Bushwalk Australia

A post in the gallery section reminded me of a potential, or, might already happen, problem that has worried me in the past.
Surfing back in Vic sometimes meant leaving the car parked a distance away and often out of sight, and depending on where you chose to surf, could sometimes result in a vandalised/burgled car.
Some places were worse than others but nevertheless was always playing on your mind.

I parked my car somewhat reluctantly last sunday at the gate to Myrtle Forest with the intention of a short walk, nothing happened to it but was the first time i'd thought about the potential and how it may be worse in more isolated locales.

So my query is... are there any areas that have been more susceptible to this type of stupidity more-so than others?
I sometimes go for a surf around Sth Arm and have been told that Sandpits has a notorious problem with this, i've also seen broken glass there on more than one occasion which seems to back up the rumour.
And i naively thought that this sort of thing just wouldn't happen here in Tas.
I'm slowly doing more walks and have to admit that it always comes up in my thoughts, the car is old and nothing special but uninsured (not worth it) but it's the only one i've got.

Walls of Jerusalem and Frenchmans Cap car parks both have bad reputations for broken windows in order to steal whatever may be inside.

Some discussion here.

Thanks guys, it kinda makes me sick and angry that this thing happens (welcome to the real world) in such beautiful areas (beach and bush)
But it would be horrendous to think it's people that have the same passion as we do that would commit this to our own brothers/sisters.

I'm led to believe it is not done by other walkers, but by people from nearby towns.

Not sure if this applies to the resident of Sheffield and HM Prison mentioned in another post on this topic, but we were told by a ranger earlier this year that only interstate cars were being targeted in the Walls carpark.

One thing worth avoiding is any stickers indicating green leanings

Note to non-Tasmanians: most of us are a bit more friendly than that!

A member of the Police in Devonport gave me the name of a Devonport person they have charged several times with offences in these areas (Walls, etc). They reckon he's been doing it for years, they told me the courts put an order on this person once to prevent him going to National Park carparks in the 0364 area, the police straight away told them they stuffed up because Walls was in 0363 area. Typical.
They also told me that he does break and enters, described the two cars to me that he has, and that if ever I see those cars in my area to call the police straight away. Talk about knowing to spook a person.

I was talking to someone last week who offered the same info. Wonder if its legal to name n shame person or cars? Apparently he's loose again.. Arm river is another haunt...

Nuts wrote:Wonder if its legal to name n shame person or cars?

Don't know, but I went looking for his name on google, found a link to the courts where he was done for break & enter again, but the link was old and his name couldn't be found on the site so if there is a way of searching the Magistrates court for older cases, we could link them quite readily, so long a we aren't making public unproven accusations I would think.

Storys Creek (access to Stacks Bluff etc. on Ben Lomond) has worried me in the past, try to hide my car up 4WD side roads when up that way.

Yep, Frenchmans always scares me as it seems to be very prone to this activity (often glass in the car park).

A friend of mine some years ago (before the new car park, which offers no better security anyway) left his car for some days whilst in the area.
He came back out to not only find the windows broken, but the inside of the car gutted, including the seats!
He & a friend had to sit / drive on their rucksacks for the long drive back to Hobart (slow as she goes around any corner I'd imagine, and i'm sure the look on mr. plods face had they been pulled over would be worth framing).

I am also a keen surfer, but thankfully never had any break ins or vandalism over 20 years of going to the local beaches.
North Clifton is renowned as you leave your car 15mins walk from the beach & is a prime location (i've had friends have problems here in the past).
If I surf at that end I'm always worried & think I should have just walked the length of the beach instead, South Clifton being safe as houses.
Yes Sandpits is also a problem area, as is North Goats & to a lesser extent, South Goats car parks.
Going for a crack o dawn session at North Goats is always a gamble.
I try to go to Eaglehawk as much as possible these days anyway; better banks, clearer water, longer beach to disperse crowds, safe parking & surrounded by magical scenerey (bar the gaudy houses that keep popping up down there).

Cheers.
Stu.

I know a couple of my mates used to leave their dogs in the car (with window rolled down enough) to deter vandals,etc.
Though they didn't have poo...'s but rather the gnarrlier breeds, but i guess this wouldn't work for overnight treks.

I hear people leave glove boxes and centre consoles open to show theres nothing hidden.... trouble there is the light comes on when my glove box is open, if I didnt come back to a vandalised car, I'd come back to a flat battery.....

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We were concerned about reports we'd heard about car break-ins in the Walls carpark when preparing for a recent 3 day trip into the Walls. (We hired a 4WD for our time in Tassie). A Tas Parks ranger advised that the frequency of break-ins was determined by whether or not a certain Sheffield resident was enjoying a period of release from Her Majesty's care.

To minimise the risk of any losses/damage we left excess gear (we were in Tassie for 10 days) in my backpack coverall (bag used to cover my backpack during airline travel) at the Mole Creek Guest House and Laurel Berry Restaurant at Mole Creek; parked as close to the car park entrance as possible (more likely to be seen by any legit passers by) - the car park was only half full so this was possible (I noticed some broken glass up the far end of the car park); and left a note on the dash advising that nothing had been left inside (for what it is worth - not sure if this low life can read or whether it would make any difference).

Happily there were no break-ins (to our or anyone else's vehicle) while we were away.

Leaving the excess gear in Mole Creek meant we didn't worry about it while we were in the Walls. The owners at Mole Creek Guest House and Laurel Berry Restaurant were really hospitable (they kept the bag for us) and have awesome food and coffee! Great place to stop on your way into and/or out of the Walls. We'd also consider overnighting there if we needed accommodation pre or post walk. Nice spot and beautiful building.

Winchester or Sporting Shooters Association stickers?

If for some reason i plan to leave gear i take a large garbag and leave it away from the car. With the amount of cars using these carparks you'd have to be one of the unlucky few but not much consolation...

Brett wrote:[quote "ILUVSWTAS"]I hear people leave glove boxes and centre consoles open to show theres nothing hidden.... trouble there is the light comes on when my glove box is open, if I didnt come back to a vandalised car, I'd come back to a flat battery.....

Remove the fuse, assuming it is marked in the fuse compartment.

Cheers Brett[/quote]
Easier to remove the globe I suspect ?

Yep, the old days of leaving the keys on top of a tyre seem long gone.

Area54 wrote:Yep, the old days of leaving the keys on top of a tyre seem long gone.

Oh my god, i remember doing that all the time, especially at the beach, i remember during summer timing the key positioning when no-one was looking.
You'd always see the owners crawling around under their cars trying to find where they went to when they fell into the suspension.

[quote="ronin"]I know a couple of my mates used to leave their dogs in the car (with window rolled down enough) to deter vandals,etc.[quote]

Granted, your mates probably had good air flow and lots of water for their animals, but please don't do this, or encourage it, even with windows down.
Dogs have a completely different method of dealing with heat and overheated cars can kill a dog surprisingly quickly, a lot quicker than a human.
We(my wife and I) recently(Thursday) rescued a badly suffering Border Collie from the underground carpark at Rosny, it was less than 20 degrees, in the shade with the window open a crack.
The dog was obviously distressed
The stories of dogs dying are very numerous and I can only imagine the suffering of that poor animal.
Thanks

Jellybeans comments about a certain person from the Sheffield area are spot on. We climbed Roland in winter 2007 and came back to car with two windows smashed out. If it wasn't for the excellent deadlocks on our car we would have lost some expensive stuff from the boot - fortunately the locks held and he got nothing. We were told by several locals (including the local police) that there was a well known person who was out of Risdon at the time and notorious for his activities.

On the up side, we had an excellent day on Roland, enjoyed a very pleasant, unplanned, stay in Sheffield and the local garage was over the top in helping us clean up the car. They even let us lock the car in their workshop overnight. Great town is Sheffield, not at all spoiled by one petty crim.

stepbystep wrote:

ronin wrote:I know a couple of my mates used to leave their dogs in the car (with window rolled down enough) to deter vandals,etc.

Granted, your mates probably had good air flow and lots of water for their animals, but please don't do this, or encourage it, even with windows down.
Dogs have a completely different method of dealing with heat and overheated cars can kill a dog surprisingly quickly, a lot quicker than a human.
We(my wife and I) recently(Thursday) rescued a badly suffering Border Collie from the underground carpark at Rosny, it was less than 20 degrees, in the shade with the window open a crack.
The dog was obviously distressed
The stories of dogs dying are very numerous and I can only imagine the suffering of that poor animal.
Thanks

Agreed, i'd never do this, it's akin to leaving to leaving small kids in cars.
In my friends defence though,(and maybe i should've described it better) the dog could get out of the car if really provoked but instead is just happy to lay around and wait for it's owner to return

iIn 20 years of overnight hiking, the only place in Australia that I have ever had my car broken into was at the Mt Oberon carpark at Wilsons Promontory (while doing the circuit walk).

I have parked my car in a great many places (remote or otherwise) in Tasmania without any issues so far. I always make sure to keep the glovebox and centre console open and empty. I also usually put a note on the dashboard pointing out to any potential thief that they would be wasting their time as I leave nothing of any value in the car boot.

Having said that, as a former West Coast resident, I have never been game to leave a car at the Frenchmans Cap carpark (I always leave the car at Derwent Bridge and catch the bus to the carpark instead).

Kati and Mattas spent a couple of days hiking the Great Ocean Walk (basically from Apollo bay to Princetown in southern Victoria) I came across their blog post and discovered they had had a bit of trouble with their hire car while they were on the hike.

This walk is in our backyard and I was very distressed for them that some *&^%$#@! would do this to someone.

You can read the full story here: http://katiandmattes.blogspot.com/2009/12/melbourne-region-great-ocean-road.html

ronin wrote:I'm slowly doing more walks and have to admit that it always comes up in my thoughts, the car is old and nothing special but uninsured (not worth it) but it's the only one i've got.

I wonder about the uninsured bit, if it doesn't have 3rd party insurance and you run into a Rolls Royce, you might be paying out for a long time. My car wasn't worth much but the comprehensive insurance wasn't a lot more than the 3rd party so it was insured. When some *&^%$'s stole it from the local recreation centre carpark - nowhere's safe - and burnt it recently, I got a couple of thousand dollars (at least what the car was worth), and a hire car for a week which was very helpful. Just a thought.

Cheers,
TR

Taurë-rana wrote:

ronin wrote:I'm slowly doing more walks and have to admit that it always comes up in my thoughts, the car is old and nothing special but uninsured (not worth it) but it's the only one i've got.

I wonder about the uninsured bit, if it doesn't have 3rd party insurance and you run into a Rolls Royce, you might be paying out for a long time. My car wasn't worth much but the comprehensive insurance wasn't a lot more than the 3rd party so it was insured. When some *&^%$'s stole it from the local recreation centre carpark - nowhere's safe - and burnt it recently, I got a couple of thousand dollars (at least what the car was worth), and a hire car for a week which was very helpful. Just a thought.

Cheers,
TR

I might actually look into that, i can't say that i drive worry free but to be honest i haven't had comprehensive for years, i just might be pushing the luck button too much.
My last car had to be written off and i got virtually nothing for it after a collision with another vehicle (not my fault) and that caused a fair bit of financial hardship at the time.

Thanks for the nudge.

Went in to the walls for a day walk today and once again there were smashed windows of cars in the carpark. Very strange though that there appeared to be nothing stolen and only two cars were targetted even though the carpark had about 20 cars. One had interstate plates and plenty of stuff in it (maybe they were disturbed before they could steal anything). The other had Tas plates.
Caught up with the owners of both cars - interestingly the owners of the interstate car said they think they may have seen the culprits before they left on their walk - middle of the day (Boxing Day), grey sedan, two young men who didn't look like they were about to go walking and had no gear and hung around and then went wandering off without any gear. I always thought it was something that was happening at night, and I'm surprised they weren't caught this time considering there were people coming and going all day according to the logbook.
Unfortunately the victims didn't take note of the car's number plate. If you happen to see people there who you don't think belong please take note of the details so we can stop this regular vandalism - although I'd like to kneecap them I suspect it might be safer to let the police deal with it. (Or we could get a vigilante group to camp out there til we catch them then string them up from a tree to warn off other would be thieves).

That's just rubbish- is there some reason they can't put a hidden camera out there or something? If they can put red light cameras on intersections and revenue raise, they can do sometihng about this. I have also heard first hand that the people who used to rob cars out there were widely known in the region, and no one ever did anything about it. Makes you want to stake the place out with a couple of buddies and some night vision goggles, but then it'd be your word against their's, and I'm sure they'd win out on that one.

This could be stopped if the authorities were adequately motivated. A couple of cops in the bush on random nights, and the problem goes away, or to the next place. You think with their precious tourism endangered, they'd do something.

There's enough traffic out there, someone in Mole Creek ought to open up a shuttle service.

Why don't they put locking gates out there- closed at dusk?

Drifting wrote:That's just rubbish- is there some reason they can't put a hidden camera out there or something? If they can put red light cameras on intersections and revenue raise, they can do sometihng about this. I have also heard first hand that the people who used to rob cars out there were widely known in the region, and no one ever did anything about it. Makes you want to stake the place out with a couple of buddies and some night vision goggles, but then it'd be your word against their's, and I'm sure they'd win out on that one.

This could be stopped if the authorities were adequately motivated. A couple of cops in the bush on random nights, and the problem goes away, or to the next place. You think with their precious tourism endangered, they'd do something.

There's enough traffic out there, someone in Mole Creek ought to open up a shuttle service.

I know exactly how you feel from past experience at surf spots, now i see/hear the same thing amongst the bushwalking community, i think it would take a concerted effort from both the walking and police community to make a difference.