Camperdown is being used by travellers who are parking and sleeping in their vans

FREE parking, close to cafes and pubs, and all the best of Sydney’s night-life at your doorstep. International backpackers have discovered a hot spot to take a gap year.

ONE of the world’s hottest locations to take a gap year for school-leavers on a tight budget has turned out to be in Sydney.

The prospect of free accommodation that is close to parks, night-life and some of the best food our fair city has to offer has become common knowledge among the young international travel set.

And, it seems, one suburb in Sydney’s inner west is the sport that ticks all those boxes.

Camperdown has been chosen by tourists on gap year as the place to stay. Photo: Carly Earl

Camperdown has become the place to be for gap year 2016 - at least that’s what one pack of German tourists who have been parking their campervans in the unrestricted parking spots on Federation Rd, and setting up base camp next to Memorial Rest Park - are saying.

Sydney local Paul lives in Newtown and said that after meeting a group of these camper-lads a few months back, he has made friends for life with the would-be tourists.

“Some come and go, but they are almost always German,” he said.

“They’ve been teaching me some language and we’ve had a great time.”

Unrestricted parking means the rent is free. Photo: supplied

Paul said he had been showing his new friends - Henning, Tom, Nico, Erik and Romain - around town and is looking forward to one day visiting their home towns in west and northern Germany.

Henning said that he and his travel-mate Tom had heard of Camperdown from some other Germans they had met in Brisbane.

“We’ve been travelling around the country and we heard of it from some other Germans,” he said.

“We’ve been everywhere from here to Airlie Beach, and now we’ll head to Melbourne and maybe do the Great Ocean Road.”

Paul said he has made friends for life.

Henning has since continued his travels. Next stop: Melbourne.

Paul said that “everyone in Newtown knows the Germans” and Erik, who hails from a small island on the Baltic Sea and is travelling with his mate Nico, said he was enjoying his time in Sydney and Federation Rd was a perfect home-away-from-home.

“There’s free parking, the police aren’t too worried we are here and the residents don’t seem to care so much,” he said.

“We do our laundry nearby, and the only problem is there is no toilet.

“We can go up to a local pub, or to a toilet block at a running track some blocks away, but that is the only problem here.”

COUNCIL CAN’T DO ANYTHING

While life is good for the Germans, who are enjoying an endless summer, a spokeswoman for Marrickville Council said they had recently started receiving complaints about campers in the area.

“We have no jurisdiction to move them on,” she said. “In Federation Rd there is untimed parking. In Northwood St, as long as the vehicles are adhering to the two-hour timed limit, there is nothing Council can do.”

She said that if there were reports of anti-social issues that Council would forward them to police.

RESIDENCES MISSING OUT ON PARKING

A resident from Camperdown said she had mixed-views about her new neighbours in living in their vans.

The resident, who didn’t want to be named, said on Thursday she counted four vanloads of backpackers/car-campers van-camping on Federation Rd.

“On Friday of last week a vanload ignored parking restrictions in Northwood St and camped overnight,” she said. “We have been inundated by vanloads of tourists who have been living in the park for six weeks now.

Campers a re living out of vans in Camperdown. Picture: Supplied

“The vans are registered in Qld, Northern Territory and WA.

“We contacted the police after witnessing one lad pulling down his pants to urinate on a tree, but were told by the police that it is a council issue.

“It appears they will only become involved if a more substantial crime is committed.”

The resident told the Inner West Courier that it was becoming increasingly difficult to get a parking spot near her home, and that she had seen campers washing their things in the dog water bowls at the park.

“We continue to be concerned and frustrated about the ongoing lack of parking for residents in the local area,” she said.

Campervans in Camperdown. Photo: Supplied

“For those citizens just wanting to visit the park on weekends or after hours, they are unable to do so because the parking spots are taken up by tourists camping there, as well as storage trailers.

“The situation is really quite untenable.”

The resident said the “trees in Federation Rd are urine-stained”.

“A couple of weeks ago I encountered one of the tourists relieving himself against a tree.

“I asked him to move on, but a month later he was still there.

“The park is widely used by dog-walkers and has a special water supply for dogs — a replenishable dog-bowl with a tap to keep it topped up.

“The campers have been using this area to wash their dishes in.

“There are no public amenities in the park, so they are improvising.

“It’s not that I have an issue with the campers per se, although the urinating incident was unpleasant but, after living her for over 12 years, I can often no longer park my car in the street.

“The council has said that the parking in Federation St is not timed so that people can visit the park on the weekends, but realistically they can’t park there because of the campers and storage trailers.

“If council introduces restricted parking, the problem will be resolved.”

HAVE YOUR SAY

● Marrickville Council’s spokeswoman said Council is currently doing a parking study in the area, and in light of the recent complaints, will pay particular attention to Federation Rd and Northwood St and the issue of campervans and trailers. “The results of the Study will inform a new parking strategy for the area,” she said. To take part in Marrickville Council’s parking study click here.

● Tell us what you think of the whole situation, visit the Inner West Courier Facebook page.