Boondocking and freedom camping outside Europe

Europe's overnight-stay networks — France's aires, Germany's Stellplätze — are purpose-built sites with services, largely privately or municipally run and mapped by dedicated apps (see where you can legally stay overnight in a van). Nothing directly equivalent exists in the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Instead, each of those four countries lets van travellers camp dispersed on public land under a rules-based system — with the specific rules, limits and paperwork differing sharply by country, and inside Canada and Australia, by province or state.

Dispersed camping on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land is generally free and does not require a permit for stays under the limit. BLM's own field-office guidance states the standard framework plainly: dispersed camping is allowed for no more than 14 days within any 28-day period at one location, after which campers must relocate — commonly 25 miles, though some regions (Colorado's supplementary rules, for example) set 30 miles instead. This authority derives from the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and is implemented through regulations at 43 CFR 8360, which allow BLM to set and enforce these occupancy limits and penalise violations. US Forest Service (USFS) dispersed camping runs on a similar but separately administered 14-day framework, with limits set locally rather than nationwide. Neither system is uniform across the country — always check with the specific BLM field office or USFS ranger district before planning an extended stay.

Crown land camping in Canada is provincial, not national, and British Columbia's official Land Use Policy is the clearest primary-source statement of any of the four countries covered here: "Any person may camp on Crown land for up to 14 consecutive calendar days," a limit that resets only once the person, vehicle and equipment have been absent from the site for at least 72 consecutive hours. Read plainly, that policy text applies to any person — it does not carve out a separate, shorter allowance or a permit requirement for non-residents.

Australia has no national free-camping law — camping on public land is a state and territory matter, and the rules diverge sharply. Victoria's own government guidance allows camping in state forests without a booking, provided campers stay at least 20 metres from waterways and no longer than 28 consecutive nights, and Parks Victoria separately permits dispersed bush camping in many parks for self-sufficient travellers. Queensland runs close to the opposite model: a paid, pre-booked permit through the Queensland Parks and Forests Booking Service is required to camp in its parks and forests, with the permit displayed on site. Rules in the other states and territories were not verified here — check the relevant state government or parks agency before planning a stay outside Victoria or Queensland.

New Zealand's Freedom Camping Act sets a national statute, with council bylaws and Department of Conservation (DOC) rules layering additional restrictions on top in specific areas. The self-containment system that gates freedom camping in restricted areas changed in mid-2026: since 7 June 2026, the old blue self-containment warrant is no longer valid, and only a current green warrant — issued under the national self-contained vehicle certification system run through the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board (PGDB) — is recognised. The change that catches travellers out is the toilet requirement: a green warrant requires a permanently fixed toilet usable inside the vehicle, and a portable toilet on its own no longer qualifies, regardless of what satisfied the old blue-warrant standard. A separate yellow warrant, issued by the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association for its members, allows portable toilets but is accepted only at NZMCA parks and some private grounds — not at public land where self-containment is required.