Camping dos and don’ts

DO

DON’T

Check the Nation­al Parks South Aus­tralia web­site before you leave home.
Hint: You can print out indi­vid­ual park infor­ma­tion in a handy brochure for­mat by click­ing the ​‘PDF Park Brochure’ but­ton locat­ed in the top right-hand cor­ner of each park’s page on the website.

Arrive at the park with­out doing your research.

Book before you go.
Hint: Camp­sites at 36 of our most pop­u­lar parks need to be booked ahead of your stay – either online or through an agent.

Turn up with­out book­ing only to find that there aren’t any camp­sites available.

Think about what you’ll need for your camp­ing trip and how you can reduce the amount of rub­bish you’ll cre­ate.
Bring a few garbage bags and take your rub­bish with you when you leave.

Dump your rub­bish in the park. It is not accept­able to leave your rub­bish in a bag next to a bin – it’s haz­ardous to scav­eng­ing wildlife.
Ani­mals can eas­i­ly get into garbage bags, dis­trib­ut­ing rub­bish far and wide, and poten­tial­ly become sick or injured from eat­ing the contents.

Get the free app, to get the park map. Hint: Before you go, down­load the free Aven­za PDF Map app so that you can access an inter­ac­tive park map while you’re away. The app will oper­ate even if you have no net­work con­nec­tion in the park, as it uses your device’s built-in GPS to plot your real-time loca­tion with­in the park onto a map.

Get lost in the park because you didn’t come pre­pared.
Hint: Park maps have heaps of use­ful infor­ma­tion on them and are freely avail­able on the Aven­za PDF map app or can be print­ed from the Nation­al Parks South Aus­tralia web­site.

Check if you can have a camp­fire.
If it’s per­mit­ted, bring your own firewood.

For­age for, or cut down, wood in a nation­al park. This is not allowed.
Dead and fall­en tim­ber is impor­tant habi­tat for birds, ani­mals and insects.

Put out your camp­fire when­ev­er you are not attend­ing it.

Leave your fire smoul­der­ing overnight, unat­tend­ed.
If a small ember gets caught on a gust of wind, it can have dire consequences.

Leave your pets at home.

Bring your fur baby along for a hol­i­day.
This is for the pro­tec­tion of native wildlife and your dog. Pest bait­ing is com­mon in parks.

Secure your food in con­tain­ers at night.

Leave food or scraps out to tempt the res­i­dent pos­sum into your camp­site for a mid­night snack.

Bring a shov­el and dig deep.

…you know why

Share your expe­ri­ence.
Hint: Hash­tag the full park name on Insta­gram to share your pho­tos with oth­er park users, such as #mur­rayriver­na­tion­al­park

Keep it to your­self.
Hint: Oth­ers would love to see what you’re up to – it may help them plan their next visit.