GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #38 | Page 20

FEAR BRINGS OUT THE WORST WORDS AND IMAGES: THE KOOL KAMPERS TRIBE FULL-TIME TRAVELLERS AND REGULAR GORV CONTRIBUTORS, THE KOOL KAMPERS TRIBE, SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES ABOUT BEING ON THE ROAD DURING AUSTRALIA’S COVID 19 CRISIS. The internet has been a scary place for full- time caravanners — people with no fixed address such as ourselves — who have found themselves caught up in unfamiliar towns and states, copping nastiness from so many. But even more worrying is reading online reports about people's vigilante behaviour: hooning through campsites and yelling abuse at those in caravans and motorhomes. We’ve read about tyres being slashed, rocks having been thrown, and nomads (young, old and families alike) being terrified. Roads have been blocked by townsfolk and we’ve heard abuse over the radio from other road users… Our own experience, as well as the experiences of other full-time travellers that we have read about, has been a shocking display of how fear and anxiety can bring out the worst in people.