Live aboard in Australia

[gbmacca]

Realise that here in Australia - as bloody usual - each state has its own set of rules - some good - some stupid.

Tried finding out what W.A.'s rules were - to be told - you are not allowed to stay on a boat in navigable waters - for 'extended periods of time'.

Soooo - go figure ---

Gbmacca

[RaymondR]

Having lived aboard permanently since 2001 and hung about with the less exclusive end of the yachty spectrum for about fifteen years prior to that I have a fair collection of live aboard versus authority stories.

One of the best is about a guy in WA who anchored in a creek surrounded by the housing of the nouveau riche and the expensive battle against him it required to lawfully get him moved and another about the blue feral in Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island in Queensland who it took about thirteen years to move.

I think it's one of those things where they bank the anti laws and regulations in case they need them to use against the really egregious cases but tend to leave the rest of us alone whilst ever we behave.

The only place I have ever had a problem, between Busselton on the west coast over the north to Sydney on the east, was at Port Macquarie in NSW in 2004 just after they had had an oyster poisoning scare. Their uniform-in-a-tinny lectured me severely about it being a strict no discharge port and when I informed him that I was having pizza from their pizza shop for dinner and was very regular and would use the toilet in the park ashore on the way back from the pizza shop he welcomed me and allowed me to anchor in the turning basin for the night.

Both NSW and Qld, south of the Whitsundays have move-on laws but I have never heard of them being applied to anyone except in Maloolaba with it's large population of canal dwelling, waterside, bunyip aristocrats.

[TassieBloke]

Some allow, some officially limit time aboard...and in many cases it depends on who you ask. We have some in our Marina that have lived here for decades.
We had one guy here who lasted a month before getting kicked out. Why? Because he was an idiot. Everytime we saw him, he had a beer bottle in his hand, even before 10am. He would board other boats without asking permission (even with owners on board), borrow tools and never bring them back, used a stolen credit card to run up a tab at the Marina bar... surprised it took them that long [emoji848]

Keep your boat shipshape, be friendly, be seen doing maintenance, take it out, and no-one will care. Get a hold of the Berthing Agreement, and you'll find that nearly all do not explicitly rule out liveaboards. Comply with NDZ regs and it's all good.

[first.contact]

G'day Simon. I've lived aboard for ten years now, mostly in Townsville, but up and down the coast more recently. The marina here charges a levy to live here, plus electricity monthly.