Symen
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Lake Tekapo ▷
Lakes Edge Holiday Park
4.5/5
This campsite is at an amazing location.
From almost every spot you have a wonderful view of the lake. Also it’s very central to the Hotsprings, town and the church of the good Shepard.
This is a community style campsite, so be aware that the kitchen can be very crowded around meal time. It’s also a good opportunity to meet people.
Clean amenities, only very weird that the button for hot water is outside the shower so you need to push it when being naked. Bit akward. Very good pressure and temperature.
There are ducks, rabbits and cats on the campsite. Downside were the other camping guests who threw their food waste in front of our van to feed the animals.
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South Island ▷ Coastal Otago ▷ Oamaru ▷
Harbour Tourist Park Oamaru
3.5/5
We picked this side because of its location close to the penguin colony.
We did know that there was no wifi, still all the digital contact going through Top10 Holiday Parks we expected a bit more than this campsite could deliver. They haven’t recover from the pandemic yet.
Checking in is very easy, trying to make a reservation is a bit harder. After making one and arriving at the campsite it was very clear to us which spot was ours. There is only someone at the reception an hour in the morning and one hour in the late afternoon.
It’s a clean campsite, with clean and working faculties. The water pressure is poor, the temperature of the water nice. Washer and dryer work very well! This campsite is an upgraded parking lot. We did see that they miss the funds to spruce things up. The lady who was at the reception is friendly and could explain quite some things to us. Overall, the $ 57 NZ is too much for a powered gravel site.
Location is good, was easy to get the penguin colony and walking into town.
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Mount Cook ▷
White Horse Hill Campground
4.5/5
Amazing location and clean toilet blocks.
We would advice not too come on the weekend. We made a reservation online and arrived on Saturday around 4 pm and it’s was very difficult to find a spot. Many vehicles take up much more room than needed, what causes less space or no space for others. If we wanted to leave early in Sunday, that would have been impossible as we were totally blocked in by cars.
This place could use some better management and supervision. That way it would be easier to stay here, as asking for others to move over a bit to create space isn’t always a question that is received positively.