Dickey Flat Campsite
Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park
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Dickey Flat Campsite
This campsite is located beside the Waitawheta River, known for its trout and some great swimming holes downstream. There is a year-round liquor ban at the campsite.
Dickey Flat Camping Ground is a large camp site located next to the Waitawheta River. There are heaps of walks to do in this area as well as some primo mountain biking all through the Karangahake Gorge. Lots of goldmining history to explore and the Waihi township is only about 12km away, where you can get all kinds of amenities and go to the beach. Enjoy! No fires please.
Notices
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Crown Tramway Track partial closure
The Crown Tramway from Ohinemuri Bridge is closed due to large landslips and other hazards.This is a long-term closure.
Dickey Flat Campground can be accessed from Karangahake/Ohinemuri carpark via the Windows Walk and the Crown track/pipeline walk.
First published on 13 September 2022. Last reviewed on 15 June 2024. -
Rat bait at Dickey Flat Campground
Diphacinone, commonly known as D-Block, is being used to control rodents around the Dickey Flat Campground. The rat bait is stored in lockable bait stations for the safety of people and pets.
Don’t touch these bait stations. Watch children at all times. Poison bait and carcasses are deadly to dogs – keep your dog on a lead at all times.
First published on 17 May 2024. Last reviewed on 20 August 2024.
DOC Campsite Pricing
Dickey Flat Campsite is categorised as a DOC Standard Campsite. The following pricing indicates usual pricing. Prices vary for some campsites and may include seasonal pricing. Visit the DOC website for exact pricing.
DOC Standard Campsite
Standard campsites have a more limited range of facilities and services than Serviced campsites. These campsites have toilets, a water supply that could be treated or untreated tap water, or from a stream or lake, and vehicle or boat access. Bring your own soap for washing hands. Untreated water should be boiled before use to ensure it's safe. Wood BBQs and fireplaces, cold showers, picnic tables, a cooking shelter and rubbish bins may be provided; this will vary from site to site.
| Feature | Value | Value |
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| Unpowered Site | Adult | $10.00 to $15.00 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Child | $5.00 to $7.50 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Infant | $0.00 per night |
Adults are 18+ years, children are 5-17 years, infants are 0-4 years.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC Bay of PlentyCentral government organisation |
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Location |
North Island ▷ Bay of Plenty ▷ Waihi |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Basic Camping
Reviews
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3.0/5
Amazing area to explore.
Great swimming hole and access to walking tracks. If you’re in a tent you can pick a lovely grassy spot near the river, but if not, you are sleeping in the car park. We stayed on a Friday night which got extremely busy and lots of cars still arriving after dark. Long drop toilets and no water taps. Doc staff came early in the morning to collect camp fees. Beautiful place to stay for $10 but expect crowds.
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0.5/5
Garbage.
Skip this one at all costs.
One of the only DOC sites where the Camppass is not accepted and on the website it says the same sentence as every other one except for "The camppass CANNOT be used..." instead of "The camppass can be used...".
Totally misread this fact after staying at nearly every DOC site throughout NZ the past 2 months.
Woken up at 8am sharp after people were being loud since 6am trying to get more shut eye. The warden was friendly about the fact, can't fault him. But we had to drive out 30km and back in to get cash as there is also no reception and no cashless transaction method.
Now we paid 20 bucks on top of the campsite for a parking lot (other cars parked up) with a walk-in paddock for tents and a drop toilet without a sink or any running water? We had hot water showers, a full camp kitchen, etc. for free at Pelorus Campground with the Camppass so what is up with this one?
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2.5/5
Stayed one night.
Enjoyed that stay. Night next to the river with areas to swim. Tent spots on grass next to trees. Campervan on gravel (essentially a parking lot). Two long drop toilets.
Is not free with DOC campsite pass. DOC ranger came around to collect fee ($10 pp)
Really good access to trails
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3.5/5
Stayed one night in October and paid $10 per adult.
Really quiet, only 4 other campers. Great walks. Only downside was the long drop toilets which were clean but smelt awful.
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5.0/5
We pitched our tent right on the river edge.
We woke up and the sun was reflecting right off the river it was so picturesque! The walk to the swimming hole is so pretty, although short you feel like you’ve gone on an adventure, the bridges, the sounds of the rushing water, the tunnel exploring, then emerging into a water hole, I have never experienced anything similar. Soaked in the ambience of the rushing water, singing birds and rustling leaves, a very grounding and humbling site.
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4.0/5
Can get busy, and camp sites can be soggy feel like they could flood.
Also, the drive in is pretty steep for a camper.
Heaps to do and explore, great spot
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4.0/5
A good family-friendly spot, perfect if you're just getting into camping.
The river has plenty of safe spots for children and adults to swim in.
The only negative is it gets very busy, especially with people doing day trips for picnics and swimming.
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4.5/5
Beautiful place, near the owharoa falls.
Many opportunities to swim. Be careful of the insects thought, and the rather unclean toilets.
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5.0/5
Nice campsite with a lot of swimming holes.
Gets pretty crowded but everyone is quiet by the time you're asleep. Alcohol ban is in effect.
Vault toilets and the water supply is the creek.
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5.0/5
Busy little place, need to get in early to get a good spot under the trees.
River has some nice shallow spots for the little ones and a nice deep pool for big kids and a good amount of toilets.
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4.5/5
A nice place in the middle of a canyon.
A lot of place for a tent and the toilet is all you need. Leave the fee in the iron ranger and be happy you support the reservate.
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3.0/5
Amazing area to explore.
Great swimming hole and access to walking tracks. If you’re in a tent you can pick a lovely grassy spot near the river, but if not, you are sleeping in the car park. We stayed on a Friday night which got extremely busy and lots of cars still arriving after dark. Long drop toilets and no water taps. Doc staff came early in the morning to collect camp fees. Beautiful place to stay for $10 but expect crowds.
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0.5/5
Garbage.
Skip this one at all costs.
One of the only DOC sites where the Camppass is not accepted and on the website it says the same sentence as every other one except for "The camppass CANNOT be used..." instead of "The camppass can be used...".
Totally misread this fact after staying at nearly every DOC site throughout NZ the past 2 months.
Woken up at 8am sharp after people were being loud since 6am trying to get more shut eye. The warden was friendly about the fact, can't fault him. But we had to drive out 30km and back in to get cash as there is also no reception and no cashless transaction method.
Now we paid 20 bucks on top of the campsite for a parking lot (other cars parked up) with a walk-in paddock for tents and a drop toilet without a sink or any running water? We had hot water showers, a full camp kitchen, etc. for free at Pelorus Campground with the Camppass so what is up with this one?
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2.5/5
Stayed one night.
Enjoyed that stay. Night next to the river with areas to swim. Tent spots on grass next to trees. Campervan on gravel (essentially a parking lot). Two long drop toilets.
Is not free with DOC campsite pass. DOC ranger came around to collect fee ($10 pp)
Really good access to trails
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3.5/5
Stayed one night in October and paid $10 per adult.
Really quiet, only 4 other campers. Great walks. Only downside was the long drop toilets which were clean but smelt awful.
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5.0/5
We pitched our tent right on the river edge.
We woke up and the sun was reflecting right off the river it was so picturesque! The walk to the swimming hole is so pretty, although short you feel like you’ve gone on an adventure, the bridges, the sounds of the rushing water, the tunnel exploring, then emerging into a water hole, I have never experienced anything similar. Soaked in the ambience of the rushing water, singing birds and rustling leaves, a very grounding and humbling site.
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4.0/5
Can get busy, and camp sites can be soggy feel like they could flood.
Also, the drive in is pretty steep for a camper.
Heaps to do and explore, great spot
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4.0/5
A good family-friendly spot, perfect if you're just getting into camping.
The river has plenty of safe spots for children and adults to swim in.
The only negative is it gets very busy, especially with people doing day trips for picnics and swimming.
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4.5/5
Beautiful place, near the owharoa falls.
Many opportunities to swim. Be careful of the insects thought, and the rather unclean toilets.
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5.0/5
Nice campsite with a lot of swimming holes.
Gets pretty crowded but everyone is quiet by the time you're asleep. Alcohol ban is in effect.
Vault toilets and the water supply is the creek.
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5.0/5
Busy little place, need to get in early to get a good spot under the trees.
River has some nice shallow spots for the little ones and a nice deep pool for big kids and a good amount of toilets.
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4.5/5
A nice place in the middle of a canyon.
A lot of place for a tent and the toilet is all you need. Leave the fee in the iron ranger and be happy you support the reservate.
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4.0/5
Big camp ground with toilets.
Loads of room under the trees for tents. Lots of space for cars on level gravel patch. Managers come by every day around 7pm so make sure you have filled your form and paid. 8$ per person.
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4.5/5
Very good hiking trails.
Beautiful place with a nice river to swim in. Come early.
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2.5/5
This spot is very disappointing for a DOC site, especially for the price.
Just a big gravel parking lot with zero privacy. You could find some decent tent spots if you walked a few minutes from your car. The whole place was super crowded especially during the day. The toilets were very smelly and there was lots of litter around the sites, on the trails and by the swimming hole. We didn't end up staying the night and just went for a swim and left.
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0.5/5
This place is more of a day trip destination as the walks/swimming area is good but the place itself is not.
all it is is a rocky uneven car park that is very, very crowded, you can tent on the grassy area but can’t bring your vehicle which makes for a long walk when moving things. as soon as we arrived and saw this we left, not a welcoming environment and for the price definitely not worth it!
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4.5/5
The real pity about this place is so many people know about it.....I went on a Saturday night and left it a bit late to get a good tent site but I was alone (well, with my dog) and therefore I wasn't too
concerned about where my tent was.... It's a pity the empty lush paddock next door couldn't be utilised but it appears to be a makeshift shooting range of sorts.
There is a river which looks very clean but in fact is not potable.....BOIL IT FIRST !!
The majority of the noise came from the river (great sound) and the rest was supplied by others who don't know how to speak in a quite tone....So I had to wait until about 11pm to get to sleep - no biggie.
The area in general is amazing, there is great swimming at the campsite and at numerous other locations in the area....I suggest taking aqua booties (cheap as at The Warehouse) as the stones in the river are challenging to walk across when swimming etc.
It is a shame you can't park by your tent, but thats the nature of it's layout, if cars got any closer they would ruin the landscape.
Toilets were incredibly clean and not smelly, for composting toilets.....That was very refreshing !
I think that this site should be restricted to NOT house motorhomes (they have so many more places to go anyway).....keep it as a tent/car/small van site only so the carpark doesn't get so full.
Only reason for scoring a 9/10 was because they don't lock the gates at night.....a few people decided to drive in and out at peculiar times of the night/morning.
Alcohol ban in place at all times which is a good thing.
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5.0/5
Best camp ground I've been at in NZ so far.
Often you are packed in like a can of sardines, but DOC sites seem to be the way to go. They definitely had that open-field area that is generally so distasteful/quintessential NZ camping, but there was also a wooded area for us to hang our suspension tent from right next to the stream and it was so very lovely.
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5.0/5
Love this place!
Stayed here for 1 night, it was peaceful and quite. Lots of swimming spots around. Highly recommend to visit tunnel and swimming waterfalls before rush hours which starts from 1pm.Otherwise it will be too crowded.
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4.0/5
Very nice camping, toilets in good shape.
No drinking water and nowhere to do dishes. But there is a river. Very nice swimming spots even for families with small kids like us.
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2.5/5
Nice spot with just composting toiletts, no water supply except the water from the river.
$8 per night an person just for a place to stand is in my opinion to expensive. A DOC officer checked the tax box at 7pm and 7am, therefore be sure you paid.
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4.5/5
Beautiful drive to this spot.
Lovely location, but unfortunately campervans can't camp as close to the river as tents can. Stunning river. Spotless drop toilets. Very crowded unfortunately, but we were there on a Friday night.
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3.5/5
A DOC site which we used as a stopover for a night on our way north.
Has 2 composting toilets; washing is in the river if you're not in a campervan. It was not very easy to find (but the location directions that we had could have been better). There were some scouts and other groups of teenagers camping there, so it was quite noisy that night. Make sure you pay the overnight fee at the honesty box - the warden came round before 8am checking who hadn't paid.
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5.0/5
This was our first campsite in New Zealand and we loved it.
Very quiet and peaceful, we slept really well and in the morning had a little walk along the beautiful river. Beautiful location. Highly recommended!
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4.0/5
Great site with plenty of shady trees to camp under/near.
Right next to the flowing river, great for swiming etc. 15 minute easy walk, through the long tunnel to the deep large water hole where you can jump and play. Toilets are acceptable for composting style, cleaned everyday. The only reason I did not give this a 10 out of 10 is as follows: you cannot park your vehicle next to your tent site. The cars stay in the carpark and you have to carry your gear. I was camping with 5 children so we had a trailer of gear, so took my wheel barrow to transport. Another slight downside is the sandflies, bring bug spray and keep reapplying through the day. And finally the last reason for not giving a higher score is the night life.... on our most recent stay this site was very popular with young people with music and alcohol. We had two consecutive nights with little sleep. It was a long weekend and the ground was very full so other tents were in close proximity. Have heard there is work underway to make it alcohol free camp ground to prevent the problems in future.
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3.0/5
We stayed one night.
The price is $6 per adult. The toilets are ok but the water supply was the river... not very practical. The place is nice to visit.
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4.5/5
Very nice location, easy access but maybe not ideal for busses as the road is a bit windy.
The campsite extends from the adjacent fence downstream (250 m) to the suspension bridge over the Waitawheta river. No street noise, only nature! Tents can stay next to the river or near/in the car park. Cars can only stay in the car park.
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4.0/5
$6 per person.
Enough space for tents, if you sleep in the car though you have to stay in the carpark. Crowded in summer (a lot of toilets, all of them smelly), beautiful setting, great swimming hole.
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4.0/5
Really clear water - a great place for a morning swim.
Get there early to lock in a decent tent site by the river. Bug spray a plus.
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4.0/5
Great swimming hole!
A bit buggy so bring the insect repellent, but overall a very nice stay.
