My personal view on this is yes there may be some truth that some people cross the Simpson with high tyre pressures while towing campers and rut out the track but surely it would be very few and far between?
The last 10-15 years has seen an explosion of people like you and me who now go to these places because every track in Australia can now be researched to death via the net and it has made what was once a daunting task a walk in the park for most. Blame the internet, or the snow ball effect, or magazines or whatever for the massive increase in traffic. Dont blame the family man taking his wife, kids and camper for a look at their country, don't talk of shutting us out, promote us to do it more!
The opinion in regards to city folk being the most likely ones that dont know what they are doing, when you think about it is simply not true. I grew up in and still live in a town that most people would consider to be very small and country and like all small town country kids we spent our youth bashing old cars and bikes around paddocks or back streets or whatever but that has not given me or any of my mates any more information on whats right and wrong when it comes to desert driving.
City folk are just as informed and have the same ability, arguably better ability as far internet connection, to research the rights and wrongs of these things as the country people.
It comes down to experience and at times laziness in my opinion. An experienced traveller/4w driver/sand driver will air down his/her tyres with out batting an eye lid. An in experienced, regardless if they are a city living person or country person may forget or think its not yet necessary because until they get that experience they have only read about these things and are yet to see for themselves the benefit of knowing the correct pressures for the conditions.
As for all these great places being closed off to us because of a minority in society who think we are permanently damaging the environment, fair dinkum the argument could go on for ever.
The Simpson for instance has for the sake of argument one (yes I know there are more) main track cut through it by vehicles and has done since pretty much since Reg took the Patrol across
The Simpson is large and has a few tracks cut through it, so what? It is sand and sand moves with the wind. Yes I know as long as people are driving across it the sand will never reclaim the dunes on the track but is it really an environmental issue? I dont think so, its like a needle in a hay stack.
Let us see our own country, let us take our kids and show them what this great land is all about, promote tourism in our own country, the small towns need us and we need them. Discourage any talk of banning campers, get on our side and stick up for people who want to take campers across. Sure do your best to educate people about doing it with the least possible footprint (or ironically a larger footprint with lower tyre pressures!), but don't stand up for closing us out, its not on.
I understand your going to get a very small section of society that will go beyond what the greater majority of us would consider common sense and start tearing up camp grounds, or driving over tables, or generally hooning around and giving us decent folk a bad name, but you get that in all facets of recreation. You always will unfortunately but they are a very small minority. We need to stand up for us, being the majority who simply want access to our own country.
Written and authorised by me
