RosieW
South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Blenheim ▷
4.0/5
Central location camping in car park.
Large car park well surrounded by buildings if its particularly windy. Public toilet a 5 min walk on streets either side of the car park. Some early morning noise with lorries etc but to be expected in area
North Island ▷ Manawatu - Wanganui ▷ Palmerston North ▷
4.5/5
Quiet spot along river bank with long drop loo.
Really quiet and nice river sounds. Plenty of space for vehicles - some locals came and went during our stay also. No phone or data service.
South Island ▷ Southland ▷ Owaka ▷
3.0/5
The public toilets were so blocked up and overflowing with toilet paper and poo I didn't feel I could hover over to use without bare skin contact with sh*t.
Visited September 2022 - admittedly in the off season but we were a little disappointed with 2 things:
Disappointing as that's the main reason to pay for access to the site. Reported to DOC (no response).
There was also a large amount of bagged up rubbish left around a campfire and I found litter in the trees beside including lithium batteries. Collected all waste I could but it was like the site was completely neglected by maintenance.
River retreat and Tawanui campsite are immediately next to each other and accessed by the same path. River retreat camp grounds were seriously water logged in many areas limiting level ground to park our van on.
Aside from this - beautiful and peaceful camp with shelter trees all around and access to river walks
South Island ▷ Southland ▷ Papatowai ▷
5.0/5
Clean campsite with toilets / cooking space.
Access to estuary and beach from the campsite very much enjoyed. There is a corner store at the entrance to the campsite - a rare sight in the Catlins area. (Wasn't open in sep.22 off season)
North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Wellington ▷
4.0/5
Great location if required ferry access to South Island early/late.
Public toilets clean. Good amount of spaces and not too overcrowded.
North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
3.0/5
Small car park for self contained.
No issues with car park - be warned the sulphur smell is quite intense in this area of Rotarua if you aren't used to it. Public toilets located 2 min walk away on green if needed. Other than loud camper parking immediately next to us in the empty car park we had a good stay