[Mystic]

Here at Real Tasmania, we use a rating system for the campsites we visited. These are based on a scale of 1-5 and are indicated by an icon as below:

• = crappy campsite - do not go there unless very desperate!
• = better than above, but is there another spot?
• = Ok, this is starting to seem like a nice place to camp. It will do.
• = This is nice, let's camp here.
• = If you do not go to this location and stay you have rocks in your head!

Ratings are based on a number of factors, mostly related to camper friendliness. This includes things like the quality of the ground (are there level spots?, can you drive a peg in?, etc), facilities, (though these were not entirely important, things like toilets, etc), shelter from sun and wind, and so on.

Availability of water can be a factor, but as water was easy to find in towns nearby, or on the way to most locations, not a great factor. Basically our rating system depends on our personal feelings towards a site or location. You may visit a site and rate it lower, it depends on what you like, and we are all different.

Please use this rating system carefully, and remember, what we looked for in the prefect site, may not be what you look for.

A classic example of this would be Butlers Gorge. This site had very rocky ground (yet we both agreed this ground was the most comfortable to sleep on of all sites we stayed at). you could not drive a tent peg into the ground (we had to tie the tents to rocks with jute instead). There were no facilities (though the lake water was clean and fit for drinking). Digging a hole to bury waste was impossible. The wind howled through the trees at night, (though the tent did not get blown around). We rate this site

As we say, it depends on your perspective.

[tassiesim]

I was going to ask what to look for when finding a camp site, but this covers alot of what I was going to ask so thank you very much , I will refer to it when I am ready to go camping soon :-)