Clive
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South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Picton / Marlborough Sounds ▷
Whatamango Bay Campsite
3.5/5
Beautiful scenic spot, bay dries to mud at low tides, toilets are good, a wide variety of sites to either nestle into or pitch up at with trees and shrubbery.
Probably suffers from being close to Picton, so can get abused, had 6 x of the rooftop-tent-4wd-crew arrive at 1am and wake up the whole site. Scenic spot in the sounds.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Reefton ▷
Marble Hill Campsite
4.0/5
Stunning topography, camping at juncture of the Alfred and Maruia rivers, with peaks and valleys in every direction.
I can sympathise with the “sandflies from hell” comment, they do seem immune to even 40% DEET spray. But lovely big site with big grassy pitches with natural terraces and smaller pitches to hide in amongst the beech. The river is a bit hard to get to (don’t think you’re camping on it) but a lovely site. Not a huge amount to do: so unlike some other DOC sites where we’ve settled in for a couple of days, we moved on. Can also support the bird life comment: at dusk the whole place changed and kicked off with large green beetles buzzing lazily around, numbers of owls going for it, booming calls and screeches and all sorts. BUSY place, don’t camp near the access way.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Oxford ▷
Wooded Gully Campsite
4.5/5
Huge, huge site with gully/creek sites and terraced grassy plain sites.
Suffers from being close to Christchurch with young kids on dirt bikes arriving to tear up the place. But the open south facing view over the plains from the elevated campsite nestled into the foothills makes up for it. Good toilet block, lots of walks to do - the small family loop track recently re-cut and gravelled so a fun easy walk for little ones through some different country in such a short walk. Great spot.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Reefton ▷
Slab Hut Creek Campsite
5.0/5
Best.
Place. Ever. The tough parts: car or camper camping is hard, because there are a few nice sites, and then some sadder out of the way gravel lots. But: if you don’t mind a carry, then the down creek plain is amazing. And if you get super lucky like us, and park up beside the fireplace and pizza oven, then you’re on a beautiful creek with lots to do. Pan for gold, watch the diehards sluicing, explore the creek as far as you like, collect all the driftwood you can and make pizza (true story, amazing). And despite being close to Reefton and super popular, everyone is nice and it’s a great spots. Toilets a boardwalk into the trees away from the camp and rubbish facilities cleared by nice DOC people. 100.
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ St Arnaud ▷
West Bay Campsite
4.0/5
Cool little DOC campsite with well defined plots that are bookable - you can choose the section you want to be in.
Toilets are nice and new with cold showers. Water is abundant. Super close to the lake (just across the road) with resident eels under the pier keeping the kids entertained. Little playground. Camp hosts are helpful. All in all a lovely DOC site. Well used so expect pegging to be an issue.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Hanmer Springs ▷
Hanmer Springs TOP 10 Holiday Park
5.0/5
Has had a big spend up!
Brand new family shower block with room for two adults and two toddlers to wash at once in twin head showers. We got a great spot nestled in under some trees and loved the place. Washing and drying facilities were awesome, lots of stuff for the kids to do, great Top10.
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Murchison ▷
Riverside Holiday Park
5.0/5
Clean, wonderful, scenic, deep deep clear pool in the Buller, owner popped in with a mosquito coil, the big kids jump pillow is *the best* I’ve seen: 100.
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Golden Bay ▷
Collingwood Holiday Park
4.5/5
Council owned site with new managers (8 weeks in!) doing a really great job.
Great mix of sites, we had a misunderstanding on what we needed (we’re SUV + awnings + swags, and got allocated a gravel powered hardstand) but managers went out of their way to make a site for us! Good kitchens, laundry, bathrooms are cute self contained little pods in a larger shed. Swimmable beach just around the corner and when the tides and sunsets combine it’s good sport watching the anglers from a camp chair. Will go back.
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North Island ▷ Coromandel ▷ Coromandel Town ▷
Papa Aroha Holiday Park
5.0/5
Astonishingly lovely place with GREAT managers.
Clean tidy gorgeous. Friendly helpful managers.
Should have taken the advice to camp under Pohutukawa, but the waterfront was too tempting.