From The Next Campsite Over – How Campsites Turn Strangers into Neighbours

Written by: Moya Wilsenach

At a show jumping event in Queensland, Chloe Barlow and her friend put up a gazebo
between their horse truck and hired campervan. They hosted dinners at camp. Dogs ran
between the neighbouring sites and people stopped on their way past.

“Pretty much if you walked past, you just came for a chat,” Chloe says.

Some were people she knew of through the horse community but had never spent much time
with. Over the stay they talked about their horses and how the competition was going. They
also talked about work and everyday life. There were dinners together and more
conversations the next time they crossed paths.

Chloe says she became closer to three or four people simply by camping nearby. Staying on
site meant she was there for the chats she would have missed if she had gone back to a hotel
each evening.

They did not all have to be long conversations. As she puts it, “they all add up in the end”.

For someone deciding how to spend a holiday, that is part of what a campsite can offer. There
are people around who might know the next place worth visiting or have something you
forgot to pack. You have a reason to say hello before you know anything about each other.

In its Real Social Network summary, Britain’s Camping and Caravanning Club reports that
73% of campers agreed camping was a great way to make new friends. Another 81% agreed
it allowed them to be themselves (The Camping and Caravanning Club, n.d.).

For Tye Scott and his partner Olivia Costanzo, conversations with neighbours sometimes
started because they needed help.

Olivia drove their support campervan while Tye and his friends cycled from Sydney to the
Gold Coast. The group raised $12,000 for children’s cancer. Their campsites were places to
recover between long days of riding and learn how to manage the van.

They met a couple from New Zealand who regularly travelled this way. The couple showed
them how to use the vehicle and talked about their own life on the road.

“Even if we didn’t have something like the person next to us, would offer us some of their
stuff,” Olivia says.

Tye remembers getting help when their water hose was not long enough. Having experienced
campers next door made things easier when they were still working out what to do.

Chloe has found the same willingness to help on her camping trips. Someone might lend a
power cord or help work out the electricity connection. If she was missing a pot or pan she
could ask a neighbour.

Those exchanges make a difference beyond getting dinner cooked or the van connected. They
mean the person next door is someone you have spoken to and can approach again.

Rose van Wagensveld found it easier to start conversations while travelling around New
Zealand with her partner. At home she could feel unsure whether a stranger wanted to talk.
While away, she found that people were more open to it.

“I think everyone is in an area that they’re not used to, and they’re like searching for things to
do and needing advice,” Rose says.

“You’re doing the same type of thing.”

Questions about where to go next give travellers an easy starting point. Research into
Australian hostels found a similar pattern. In a study of 59 backpackers across 17 hostels,
conversations often began with where people came from and where they were going.
Travellers used those first exchanges to decide whether they wanted to get to know someone
better (Murphy, 2001).

One participant described how it developed: “Once you get to know people a little more, the
conversation goes past that into more personal stuff” (Murphy, 2001).

Rose mostly exchanged brief conversations with neighbours during the ten-day camping trip.
She and her partner were focused on spending time together. Afterwards, she stayed at a
Queenstown hostel, partly because she wanted to meet more people her age.

A conversation about where someone was from led to dinner and a visit to a bar. When
someone from her dorm was leaving on the same day she was, they went to the airport
together.

“It was just nice doing things I usually wouldn’t do here in Sydney or by myself,” she says.

For Tye, the conversations carried on between campsites too. People noticed the fundraising
codes on the cyclists’ shirts and stopped to ask where they had come from. Some donated or
shared the group’s progress on social media.

“They don’t know anything about you, so you just have a yarn with them,” he says.

The group also came across “Cat Man,” the social media personality travelling across
Australia and raising money for children’s health. Tye had met him once before in Melbourne
and hoped they might see him on the ride.

They recognised his trailer on the road and stopped to talk. Tye had a turn on his bike. They
discussed the causes behind their trips before continuing on their separate journeys.

“It was mad to catch up with him, mate. That was a good experience,” Tye says.

Other memories came from days when the weather gave people little choice but to spend time
together. On a separate camping trip near Melbourne, Chloe stayed in a horse truck through
two weeks of bad weather. People gathered under shelter and made plans to visit the hot
springs together. Those with cars offered others a lift.

She remembers the hot springs as the highlight of that trip. The weather had been miserable,
but she had people to go out with and somewhere to escape it for a while.

Shared experiences are a reason many campers give for going away. In the UK’s 2022
Outjoyment Report, 80.1% of camper respondents agreed they camped to create lasting
memories of shared experiences (Richards et al., 2022, p. 30).

Australian research also records positive views of getting away. The Caravan Industry
Association of Australia’s 2017 Real Richness summary reported that 96% of campers
believed camping could make them happier and 95% believed it reduced stress (Caravan
Industry Association of Australia, 2017).

The atmosphere still depends on where you stay. Rose found a small basic campsite more
personal than a large holiday park. Murphy’s hostel research also found that shared facilities
alone were not enough to encourage people to mix. Friendly staff and comfortable common
areas mattered too (Murphy, 2001).

For Chloe it was having people nearby who were happy to stop and talk. For Tye and Olivia
it included neighbours willing to help with an unfamiliar van. Rose could choose a hostel
when she wanted more company and find someone to go out with.

These encounters gave them something beyond a place to sleep. They made an unfamiliar
setup easier to manage or an evening more enjoyable. Sometimes they gave people a reason
to try something they might not have done alone.

Bibliography

Caravan Industry Association of Australia. (2017, June 26). Real richness Australia.
https://www.caravanindustry.com.au/real-richness-australia/

Murphy, L. (2001). Exploring social interactions of backpackers. Annals of Tourism
Research, 28(1), 50–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(00)00003-7

Richards, K., Doran, A., Brett, C. E., Wingfield, H., & Schofield, P. (2022). The Outjoyment
report: A research report on the well-being and mental health benefits of camping. The
Camping and Caravanning Club. Report.

The Camping and Caravanning Club. (n.d.). The real social network.
https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/media-centre/surveys-and-reports/the-realsocial-network/