Camping WithKids
South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Ashburton ▷
3.0/5
GOOD: Tidy site, with clean facilities.
Nice shaded sites if you want them. Good play facilities for kids, two play areas (one for little ones, one for bigger kids), badminton/volleyball net set-up in grassed area.
BAD: Quite a bit of road and rail noise from the main road, continuing through the night. Despite the good play facilities for kids, the site is not really suitable for small children because the boundary between the site and the main road (State Highway 1) is not fenced (a moments inattention could be disastrous). Also, there seems to be a lot of quad-bikes resident at this site, travelling to a from the river for fishing, also not great for little ones.
South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Darfield ▷
3.0/5
GOOD: Tidy site, with clean facilities.
Camp kitchen well equipped and spacious. Quite a bit of space on site, especially if you don't need power hook-up.
BAD: The children's play area has seen better days, a number of broken items (see-saw, swing) which have been broken for many months. Time for some much needed investment.
NOTES: Unfortunately the river adjacent to the camp is no-longer safe to swim in due to toxic algae, although not the fault of the camp, it does diminish the camps appeal for campers with children. There are much better children's play areas at the top of the camp access road, which make good alternatives to the site's.