Continuing on from my comments regarding ‘van-dwellers’, if I may, to further the understanding of ‘van-dwellers’ amongst the general community, I will share a little of my story and what I know of other travellers, which is not a lot but it should at least be a good read.
Having had to move from my place after many years, and my next place falling through at the last minute, rather than do battle, as a desperate, with the predatory rental market, I bought a campervan, which the serendipity of the actual happenstance still amazes me.
I had been living in a city for a long time and having had moving thoughts for a considerable time, due to my circumstances I took the plunge to leave to further what I do.
Everything went into storage; top tip – do not use local towing or movers, find them from where you are heading.
Since the start of this year it has been a cathartic roller-coaster ride, but with hard work and the planets having moved, things are now more organised, smoothed out.
Initially I was minding a cat which made things that much harder, until, (thankfully) someone became concerned for the cat’s welfare and catnapped her.
I do not consider myself homeless – the campervan is my home, for the time being.
I plan to travel around, and then stop to do what I do which needs a base.
The campervan existence and drifting around indefinitely is not what I want to do.
Some people are amazing: while arranging storage I ran out of fuel, dead tired, on the motorway late at night, these night riders stopped and fetched fuel and refused money, they said – pass it on! When the campervan’s rear hatch bracket broke, needing welding, this fellow took it to his neighbour, twice, and refusing payment said – it would be a sad world if you could not help someone out!
I consider myself lucky to have found a spot where I can stay without moving while I sort storage. Being moved on at night is the biggest bugbear without a doubt (not to mention RAIN); you learn where to and where not to park fairly quickly. Generally, I do not like moving every day due to the drama, but that is another crunch as extended stays can cause attention and consternation.
People are territorial – ‘this is my place’, with some stranger danger mixed in.
The general vibe I perceive from (most) people could be a bit like how hippies were viewed decades ago? Cannot exactly put my finger on it.
I guess aversion towards transients is fairly normal, hang, I do it myself.
Out there, amongst van-dwellers there is a whole gamut of people just like house-dwellers, from crazies to white-haired nomads (not to say some do not have their demons as well), to young and old looking around, overseas tourists, people going from A to B, lifestyle cruisers, ‘homeless’ van-dwellers trying to make the best of their lot, mystery overnight campers, young locals, tradies sleeping over on the job, etc, etc… there does seem to be a lot of them (us).
Oh yes, I think the hours for new restrictions on overnight parking are well thought out and reasonable (1am–6am).
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
