Alex
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Springs Junction ▷
Maruia Hot Springs
3.0/5
Very much trying to get on the modern trendy "wellness" band wagon.
If you don't buy into kombucha, saunas and feeling connected to the earth mother you might find yourself rolling your eyes alot.
The campsite isn't terrible, its fully gravel with some dividing trees, nice toilets, right on the statehighway but road noise isn't terrible. However we couldn't find any bins, and the sections were not flat. The showers were also on the other side of the plot. Can't imagine what it'd be like on the rock in a tent.
The pools were nice, four ~3m dia pools of roughly the same temperature containing lots of floating black "healing algae." They've got quite a nice view and are quite pretty.
The Japanese baths don't exist anymore and are being converted into showers.
Dinner and breakfast were both pretty decent, dinner quite small.
We paid $310 for one night camping, access to the pools, dinner, breakfast, and access to yoga and sauna classes.
Overall an interesting experience, but things like no cell coverage and $15 fee for WiFi usage, not being able to buy admission to the campsite and pool entry separately and the fact that we were told they were closing at 11am on our second day made the whole experience feel a bit of a "fake it till you make it" scam.
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Wellington ▷
Owhiro Bay Overnight Campervan Parking
5.0/5
Had a great time but was super packed.
Would recommend arriving well before 4pm to get a spot late January. Both nights that we were there ~4 campers stayed in the no camping spot in addition to the 16 in designated area.
Lucky there was no wind so it was lovely.
Two toilets open 24/7 and a drinking water supply. Also had bins.
The sunsets were awesome and the walk along the cpast was great two.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
South Brighton Holiday Park
4.5/5
Wasn't expecting much due to prior reviews but we were pleasantly surprised.
We paid $40 for the two of us on an unpowered site, which is perfectly reasonable considering the free showers (with mint water pressure), water, dump station and full kitchen (even had an oven :o )
Roughly 90 sites, was pretty full when we were there. The place is full of trees and bushes which means that it doesn't feel quite so much like you're staying at a Top 10 factory farm. The permanents do take up maybe 40% of the place but they seemed like a pretty jovial friendly bunch to us and weren't noisy in the evenings.
It's technically walking distance to the beach, but I wouldn't want to be carrying too much as its a fair way.
New Brighton as a whole was a bit rough around the edges, but the beach and pier were worth checking out
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Wellington ▷
Evans Bay Marina Carpark
4.0/5
Pretty huge area that was filled by 6pm.
Two toilets open all night, plus bins. Theres also the waste water station and somewhere to fill the drinking water tanks.
We didn't have issues with queues for the toilet.
Some people next to us were unable to get a park so stayed slightly outaide the area and were fined.
Road noise and airport noise was pretty killer during the night, so only stayed the one
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South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Blenheim ▷
Rarangi Campsite
3.5/5
Site is a mixture of gravel and grass with pine trees on the pebbly dunes of the pebbly beach.
Beach itself was pretty dumpy so no swimming or boogie boarding possible.
Cold shower was nice and toilets were clean. Not the prettiest site and no view to speak of
Very accessible
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Motueka ▷
Port Motueka Beach Reserve
4.0/5
Nice to be near a pretty interesting beach, including a weird spit, a novel saltwater bath and a 1950s iron shipwreck.
Stayed two nights
Pro's:
v near the beach
Beach is nice
Lots of pretty flowering trees and birdsong
Nice big field next door
Lots of space
Possible drinking water supply but unlabelled as such
Toilets were lovely
Cons:
A few homeless locals hanging about but were harmless
One total looser sat around playing local radio station in his car, clearly looking for a fight. Luckily no room for him in the camping spots and the normal carpark is a no park zone past 10pm so he left soon after
The Motueka Creamery added an annoying background industrial hum 24/7
Fills up very fast, was full by ~4pm
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North Island ▷ Manawatu - Wanganui ▷ Marton ▷
Vinegar Hill Reserve
3.5/5
We were here a few days before New Year's during which half the campsite was taken up with an LGBT+ Festival of sorts.
Toilets were in a pretty poor state, certainly not enough considering the size of the site.
Otherwise its a nice place to be, essentially a big field at the bottom of a gorge with some trees
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Te Kuiti ▷
Kakaho Campsite
4.5/5
Drive is certainly not to be underestimated, and certainly makes it feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.
Plenty of 4wder rough types around with huge quads on trailers which was slightly intimidating but ultimately they were harmless.
A few cool walks we didn't get to checl out fully and places to set up bonfires which was cool. Only there one night, would have liked to have stayed longer
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North Island ▷ Manawatu - Wanganui ▷ Palmerston North ▷
Scotts Ferry Camping Ground
4.5/5
Had a great time here.
Smallish place out in middle of nowhere, but had nice showers and toilet. Owners seemed lovely
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North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Orewa ▷
Laurie Southwick Parade, Gulf Harbour
4.5/5
Great spot to stay the night.
Nice toilets. Unfortunately lit up by very powerful spotlights
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
Affordable Willowhaven Holiday Park
3.5/5
Nice enough place, warm showers take coins.
Right on the lake which is quite neat, but a little exposed
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Te Aroha ▷
Te Aroha Holiday Park & Backpackers
3.0/5
New owners when we got there.
Place was really pretty rough but they'd only just bought the place when we'd got there.
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Waiotapu ▷
Lake Ōkaro Reserve
3.5/5
Pretty fantastic spot on the lake.
Can get pretty packed. Glow worms round the corner via kayak. Toilets perfectly acceptable
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North Island ▷ Coromandel ▷ Coromandel Town ▷
Port Jackson Campsite
5.0/5
Lovely spot, fair drive, about an hour on the gravel.
Everything you could want from a doc site
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North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Miranda ▷
Rays Rest Camping Reserve
4.0/5
Pretty great spot, was a portaloo up the road to the north
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North Island ▷ Bay of Plenty ▷ Waihi ▷
Dickey Flat Campsite
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