Rays Rest Camping Reserve
Kaiaua
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Rays Rest Camping Reserve
Rays Rest Reserve in Miranda is located beachside, next to the Taramaire Wildlife Refuge Reserve. The Hauraki District Council allows free-camping for self contained motorhomes and campervans, for up to two nights.
There's no toilet, so you'll need a vehicle with a self-containment certificate.
It's a very spacious area and allocation is on a first come, first served basis.
The wetland environment is a stopover for thousands of migratory birds - drive in, park up, sit back and enjoy the surrounds.
Freedom camping is prohibited on the southern end and northern part of Rays Rest Reserve, including the beach. The reserve is off East Coast Road, approximately 4 km south of the Kaiaua township and adjacent to the Firth of Thames.
Standard free-camping rules apply: take your rubbish with you, dispose of greywater only in designated dumpstations, and please obey all signage around this environmental gem. Love it!
Details
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Organisation |
Hauraki District CouncilCouncil organisation |
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Location |
North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Miranda |
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Coordinates |
Freedom Camping
Nearby
Reviews
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5.0/5
Stayed here during our last night visiting New Zealand and we loved it!
Plenty of space on a Saturday night. Beautiful view of the bay and mountains.
Quiet and enjoyable sounds of nature with one nearby road that seldom had cars passing.
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3.5/5
The wind kept me up all night, noisy and shaking my van.
It’s free though so…
Woke up to see spoonbills and other shorebirds wading out at the beach, that was very cool.
Plenty of room here even after dark on a weekend.
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5.0/5
What a lovely spot.
Stayed here on our last night, only just over an hours drive to Mangere to drop the motor home off. No facilities but beautiful sunset and sunrise.
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5.0/5
Our first ever night stop in a campervan and it was perfect.
Great view to wake up to in the morning.
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4.5/5
Views amazing, we watched the sunrise.
Lots of space but busy. No amenities close by.
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5.0/5
Large place without any facilities.
Many Campers there, seems save. Directly at the waterfront. Beautiful place to watch the sunrise an the birds out of your bed. We can recommend this place :)!
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5.0/5
Lovely spot.
Plenty of space. Seems very safe. Locals are friendly folk. Parking at waters edge
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4.0/5
What a lovely spot in great nature.
Plenty of space along the water and a lot of friendly people around makes it a safe spot. No facilities whatsoever and some nasty cars horning while passing by during the night. Lovely for a stopover, though.
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4.5/5
Nice view, right beside the beach on one side, and hilly grasslands/farms on the other, no toilet, and pretty close to the road.
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5.0/5
Stayed here during our last night visiting New Zealand and we loved it!
Plenty of space on a Saturday night. Beautiful view of the bay and mountains.
Quiet and enjoyable sounds of nature with one nearby road that seldom had cars passing.
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3.5/5
The wind kept me up all night, noisy and shaking my van.
It’s free though so…
Woke up to see spoonbills and other shorebirds wading out at the beach, that was very cool.
Plenty of room here even after dark on a weekend.
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5.0/5
What a lovely spot.
Stayed here on our last night, only just over an hours drive to Mangere to drop the motor home off. No facilities but beautiful sunset and sunrise.
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5.0/5
Our first ever night stop in a campervan and it was perfect.
Great view to wake up to in the morning.
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4.5/5
Views amazing, we watched the sunrise.
Lots of space but busy. No amenities close by.
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5.0/5
Large place without any facilities.
Many Campers there, seems save. Directly at the waterfront. Beautiful place to watch the sunrise an the birds out of your bed. We can recommend this place :)!
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5.0/5
Lovely spot.
Plenty of space. Seems very safe. Locals are friendly folk. Parking at waters edge
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4.0/5
What a lovely spot in great nature.
Plenty of space along the water and a lot of friendly people around makes it a safe spot. No facilities whatsoever and some nasty cars horning while passing by during the night. Lovely for a stopover, though.
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4.5/5
Nice view, right beside the beach on one side, and hilly grasslands/farms on the other, no toilet, and pretty close to the road.
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5.0/5
Fabulous!
Quiet, restful spot overlooking water and birdlife. Spent two nights here and will come again.
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5.0/5
Been wanting to come here for about a year.
It didn’t disappoint. Lucky enough to stay on a flat, calm day with no wind. It was glorious. Lots of room. Just perfect.
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5.0/5
It is a nice place to overnight in a journey between Coromandel and Auckland.
It is plenty of space and the view is so nice with the sound of waves during the night
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4.0/5
Amazing place.
Was hard to find in the dark but spanned the entire right side, so we went in half way after it appeared on the map. Lovely to wake to a beautiful scenery.Need to be fully self contained.
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4.0/5
We drove in from Auckland, and getting in from the main highway in the dark was quite sketchy - lots of sharp curves.
Would be easier to navigate in the day light.
There were 20-30 units when we arrived, so had to drive down a bit to grab a spot at the end, but it meant no one behind us. Views were GORGEOUS in the morning!
No amenities, no rubbish from what we could see. Great for a one night stop before moving on!
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4.5/5
Our first dry camp and it was lovely.
Shells on the beach and wading birds everywhere. Watch out for the waters edge at low tide as it is very boggy.
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3.5/5
Great spot to stop in o/night if travelling late.
no gates. arrived at 10pm with kids - still spots available (maybe 20 or more RV's already there but still places facing beautiful view). woke to lovely sunrise & bitd life. No facilities but didn't need as moved on after breaky.
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4.5/5
LOVE this spot!!!
Large flat area. Quiet. No amenities so make sure you are self-contained. Cloudy night but the stars would be amazing as little light pollution. Looking forward to a walk on the seashell covered beach in the morning for pictures of the sunrise and spotting shorebirds; maybe visit the Pukorokora Miranda Shorebird Centre www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz/about-us
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4.0/5
Great campsite close to Auckland.
It is a big area so even when we arrived at 7pm there was still a few spots by the edge of the beach with an uninterrupted view. Only downside is the lack of toilet but worth it for the view!
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5.0/5
Made the last night in our van really special.
Park right alongside the water. Great for bird watching. No facilities and no camping but that didn’t stop 2 tent fulls of teenagers!! Sunset pretty special here! Just down the road from the Miranda Bird place.
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4.0/5
Great place.
We stopped for our first night after picking up our rental campervan in Auckland. The views are beautiful, and there is a lot of space. There were probably 10 vans there with us, but it was easy to find a space and didn’t feel crowded at all.
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4.5/5
Perfect spot for self-contained campers and well located for access to the shore bird reserve.
Best time to see the bird life is within 2 hours of high tide.
No facilities whatsoever, but that is part of the charm. Just be careful of a few soft sand areas.
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4.0/5
Great spot but beware of soft surface.
We saw people get stuck. Only downside was barking dogs. Not sure where they were but they woke me up several times during the night.
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4.5/5
Great spot to stop on the way to Aucland.
amazing view, just near the water, peaceful location. no toilet. lots of space for everyone.
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3.5/5
Although this site was quite busy (weekend in mid-November), the view was breathtaking though.
Great for a first night in a self-contained vehicle. No facilities on site.
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3.5/5
Great spot were we stopped on our way to Auckland.
The view is amazing mostly in the morning. Just missing a toilet.
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5.0/5
Nice spot.
Easy to find and you can park right near the seaside. There were lots of campers but we still got a spot.
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5.0/5
Excellent place right on the beach.
Crashing waves, beautiful scenery. Lots of spaces and we parked 50m from anyone and there was about 15 campers there. No facilities so needs to be self contained.
