9 Rankers Reviews
2 Face-to-Face
10 Punakaiki
Our community consider ourselves fortunate to be kaitiaki / guardians of this pristine forest, river and ocean
environment. We want you to enjoy our place as much as we do, so rather than leave no trace, please leave it
better for the locals and visitors that will follow in your footsteps.
Throughout the beautiful Buller / Kawatiri District freedom camping areas like this one are provided to assist in
the preservation of our stunning coast and inland forest areas. Please use these sites and their facilities to
protect the environment for those who live here, our visitors, and future generations to come.
You can do your part to help keep this place beautiful by:
Keeping your stay to a maximum of 2 nights
Using the toilets provided
Not washing directly in the river. If you need water for washing please collect it from the river, and
dispose of in your vehicle waste system
Only staying overnight in the designated area, as shown on the map
Respecting those you share the site with. Please keep noise to a minimum, and your gear well
contained
Keeping access ways clear for other users
Calling 111 in the event of a fire. Open fires are prohibited at this site.
Rubbish bins for disposal are available in Punakaiki, Westport, Hector, Karamea and Reefton. If the
bins are full, please take your rubbish elsewhere as the local birdlife love to spread bags of rubbish
around.
Dump stations are available on The Esplanade in Westport, The Strand in Reefton and at the Cobden
Bridge in Greymouth.
For more information about freedom camping in the Buller District please head to
http://bullerdc.govt.nz/freedom-camping-in-buller. Enjoy your stay and thank you for respecting our
environment.
Feature | Value | Info |
---|---|---|
Location |
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Punakaiki |
|
Categories |
Andrew
Ranking: 10/10
Great spot by the river & beach.
Coffee cart with a great local who gave amazing advice.
Mark
Ranking: 9/10
Freedom camping spot.
Next to the Sunday Market.
Excellent toilets, not too busy.
Renee
Ranking: 8/10
Nice spot by the fox river. New toilets. Flat site. Gets full quickly though.
Each camping location is approved by a regional council in NZ. So if it shows on the map, you’re allowed to stay.
The Rankers Camping NZ app, is also in association with…
Kate
Ranking: 7/10
Good for the nights stop, simple gravel car park, has had a new toilet area put in.
Ceri
Ranking: 5/10
Very very crowded Freedom camp so get there really early as many people had to give up trying to find a spot. It’s a car park and we camped along the fence. 2 clean long drop toilets and convenient for black water rafting from Charleston (which was amazing). The Sunday market next to the campsite was fun, full of local artisans.
Tom Guthknecht
Ranking: 6/10
Basic, no facilities but good starting point to get to inland track.
Julian Kemp
Ranking: 5/10
Basic gravel "car park" - No facilities.
Short walk to a lovely, deserted beach
The biggest problem was the large number of sandflies - our first encounter....
The old Fox River Bridge has been restored and pedestrian access is possible. I believe the old road tunnel is at the far end, but the sandflies prevented me from venturing that far!
Mycall
Ranking: 7/10
No facilities but fine for a stopover and very handy for the excellent Fox River walk. Bring a torch for the cave at the end, well worth it!
Oliver Kalmbach
Ranking: 8/10
Very beautiful, we stayed there alone.