When you’re bushwalking in Australia, you’re moving through wildlife habitat, not the other way around. That’s the frame worth keeping in mind when you’re deciding how carefully to manage your food and gear, because keeping animals out of your pack and tent protects wildlife from becoming food-conditioned, reduces the risk of a dangerous encounter, and keeps your food, shelter and gear intact for the rest of the trip.
Doing this properly matters for more than your own convenience. It matters for safety, for the environment you’re walking through, and for keeping the animals themselves wild rather than dependent on what campers leave behind.
Why keeping wildlife out of camp matters
Animals that get access to human food change their behaviour quickly, and it doesn’t take a large or intimidating species to become a problem. Even small animals can turn persistent, destructive or aggressive once they’ve learned that a pack or tent is a food source.
In Australia, this most commonly involves rodents, possums, birds, goannas, wallabies and dingoes, and they’re highly adaptable animals, which is exactly what makes food-conditioning so hard to undo once it’s started. Once it has happened, the outcome is rarely positive: the animal may be injured, relocated or destroyed, and the campsite can end up closed because the problem keeps happening.
Packs and tents are both targets
Wildlife doesn’t distinguish between a backpack and a tent: both absorb food smells, sweat, sunscreen, toothpaste and cooking residue, which is why either one can draw attention regardless of what’s actually left out in the open. In many Australian walking areas, rodents and other wildlife can chew or tear through pack fabric and tents to reach food, and birds such as currawongs and ravens can learn to open unsecured packs and tents themselves.
Storing food, and handling it while you’re cooking
Most wildlife issues begin during food preparation, not storage, because that’s when crumbs and spills actually happen. Cook and eat in a defined area away from your sleeping setup, collect all scraps while you’re cooking and eating rather than leaving them for later, and pack food away immediately once you’ve finished. Even small crumbs or spills can attract animals, so the habit of tidying as you go matters as much as anything you do with the food afterwards.
The same care applies to everything else that carries a smell, not just meals. Food, rubbish and scented items should all be treated the same way: that includes meals, snacks, wrappers, cookware, toiletries, sunscreen, insect repellent, lip balm and toothpaste. Never leave food or rubbish unattended, even briefly. Where animal-resistant containers or hard-sided storage lockers are provided, such as at many established Great Walk campsites, use them, because those systems exist precisely because food-related wildlife problems have already occurred there.
At camp, avoid storing food inside your tent wherever possible. Keep it secured away from your sleeping area instead, which is what reduces the risk of an animal investigating your shelter overnight.
Keeping your gear itself from becoming the problem
All of that food discipline can be undone by the gear itself, because packs and tents absorb odours over time regardless of how careful you are in the moment. Food residue, spilled drinks and greasy hands all increase the likelihood of wildlife investigating your gear later, even after the food itself is long gone. Before and after trips, shake out your packs, check the pockets, and clean off any food residue. At camp, keep packs away from cooking surfaces and food prep areas, and never store food inside your tent just because it’s convenient in the moment.
The other gap is timing: a lot of wildlife encounters happen during short breaks or while you’re asleep, when nobody’s watching the gear. During rest stops, keep your pack closed and within sight rather than left open on the ground. At camp, make sure every zipper and closure on both your pack and your tent is fully secured. In areas known for bird activity, it’s worth clipping the zipper pulls together with a small carabiner or short cord, since birds like currawongs and ravens can and do learn to open packs and tents that aren’t secured this way.
Why hanging your food doesn’t solve this here
It’s worth addressing hanging food specifically, because it’s a common method elsewhere and an obvious thing to try once you’ve secured everything else. Food hanging systems are common in some parts of the world, but they are not always effective in Australia, because possums and rodents are excellent climbers and can often reach suspended food bags anyway. In some areas, hanging food may offer limited benefit, or it can create new problems if it’s done incorrectly, so it’s not a method I’d rely on by default. Always follow local park guidance on the recommended storage method for wherever you’re walking, and where hard-sided storage lockers or canisters are recommended, treat them as usually the most reliable option available.
Local risk changes the plan
None of the above is a fixed checklist, because different environments carry genuinely different risks. Before your trip, research the wildlife commonly encountered in that specific area and how it tends to behave around food. In dingo-populated areas such as K’gari, food should never be stored inside tents, because in that kind of environment the risk shifts from gear damage to personal safety.
Leave No Trace and wildlife protection
All of this sits under Leave No Trace ethics, because preventing wildlife from accessing food is one of its core parts. Feeding wildlife, whether you mean to or not, disrupts natural foraging behaviour and damages ecosystems, and a campsite where animals have learned to associate people with food often stays problematic long after the group responsible has moved on. Managing your food and gear properly protects the wildlife itself, preserves the campsite for whoever comes after you, and helps make sure bushwalkers keep having access to these places. You can read more about this in not interfering with Australian wildlife here.
