Living Aboard at Anchor in Australia Compared to US

[wolfaroo]

Originally Posted by Boracay

The general rule in NSW is that you can only live on your boat for a maximum of 3 continuous days or 20 total days in one year.

G'day Borocay

I lived in 'straya for several fantastic years, drove a 1966 HR and had a great time - my girlfriend is Australian and we'll be moving back there in the future. But not before you guys challange the relentless red tape of your rulers! Some of the laws I came across there are, frankly, ludicrous: in SA it is ILLEGAL to rest your arm on a wound-down window whilst driving and in VIC you can be fined for changing a lightbulb unless you are a qualified electrician! haha that is solid gold.

Anyway, getting back on topic, do you know what on earth they were thinking when they introduced the rule you mentioned above and how they intend to enforce it?!

cheers,
Wolfaroo

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

.............

For those that have a personally licensed mooring (not a government mooring field), can they live at that spot indefinately?

No, at least not in Western Australia.

[savoir]

Leasing a licensed mooring in NSW gives no right to live aboard. People do it but it is illegal.

[mrohr]

Hi all: I love these comments. Every society exalts it's live conformists and it's dead revolutionaries. Liveaboards tend to be the latter.

[savoir]

It's a bit like those movie scenes where the hoboes get beaten up and thrown off the train.

All that changes North of Bundaberg where liveaboards = $$$$$. Thank the charter biz.

Most foreign boats leave Sydney in March anyway and head North, finding 3 months around Sydney to be plenty.

[Boracay]

As far as I can see the rules are frequently "bent".

Putting any part of your body outside a moving vehicle would be illegal in all of Oz. Given a recent TV report where a boat went under a wharf with two young girls on top it wouldn't hurt to apply that rule to boats as well.

[wolfaroo]

Originally Posted by Boracay

it wouldn't hurt to apply that rule to boats as well.

ohhh nooooo!!! i said rise up against the relentless redtape of the rulers, not create more... i should have realised, given you are a mod

jokes aside though, I'm intrigued, what is the official reasoning behind the 3 day rule you mentioned?

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by wolfaroo

........
jokes aside though, I'm intrigued, what is the official reasoning behind the 3 day rule you mentioned?

Best as I can tell, it is to keep the riffraff off the waterways (and perhaps to keep all of us on the land where we are easier to control).

[roy_pearce1]

Greetings! My first post and thanks for a "houseboat thread" I too would like to re-locate from UK to Aus. and live on a houseboat (passports all kosher) I can see from this forum that it is not going to be as easy as I thought but (hold the violins) I have spent my whole life conforming, working, paying taxes etc with this one goal in mind and I will not be thwarted (lovely word!!) So, I have read the negatives....now, can anyone tell me that they are doing it, above or below radar? Also, where would be the best place to liveaboard? Noosa maybe? Thanks, all

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by roy_pearce1

Greetings! My first post and thanks for a "houseboat thread" I too would like to re-locate from UK to Aus. and live on a houseboat (passports all kosher) I can see from this forum that it is not going to be as easy as I thought but (hold the violins) I have spent my whole life conforming, working, paying taxes etc with this one goal in mind and I will not be thwarted (lovely word!!) So, I have read the negatives....now, can anyone tell me that they are doing it, above or below radar? Also, where would be the best place to liveaboard? Noosa maybe? Thanks, all

Welcome to CF Roy, with your attitude, you should fit in well here (both CF & Oz).

Best place to liveaboard in Oz - well I suggest you try any of the smaller regional coastal centres outside Queensland or perhaps even better any of the remote parts of Northern Australia.

Some of these parts you don't even need your paperwork in order and the gov-mint will even re-settle you.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

..................as lax as it is here in America?..................

It should be noted that there is not a nationwide "lax" policy regarding living aboard in the US. It's illegal in Georgia and difficult with regulation in Southern California. It is "lax" in most of the Southeast, but becomes more difficult and expensive north of the Chesapeake. Plenty of PNW liveaboards indicate success in that area.