Kawatiri Beach Reserve – Westport
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Kawatiri Beach Reserve – Westport
Welcome to the Kawatiri Beach Reserve
The Kawatiri Beach Reserve is the result of thousands of hours of volunteer labour from Westport residents.
We want you to enjoy this place as much as we do, so rather than leave no trace, please leave it better for the
us and the 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 toilet and rubbish bins provided. If the bins are full, please take your rubbish to another bin
elsewhere to prevent the local birdlife from spreading your rubbish far and wide
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. Please ensure any bonfire sites are clear of rubbish before you leave
them.
Rubbish bins for disposal are available in Punakaiki, Westport, Hector, Karamea and Reefton.
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.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC West CoastCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Westport |
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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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Great beach access -
Clean toilets
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Plenty of room for campers
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Cute wekas
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Busy and crowded -
Limited facilities
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One long drop toilet
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Great spot, good toilet.
Mae -
For me, a nice place to stay one night.
Pablo Boris -
Peaceful, beautiful spot right on the beach.
Nadia -
We stayed here for two nights.
Alexandra Lovatt -
great sunsets, and fabulous Tasman views
steve zan
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Nice and quiet place.
You can stay here for two days. The place was very busy. One dry toilet, but clean and odorless. Good phone signal.
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Clean, popular, and wekatastic!
If you don’t like the cheeky little buggers that are Weka, I’d avoid this spot, or at least be on the lookout for weka popping out from under your seat! There is non-potable water from a tap nearby and a long drop facility as well. The NZMCA has a private camp nearby, but the public is just as good. Gorgeous sunset and a good surf break if you are so inclined!
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We stayed here for two nights.
The first night was great. Everyone parked in the designated spaces allowing for up to 30 campers to stay. The second day and night was rather interesting. We woke up to about 5 converted buses and trailers moving in with a car being towed on the back of each one. They parked length ways due to space and took up over 4 designated spots per bus, leaving not much space for other campers.
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Great spot 👌.
Don't be dumb and drive onto the beach unless you've got a 4x4 vehicle. We just witnessed a motorhome van being towed off the beach they were lucky that help was available.
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Pretty basic gravel parking next to beach.
Long drop toilet that can get pretty smelly, but it's well cleaned every morning. Lots of room for big and small campers, you can easily find room so no need to rush to get there early (at least from our experience). Sandflies but not too many. Lots of curious Wekas always roaming around, very cute
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Great spot.
Close to the beach. One long drop toilet, cleaned regularly. Lots of Weka and some hungry mosquitos
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Spot ok.
Just one long drop toilet and its smell really bad. Nice beach and walks around. You can see Wekas, so cute.
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Great spot very Close to the beach.
No sandflies! Just one toilet, but cleaned every day (thanks!). A Lot of lovely wekas around. No Limit of Cars and a nice Camping feeling. Just the lokals are driving in there like crazy! don't let your kids run around on the gravel Road...
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A very popular spot.
We got the last of 30 spots at around 8pm. Well marked but fairly close to neighbours. Driftwood beach 5 minutes walk. Quite a bit of local traffic to beach with a few noisy ones. Would definitely stay again if in the area.
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Good spot.
I agree to some of previous mentioned but would like to provide personal opinion on some matters:
“WEKA” looks like a brown chicken or kiwi, google it.
They are very friendly and harmless I would think, but just like seagulls this cheeky bastard like to beg for food. They got closer to our van but just that. They are always around waiting if some food drops or something is close enough for them to take it.
Toilet: just ONE! And the smell can be disgusting if people forget to close the toilet, it is a long drop so close it after it. Easyass.
The beach is sand based but plenty of wood around and some people make bondfire.
There are 30 spots to stay overnight, there’s a map at the beginning so everything is very clear for you to find the right spot.
For me it looked like a dirty beach, but after some hours I just saw it as nature being not that pretty hehehe!
Anyways, hope this helps.
Pd:
Wekas weren’t loud in the morning or anything. Good nice sleep.
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Beautiful spot - sheltered from the wind by the tall shrubs.
Can enjoy a beach walk or sunrise or sunset easily. Would be nicer if it was a flush toilet but the toilet was very clean. Shower a short drive away at the aquatic center.
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Great spot, good toilet.
Someone has dumped roosters there and they start crowing at 4am!!! They need to be removed!
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Great spot, spent 2 nights here.
Marked bays for each camper, close to the beach with great sunsets. Only 1 toilet so there can be a queue, but it was clean. Wekas hopping in and out of vans so hold on tight to your food
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good der Camping site with a longdrop.
Toilette was clean and not too smelly.
only 30 sites and is quite popular, gets full very quickly.
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Right next to the beach.
Toilet on site was clean but smelly if people didn’t close the lid - not very useful on a humid afternoon/evening.
Cockerel on site to wake everyone up.
The beach had bluebottle jellyfish so couldn’t swim.
Otherwise a nice spot, felt safe although it got very busy after 6pm.
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One of my favourite free sites, chill vibes, really close to the beach, lovely wekas and most importantly not too many sandflies!
The toilet is clean and sometimes smelly but really depends on the guests closing the lid.
Pretty basic but waking up with coffee on the beach and a quick dip is priceless
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A nice, free camping area.
Toilet was clean but a bit smelly. Comes with a free alarm clockrell! Felt very safe here.
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Just what I like in a Freedom camping spot.
Very clean longdrop, outdoor picnic table under shelter, the only noise are the crashing waves, parking surrounded by native plants.
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Nice and quiet place.
You can stay here for two days. The place was very busy. One dry toilet, but clean and odorless. Good phone signal.
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Clean, popular, and wekatastic!
If you don’t like the cheeky little buggers that are Weka, I’d avoid this spot, or at least be on the lookout for weka popping out from under your seat! There is non-potable water from a tap nearby and a long drop facility as well. The NZMCA has a private camp nearby, but the public is just as good. Gorgeous sunset and a good surf break if you are so inclined!
-
We stayed here for two nights.
The first night was great. Everyone parked in the designated spaces allowing for up to 30 campers to stay. The second day and night was rather interesting. We woke up to about 5 converted buses and trailers moving in with a car being towed on the back of each one. They parked length ways due to space and took up over 4 designated spots per bus, leaving not much space for other campers.
-
Great spot 👌.
Don't be dumb and drive onto the beach unless you've got a 4x4 vehicle. We just witnessed a motorhome van being towed off the beach they were lucky that help was available.
-
Pretty basic gravel parking next to beach.
Long drop toilet that can get pretty smelly, but it's well cleaned every morning. Lots of room for big and small campers, you can easily find room so no need to rush to get there early (at least from our experience). Sandflies but not too many. Lots of curious Wekas always roaming around, very cute
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Great spot.
Close to the beach. One long drop toilet, cleaned regularly. Lots of Weka and some hungry mosquitos
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Spot ok.
Just one long drop toilet and its smell really bad. Nice beach and walks around. You can see Wekas, so cute.
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Great spot very Close to the beach.
No sandflies! Just one toilet, but cleaned every day (thanks!). A Lot of lovely wekas around. No Limit of Cars and a nice Camping feeling. Just the lokals are driving in there like crazy! don't let your kids run around on the gravel Road...
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A very popular spot.
We got the last of 30 spots at around 8pm. Well marked but fairly close to neighbours. Driftwood beach 5 minutes walk. Quite a bit of local traffic to beach with a few noisy ones. Would definitely stay again if in the area.
-
Good spot.
I agree to some of previous mentioned but would like to provide personal opinion on some matters:
“WEKA” looks like a brown chicken or kiwi, google it.
They are very friendly and harmless I would think, but just like seagulls this cheeky bastard like to beg for food. They got closer to our van but just that. They are always around waiting if some food drops or something is close enough for them to take it.
Toilet: just ONE! And the smell can be disgusting if people forget to close the toilet, it is a long drop so close it after it. Easyass.
The beach is sand based but plenty of wood around and some people make bondfire.
There are 30 spots to stay overnight, there’s a map at the beginning so everything is very clear for you to find the right spot.
For me it looked like a dirty beach, but after some hours I just saw it as nature being not that pretty hehehe!
Anyways, hope this helps.
Pd:
Wekas weren’t loud in the morning or anything. Good nice sleep.
-
Beautiful spot - sheltered from the wind by the tall shrubs.
Can enjoy a beach walk or sunrise or sunset easily. Would be nicer if it was a flush toilet but the toilet was very clean. Shower a short drive away at the aquatic center.
-
Great spot, good toilet.
Someone has dumped roosters there and they start crowing at 4am!!! They need to be removed!
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This is a perfect example of how freedom campers are not the problem.
Locals of the area have zero respect for the beach and surrounding area. Look in any bush and you'll find dozens of empty bottles, washing machines. Deodorant cans that have been lit. Piles of household waste. This isn't isolated to this freedom camping spot. This is the whole of this coastline going all the way up into deniston. A shame that such unevolved people are let to free roam.
One star for good toilets.
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Nice place other than the 2 fires that must have been intentionally lit.
Wasn’t the first night this had happened either
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Great spot, spent 2 nights here.
Marked bays for each camper, close to the beach with great sunsets. Only 1 toilet so there can be a queue, but it was clean. Wekas hopping in and out of vans so hold on tight to your food
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good der Camping site with a longdrop.
Toilette was clean and not too smelly.
only 30 sites and is quite popular, gets full very quickly.
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Right next to the beach.
Toilet on site was clean but smelly if people didn’t close the lid - not very useful on a humid afternoon/evening.
Cockerel on site to wake everyone up.
The beach had bluebottle jellyfish so couldn’t swim.
Otherwise a nice spot, felt safe although it got very busy after 6pm.
-
One of my favourite free sites, chill vibes, really close to the beach, lovely wekas and most importantly not too many sandflies!
The toilet is clean and sometimes smelly but really depends on the guests closing the lid.
Pretty basic but waking up with coffee on the beach and a quick dip is priceless
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A nice, free camping area.
Toilet was clean but a bit smelly. Comes with a free alarm clockrell! Felt very safe here.
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Just what I like in a Freedom camping spot.
Very clean longdrop, outdoor picnic table under shelter, the only noise are the crashing waves, parking surrounded by native plants.