Puhi Puhi Camping
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Puhi Puhi Camping
This is a small peaceful grassy campsite with basic facilities close to Kaikoura. There is a short bushwalk to help stretch the legs. Please don't light fires or bring pets along.
To get here, turn inland up Puhi Puhi Rd off SH1 on the north side of the Hapuku River bridge, 9km north of Kaikoura. The campsite is 6km along the road.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC MarlboroughCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura |
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Categories |
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Operating Season And Hours |
All year |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Coordinates |
Basic Camping
Nearby
Reviews
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4.5/5
Chose this place as blue SC stickers are not allowed in Kaikōura (only green ones).
Beautiful setting, good gravel road in, only few tiny potholes. Toilet is stinky, did not see tap water. No mobile reception, some picnic tables around. Campsite pass accepted, otherwise $10.
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5.0/5
Beautiful and secluded.
River is awesome to hang out at and theres a swimming hole further up the road near the new bridge
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1.0/5
Bad access road after rains, branches fallen on the road.
The place itself is ok. The toilets were really dirty, excrements spread everywhere.
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4.0/5
Very basic, but reasonable for the price ($10pp) and location.
Campsite is 6km off the highway on a mostly unsealed road riddled with potholes — give yourself time to drive it! (maybe 15-20 minutes)
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4.0/5
Place is great!
Not alot of spots to set up tents but if you do manage to get a spot then your sorted. Short 10min track nearby and only a river as a water source. Would advise getting their before the evening to get a spot
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4.0/5
Great campsite, quite small so was almost full when we arrived at about 4pm during busy season.
One toilet, no taps - short walk to stream down below. No sandflies and overall a great stop for the night.
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4.0/5
Was quiet, just two other campers.
Long drop really smelt! Walk was in adjacent bush but no good views of river and/or Bridge.
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0.5/5
Hey fellow travelers.
My partner and I experienced a very scary thing last night while camping at the Puhi Puhi DOC campsite outside of Kaikoura and wanted to warn people about this. We were asleep in our tent and around midnight my boyfriend was woken up by a couple of men in a truck blaring rock music, honking, flashing their lights, and screaming curse words while speeding past the campsite. I'm a pretty deep sleeper so I didn't wake up. Then a little while later, the truck returned, put their lights on our tent and someone got out and jumped on our tent right next to our heads, which woke me up. I thought something had crashed into us. It was terrifying. Then the truck sped off. Some people may say that this was a joke, but there was no laughter. No noise. Just a blantant attack to scare the crap out of us. We had no idea what to do. We got in our car, locked the doors, tried calling 111 but there was no service and the main road was about 15 minutes away from the campsite. We made the decision to stay in the car and not leave since we had no idea who we were dealing with and it was better to stay at a site with a couple other campers then be by ourselves. We have been camping all over the South Island for over a month and never has anything like this happened before. It was traumatizing to feel that vunerable. It wasn't funny. It was completely out of order and whoever did this should honestly reevaluate their mental health. Please avoid this campsite cause who knows if they do this all the time. Stay safe and careful everybody! ❤️
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3.5/5
Good little spot in the woods, only one outhouse and water from the stream but great spot for a night
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5.0/5
Julia’s review below is for a different camp ground.
Loved this site. Gorgeous setting and very tranquil
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5.0/5
I believe some of the ratings are actually for other campsite.
This is not a doc site. It's commercial. You have to get the permission from Goose Bay Camping which is 1km south of this campsite. The site it not to big and its only unpowered sites BUT its right next to the beach. You can sea seal while you eat dinner and if you are lucky spot some dolphins. There are 3 toilets on the ground which are super clean! Yes the highway is next to it, but you can't have it all. It's 13Dollar per person and you can use the facilities of the Goose Bay campground (showers!!!) yes you have to drive there but I believe this site is far better than most Doc Scenic sites and it's the same price. So totally awesome for a stay close to Kaikoura.
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3.5/5
Nice and quiet place to stay, away from everything.
The one toilet is ok and you can get water from the river down the camp.
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4.5/5
Chose this place as blue SC stickers are not allowed in Kaikōura (only green ones).
Beautiful setting, good gravel road in, only few tiny potholes. Toilet is stinky, did not see tap water. No mobile reception, some picnic tables around. Campsite pass accepted, otherwise $10.
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5.0/5
Beautiful and secluded.
River is awesome to hang out at and theres a swimming hole further up the road near the new bridge
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1.0/5
Bad access road after rains, branches fallen on the road.
The place itself is ok. The toilets were really dirty, excrements spread everywhere.
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4.0/5
Very basic, but reasonable for the price ($10pp) and location.
Campsite is 6km off the highway on a mostly unsealed road riddled with potholes — give yourself time to drive it! (maybe 15-20 minutes)
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4.0/5
Great campsite, quite small so was almost full when we arrived at about 4pm during busy season.
One toilet, no taps - short walk to stream down below. No sandflies and overall a great stop for the night.
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4.0/5
Place is great!
Not alot of spots to set up tents but if you do manage to get a spot then your sorted. Short 10min track nearby and only a river as a water source. Would advise getting their before the evening to get a spot
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4.0/5
Was quiet, just two other campers.
Long drop really smelt! Walk was in adjacent bush but no good views of river and/or Bridge.
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0.5/5
Hey fellow travelers.
My partner and I experienced a very scary thing last night while camping at the Puhi Puhi DOC campsite outside of Kaikoura and wanted to warn people about this. We were asleep in our tent and around midnight my boyfriend was woken up by a couple of men in a truck blaring rock music, honking, flashing their lights, and screaming curse words while speeding past the campsite. I'm a pretty deep sleeper so I didn't wake up. Then a little while later, the truck returned, put their lights on our tent and someone got out and jumped on our tent right next to our heads, which woke me up. I thought something had crashed into us. It was terrifying. Then the truck sped off. Some people may say that this was a joke, but there was no laughter. No noise. Just a blantant attack to scare the crap out of us. We had no idea what to do. We got in our car, locked the doors, tried calling 111 but there was no service and the main road was about 15 minutes away from the campsite. We made the decision to stay in the car and not leave since we had no idea who we were dealing with and it was better to stay at a site with a couple other campers then be by ourselves. We have been camping all over the South Island for over a month and never has anything like this happened before. It was traumatizing to feel that vunerable. It wasn't funny. It was completely out of order and whoever did this should honestly reevaluate their mental health. Please avoid this campsite cause who knows if they do this all the time. Stay safe and careful everybody! ❤️
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3.5/5
Good little spot in the woods, only one outhouse and water from the stream but great spot for a night
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5.0/5
Julia’s review below is for a different camp ground.
Loved this site. Gorgeous setting and very tranquil
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5.0/5
I believe some of the ratings are actually for other campsite.
This is not a doc site. It's commercial. You have to get the permission from Goose Bay Camping which is 1km south of this campsite. The site it not to big and its only unpowered sites BUT its right next to the beach. You can sea seal while you eat dinner and if you are lucky spot some dolphins. There are 3 toilets on the ground which are super clean! Yes the highway is next to it, but you can't have it all. It's 13Dollar per person and you can use the facilities of the Goose Bay campground (showers!!!) yes you have to drive there but I believe this site is far better than most Doc Scenic sites and it's the same price. So totally awesome for a stay close to Kaikoura.
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3.5/5
Nice and quiet place to stay, away from everything.
The one toilet is ok and you can get water from the river down the camp.
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3.0/5
Smallish site right off a little used gravel road next to a river that you use as a water source.
Very quiet with the soft sound of the river in the background. The pit toilet was clean, but the ammonia vapors inside were noxious and unhealthy. It literally made my eyes water and nose run. It is very close to Kaikoura, and probably because of that there were about 12 cars in a place designed for 6.
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0.5/5
First, the picture on the Rankers app seems to be of a different campsite.
This site is described as “grassy” both here and on the DOC website, but really it is just a gravel car park with a couple of patches of grass around it. There isn’t much of a view, and I really don’t think it’s worth driving up the gravel track for.
We stayed in late March. All of the other campsites we’d been at had been half empty, but this one was packed - people arriving late were turning round and leaving because there was no more space.
Overall, I don’t see any reason to pay the 8 dollars per adult to stay here.
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4.0/5
There is a beautiful 15 minute loop through podcarp forest, worth walking down to the river to have a play.
Road is mostly gravel but scenic.
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4.0/5
Enjoyed my stay here, had a very peaceful afternoon with the place to myself.
Enjoyed the walk through the bush, and the river, where I had a swim. Place was very busy by nightfall, 10-15 lots of campers, and was still quiet; everyone very respectful. Would recommend. And suggest you take water for drinking as the water available is from the creek; fine for cooking and cleaning.
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4.5/5
Gorgeous campsite down a 7km gravel road, nestled in the hills where cows and sheep abound.
Right near a beautiful river, ample room and friendly campers. Downside is there is no water.
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3.5/5
Basic DOC site.
$6pp. No water supply. Toilet was fine. Very pretty river nearby with low water level at the time. Relatively condensed site had 6ish vehicles that night. Bugs were almost non-existent. Perfectly pleasant but nothing special.
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3.5/5
Great location, next to an enchanting forest and river.
Access is by gravel road but we found it ok to negotiate with a medium sized campervan. Site is only small so if you're relying on staying there, arrive early! The place was fully occupied on the night we camped so it was busy but still peaceful.
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4.5/5
Was free.
Had a river where I could wash myself and a friendly guy who worked there to jump start my car.
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4.5/5
Great little DOC camp, 8kms or so up a narrow gravel road but plenty big enough for our 14metre rig.
Site is quite small but enough room for about 10 or so vans. The walk through the bush needed a lookout over the river. Plenty of bird life.
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3.5/5
Same like Robin Hood Bay.
A little bit too small, maybe problems if there are more campers.
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3.0/5
Nice location although camp site can get very cramped due to it being quite small.
This ruined it a bit for us. No showers which was a shame seen as we still had to pay 12 dollars and the toilet wasnt very clean.
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4.0/5
Free DOC campsite 20 minutes north of Kaikoura - short bush walk next to stream, toilet there.
Has '6' sites but fits a lot more. Quiet!
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4.0/5
There had been a big dump of rain so it was a bit wet on the ground.
Nice site, clean toilets, love the sound of the river all night. Be considerate & don't arrive late and wake everyone up!
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5.0/5
Great location in the beautiful mountains near Kaikoura.
Free of charge and so great.
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