Hanmer Field Base and Picnic Area
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Hanmer Field Base and Picnic Area
Freedom camping available by the workshop. No camping in the picnic area by the office. The local Community Board lock the gate to this picnic area each night.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC CanterburyCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Hanmer Springs |
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Categories |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Coordinates |
Freedom Camping
Google Maps
Nearby
Reviews
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Clean facilities -
Quiet and peaceful
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Close to town
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Good location for walks and biking
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Toilets occasionally out of order -
Limited parking spaces
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Can get muddy when wet
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Free camp site, easy to drive past and miss.
Kathy Hart -
Great spot.
Michelle D -
Was easy to find.
Zdenda Barvinek -
Quiet.
Tim Statler -
Good spot.
Tom
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Good little spot, 10 minute walk from town and has clean facilities.
Can get quite muddy in the wet so bring your gumboots! Weekdays there may be workers close by at the DoC base at about 7:30 but they aren’t rowdy :)
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Would off been nice to be told the toilets are out of order.
Not a lot of parks but nice and peaceful
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Good spot!
Very good and clean facilities, not far from the city of Hanmer Springs.
When it’s raining and you’re having a thin car roof, make sure you’re not standing under thick branches, or droplets will keep you awake during the night.
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Beautiful tranquil place to park up.
Close to.bush walks and birdsong all day. Toilets are flushable and clean. Idyllic! Only issue we had was a security guard knocking on our door at 9pm to say we weren't allowed to dry towels and togs off the van window! Very odd! Had.no valid I.D. and couldn't explain what the rule was we were breaching. He said next time.... there would be a $300 fine.
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We stayed here for two nights mid-week as we loved Hamner Springs so much that we extended our stay!
It is quite a small car park but on both days we arrived here at 5pm (we parked in town during day 2 and then returned to the car park in the evening) and there were still plenty of spaces (although we did see one or two bigger caravans turn around at about 8/9pm as it had got full and the spaces left weren’t big enough for them). There are nearby toilets which were clean, although one of the three toilets didn’t have soap, there wasn’t anything to dry your hands and on day 2 we noticed the flush in the disabled loos had broken leaving only 2 toilets. Despite being by a main road, we didn’t experience any noise disturbance during the night and we felt safe all the time. This was our favourite free camping site so far on our trip of NZ.
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Very busy the night we've been there.
Nothing special but did the job if u just need a place to sleep.
Next to the forest and a small river. Toilets a bit dirty and non drinking water tap.
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An ok spot with town still walkable.
Sort of behind a workshop area, which made it a bit tricky to find. It is not in the forest park. Keep going past the forest park entrance and then turn left.
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26Apr24.
2 adults in motorhome.
Very busy. We were fortunate to get in with our 7.2m van.
In spite of being busy it was very quiet. Good loos too.
A reasonable walk to town for the purposes of the hot pools and/or after pool imbibing and/or eating.
Not aware of the other freedom site as mentioned in a previous review.
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Fantastic place.
Quiet and very dog friendly. Lots of bush and forest walks as well as all levels of mountain biking. There is even an area set up to work on your mountain bike skills.
Locals are very friendly.
Will definitely be back
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It’s a great spot very close to town nice and flat with toilets available.
Incredibly there seems to be Wi-Fi but I don’t know how to get the password
I stayed one night and it was completely completely full with about 20 vehicles of different types If you’ve got a camper, it’s perfect
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Great little spot just out of town, nice and scenic and still found a park at 7pm.
This may be the last one everyone tries like we did, personally think it’s the best of the lot in Hamner.
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Really nice campground, peaceful area near the forest so not too windy here, cute little birds around.
Flushing toilets that were clean and didn’t smell. We arrived late (20.30) and didn’t find a place for us on the other freedom campground so came here and we were really lucky to be here instead! Ranger came around 9pm to check if everything’s alright
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Good spot.
Very close to the city center. Great locations for hikes and bikes. Unfortunately the toilets are closed and everyone goes in the woods...
There are be public toilets in town where you have to drive or cycld
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Nice and quite campground, facilities with flushing toilets were fine.
Not too many spots so do not show up to late. Beware of sand flies. Nice walking tracks nearby and it was really dark during the night, big plus.
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Nice spot, not loads of spaces but was room when we arrived which was late evening, toilet block onsite fairly clean.
Was easy to find thanks to other photos.
Nice walks if you wanted to in the morning also.
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Peu d'emplacements, dont certains ne sont pas droits Proche de la forêt Toilettes disponibles et propres, proches du free camp
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Arrived dark and rainy day.
The other 2 free campsites were already filled. There was one tent camping in the area. I fell asleep well for maybe about an hour or so but woke up to big steps walking on the roof. Im sure they're not of possums. It was like the feet of a deer or something similar. It went on for almost 2 hours. Worst comes to worst, I was ready to crawl to the driver's seat and sped off to the town centre. The following day, i asked the locals about it as there was news about wild cat spotted in South Island. The footprints on the roof and on the windscreen resembles to it
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Free and toilets available but not a very scenic view on the parking lot.
Nice forest with short walks.
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Good little spot, 10 minute walk from town and has clean facilities.
Can get quite muddy in the wet so bring your gumboots! Weekdays there may be workers close by at the DoC base at about 7:30 but they aren’t rowdy :)
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Would off been nice to be told the toilets are out of order.
Not a lot of parks but nice and peaceful
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Good spot!
Very good and clean facilities, not far from the city of Hanmer Springs.
When it’s raining and you’re having a thin car roof, make sure you’re not standing under thick branches, or droplets will keep you awake during the night.
-
Beautiful tranquil place to park up.
Close to.bush walks and birdsong all day. Toilets are flushable and clean. Idyllic! Only issue we had was a security guard knocking on our door at 9pm to say we weren't allowed to dry towels and togs off the van window! Very odd! Had.no valid I.D. and couldn't explain what the rule was we were breaching. He said next time.... there would be a $300 fine.
-
We stayed here for two nights mid-week as we loved Hamner Springs so much that we extended our stay!
It is quite a small car park but on both days we arrived here at 5pm (we parked in town during day 2 and then returned to the car park in the evening) and there were still plenty of spaces (although we did see one or two bigger caravans turn around at about 8/9pm as it had got full and the spaces left weren’t big enough for them). There are nearby toilets which were clean, although one of the three toilets didn’t have soap, there wasn’t anything to dry your hands and on day 2 we noticed the flush in the disabled loos had broken leaving only 2 toilets. Despite being by a main road, we didn’t experience any noise disturbance during the night and we felt safe all the time. This was our favourite free camping site so far on our trip of NZ.
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Very busy the night we've been there.
Nothing special but did the job if u just need a place to sleep.
Next to the forest and a small river. Toilets a bit dirty and non drinking water tap.
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An ok spot with town still walkable.
Sort of behind a workshop area, which made it a bit tricky to find. It is not in the forest park. Keep going past the forest park entrance and then turn left.
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26Apr24.
2 adults in motorhome.
Very busy. We were fortunate to get in with our 7.2m van.
In spite of being busy it was very quiet. Good loos too.
A reasonable walk to town for the purposes of the hot pools and/or after pool imbibing and/or eating.
Not aware of the other freedom site as mentioned in a previous review.
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Fantastic place.
Quiet and very dog friendly. Lots of bush and forest walks as well as all levels of mountain biking. There is even an area set up to work on your mountain bike skills.
Locals are very friendly.
Will definitely be back
-
It’s a great spot very close to town nice and flat with toilets available.
Incredibly there seems to be Wi-Fi but I don’t know how to get the password
I stayed one night and it was completely completely full with about 20 vehicles of different types If you’ve got a camper, it’s perfect
-
Great little spot just out of town, nice and scenic and still found a park at 7pm.
This may be the last one everyone tries like we did, personally think it’s the best of the lot in Hamner.
-
Really nice campground, peaceful area near the forest so not too windy here, cute little birds around.
Flushing toilets that were clean and didn’t smell. We arrived late (20.30) and didn’t find a place for us on the other freedom campground so came here and we were really lucky to be here instead! Ranger came around 9pm to check if everything’s alright
-
Good spot.
Very close to the city center. Great locations for hikes and bikes. Unfortunately the toilets are closed and everyone goes in the woods...
There are be public toilets in town where you have to drive or cycld
-
Nice and quite campground, facilities with flushing toilets were fine.
Not too many spots so do not show up to late. Beware of sand flies. Nice walking tracks nearby and it was really dark during the night, big plus.
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Peu d'emplacements, dont certains ne sont pas droits Proche de la forêt Toilettes disponibles et propres, proches du free camp
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Nice spot, not loads of spaces but was room when we arrived which was late evening, toilet block onsite fairly clean.
Was easy to find thanks to other photos.
Nice walks if you wanted to in the morning also.
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It’s a basic spot with some toilets nearby.
Great quiet spot
The area isn’t marked that clearly but photos helped to find the spot.
Great place to start a number of nice walks and still just a short drive from Hanmer Springs.
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An easy 5 min drive out of town.
A small area which appeared busy. We stayed on a Friday night, arrived around 7pm and managed to secure the last spot. The toilets were very clean. It’s not the prettiest place to stay, but ticked the box for us as we were only staying one night.
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Nice and quiet spot with clean toilets.
Probably room for about 10-15 vans. This location is the start of a number of nice walks and good mountain biking trails. (lots of sandflies)
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