No room at the inn for budget backpackers

An old Ford that Nina and Manuela bought for $4600 in Perth has become their home on wheels after it survived the epic journey from the west coast to Sydney.

“We have lived in this car for three or four months now, and I can’t really say I feel ‘girly’ anymore, but the wonderful experiences we have had were definitely worth it,” said Manuela.

But after completing the cross country run, neither the vehicle nor the two young Swedes are welcome in the car park at the bottom of Glebe Point Road where they have been residing for the past fortnight.

Two minutes after I came across the girls, a police car cruised by. “They are always here, checking,” said Nina. “The police and rangers told us we were allowed to stay here, but yesterday one came and told the two of us we were not to be sitting on plastic chairs on the grass.” This occurred even with an absence of “No Camping” signs.

Several garbage bins line the park’s pavement, but the girls were also told they were instead to take any rubbish with them.

“We saw one person leaving rubbish here in the past two weeks, but most of us are very clean.” said Nina.

Both backpackers believe it’s important to have places like Bicentennial Park when “budget” accommodation on Glebe Point Road charges a nightly average of $25 to share a ten bedroom dorm. Nina and Manuela insist that they would much rather put their money towards food and petrol or to exploring the sights of Sydney.

“We don’t spend any time here (in the van) unless we have to.”

With the council foraging for new ways to remove backpackers by enforcing timed parking, Manuela is convinced travellers will take a detour from Sydney.

“Places like Noosa seem a lot friendlier than here. There are so many backpackers in Sydney, and they spend a lot of money.” said Manuela. “Tourism is very important. If the word gets around about things like this, people will say, ‘maybe let’s just go to New Zealand’.”