner of abandoned buildings, ask them if you can park on site in return for keeping an eye on the place. Offer to do basic maintenance such as cleaning up, keeping the grass down and ensuring the place is secure. Ask if they would like you to contact them if there are problems with the building such as break ins, vandalism etc. Then actively ensure you keep those promises. Walk around the building, cut the grass with a rented or borrowed lawn mower or even garden shears. Introduce yourself to the neighbors and explain why you are there. Ring the building owner on a regular basis to give them a status report, even if it is to just reassure them the building is fine.
Camp grounds.
In Australia we have heaps of national parks, state parks and rest areas. From the really expensive ones like Wilson's Promontory down in Victoria which you need to book months in advance and costs an arm and a leg, to cheap ones where you can camp for free or a nominal fee. I've camped for days in some really nice locations in national parks. I don't mind paying a few dollars because most times it gives me access to tank water, toilets and barbecues. I often buy a camping permit and instead of using the camping grounds I tend to park in quiet side roads in the national park to avoid noisy families. Luckily the people at the local national park know me now and it's cool by them. It wasn't hard to convince them I have overactive hearing when I could hear conversations a good fifty meters away.
Rest stops.
Highway rest stops in Australia range from simple layovers not much more than a flat gravel patch beside the road to well laid out areas with toilets, showers and quiet areas for parking. They're okay and even safe for rural parking. Occasionally though you will get idiots and hoons being a pain in rest stops. One important note about truck parking rest stops, an interstate truck driver is required to take stops every five hours. For this reason there are many truck parking areas beside highways. Truck drivers will not always welcome you parking in a truck driving bay. If you're noisy, nosy or just look too much like a car driver they probably won't do anything, but you won't be made welcome either. Let truck drivers get the sleep they need.
Also, as we share the road with truckers, if you spot them awake in the morning, do some good relations work and invite them over for a coffee or breackfast. If you can win over a few hearts and minds or even make a new friend that's some one who will look after your best interests on the road or will come to your aid when you need it.
Boat Ramps.
I've read of people and spoken to people who sleep at boat ramps. One guy I spoke to said he used to be a keen fisherman so he kept his rod and fishing gear in his van. He slept on boat ramps and on the few times he was bothered (down near Torqay where they have a bylaw against sleeping in cars) he explained that he was sleeping over so he could wake up early to go fishing. He then talked fish with the local cops like a pro so in the end they let him off with a warning and told him of some great fishing spots. He fished for his breakfast and moved on to a town where he was allowed to sleep in his car. Another time he said he was sleeping while his mates were out fishing because he was expecting them back in the morning. He played the part of the responsible buddy looking out for his mates. He was asked why he was not out with his mates, so he grinned a bit sheepishly and pretended he got sea sick. He did have the cover details about his mates 'boat' down pat in case he was asked.
Police stations.
Believe it or not, in Australia, if you want to know a safe place to park, ask at the local cop shop. Yep, just wander in, tell them you're driving through town and you want to know of a safe place to park because you can't afford to sleep in a hotel. You can be that honest about it. Just ask either where you can park, or what areas to avoid.
Universities.
Good if you are a student, not so good if you are not. Having a university degree I realise that lots of people hang out at universities. So you might think that would be a good place to blend in and hang out right? Wrong. These days security at many universities has been tightened dramatically, especially in cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This has been due to the shootings down at Monash university in Melbourne and the increased presence of drugs on campuses. Almost all campuses have CCTV installed on car parks. It won't take security long to realise you're living in your car. That's not a big deal, lots of legitimate students do it. But being on campus with no student ID and living in your car will get you labeled as an undesirable pretty quickly. I know a guy who does security at a major Melbourne university. He says they now do regular patrols to look for people who live in their cars. He recommends that if you do decide to live in your car around a university and you are not an enrolled student that you DO NOT park on campus or you could find yourself with a trespass fine. He suggests either buying a parking permit, or parking at least 3 blocks / streets away. Within 3 blocks you might be considered a potential undesirable and can be charged under some laws to do with protecting children.
Paid parking.
You really don't want to have to pay to park, at least not every night. Some times paid parking has its benefits though. Spending one night a week in a caravan park can be beneficial. At a caravan park you can;
- Plug in your car's second battery to a charger (if you own one) to charge it up.
- Plug in your refrigerator.
- Fill you water tanks and containers.
- Do your laundry.
- Have a hot shower.
- Buy ice for your cooler.
- Relax in indoor recreation rooms if they have them.
One guy I vaguely know who used to live in a car likes to be able to relax in a caravan park and pitch his little tent because it is the only way he truly stretch out and get a good night's sleep. The caravan park he stays in has thick couch grass which is comfortable to lie on if you sleep on your back. He uses a roll up self inflating mattress to lay on and considers it bliss after sleeping on the cramped back seat of his car. At first he was worried about what the caravan park management would think about him turning up regularly but they did not seem to mind and after a while they gave him a discount rate. Eventually they asked if he wanted to rent one of the older caravans down the back of the park on week ends instead of sleeping in his tent. He was able to sleep in an admittedly old and smelly caravan for what he used to pay for renting a tent site. After he cleaned up the caravan he was asked if he would like to do odd jobs. He now cleans up around the caravan park on week ends and can park his car on site for free and gets the use of the old caravan when people are not renting it.
Parking lots.
The only advantage I see to paying to park in a parking lot is that you can then legally park there for as long as you're willing to pay. The problems is, the longer you stay, the more you have to pay. I'd avoid pay parking lots. For about the same money you can get a non powered site in some cheaper caravan parks, and certainly you can get a spot in most national parks cheaper. Of course there is the cost of petrol to get out to the national park. I guess I'd only use a paid parking lot if it was a one off flat fee for entering it, and if it had a really quiet spot that I could park in.
A crafty friend of mine wanted a quiet spot to sleep in close to where he worked in the city. He realised a parking lot quite close to the shopping center where he worked would be ideal, but it cost money to enter it. Then he realised that on Saturday afternoons and Sundays the parking was free. So he just parked in the car park Sunday afternoon, moved his car around from parking spot to parking spot each week day and on Saturday afternoon he drove off to a caravan park to stay the night to do his washing and other stuff. Sunday evening he drove back and started all over again. Eventually though he got tired of doing this and just parked in the same spot on the roof of the car park. Security guards asked what he was doing so he explained he worked in the shopping center and showed them his id and they let him park there with no problems.
Places not to park.
Schools.
There are laws in Australia about protecting children. If you're not a sex offender then legally there is not much that the law should be able to do about you parking near a school. But the law and reality are a little different. If people notice you parking around a school reasonably regularly or often and realise you live in your car you can expect attention from police. They will want to know who you are, why you are parking there and why you are living in your vehicle. Even if you have a clean police record, you can expect to be asked to move on, and you can expect them to threaten to charge you with minor traffic or law infringements in order to move you along. Unless you have kids attending the school, it may not be a good idea to park around it. Avoid the hassles, avoid schools.
Hospitals.
Generally no one will bother you in a hospital car park if you are in a camouflaged van. But if your windows are darkened out or it is obvious that you are living in your car, expect some attention. Ever since the Anita Cobby murder case in Sydney hospital car parks in Australia tend to have lots of CCTV and some regular security guards. So hospitals may only be good for one night stays. Best chance of a quiet night's sleep is to go see out the security guards, tell them that your spouse, child, relative etc is in the hospital and ask if you can sleep in your car over night and if so, where is the best place to park. But don't be surprised if they pick you up on this and ask for the name of the relative, or what ward they are in etc. You might want to suggest it is a niece or nephew and that your sister, brother has so many kids you forget which one it is. If you do your research of the hospital you may be able to get away with indicating you are visiting a relative who is in the hospital for a while.
One important thing though is if you are caught out and asked to leave, then leave. Don't make a fuss, just leave if requested. If asked for an explanation tell the truth, what have you got to loose. Tell them you are living in your car and was just hoping to find a quiet place to sleep for a few nights. You might get lucky and be allowed to stay.
Airports.
Post September 11 parking at airports, even in Australia will attract the attention of security after a while. Security guards wander around almost all large airports in Australia, and many municipal ones. Now you can park at airports overnight but the nice security people will be over to say hello. Unless you have a good, verifiable reasons for why you are there you will either be asked to leave or you will be investigated. By verifiable reasons I mean something you can prove, either by documented evidence, or verifiable by some one on the field. If you work there that's cool, if you're taking flying lessons, that's cool. Don't laugh, I know a lady, incidentally a security guard, who lives in her van at an airport. Of course she does not need to worry about security.
She has found quite a lot of people parking overnight at airports quite a lot. She does background checks on the car before even approaching it, so if you've got a criminal record, it won't be her that wakes you up, but the police. If you've go no background, or a minor one, she'll wake you up to ask why you're there. If you have a valid airline ticket, can prove you're waiting to pick some one up, can prove you work there or have a valid pilot's license she'll let you stay. If you don't have a valid reason to be there you'll be asked to leave. If you argue about it she'll leave, and the police will turn up and ask you to leave, or if they are in the mood, will charge you with trespass.
Airports are probably good for sleeping overnight just once, and you really should have a good valid reason for being there.
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