Profile
Liz Wade
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
Waiteti Trout Stream Holiday Park
Small site with friendly people.
Excellent for trout fishing. Lovely spots by the stream. Free canoes. Convenient for Rotorua main sights. Clean facilities. Good size pitches. Generous WiFi
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Godley Head Campsite
The route to this campsite is quite a challenging drive in a camper van ( but possible).
You wouldn’t want to park here if you intended using it as a base for day trips but if, like us, you were quite happy to use it as a base for walking locally, it is ideal. Beautiful views and plenty of space. We didn’t use the facilities ( which are open to the general public) but they looked clean. The weather was good for our stay but it is quite exposed if the weather is stormy. The email system for booking worked well.
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Hutt Valley ▷
Belmont Regional Park
Fair amount of space if you drive on up the track.
Fine for overnight especially if self contained. Convenient for the ferry. You need the right money for the honesty box.
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Waitomo ▷
Juno Hall Backpackers and Camping
Very convenient for caves.
Relaxed, easy going, not too busy. Road is busy in day time. Good clean facilities. Some of the sites for camper vans are a bit uneven. Steph recommended spellbound Glowworm caves tour and it was an excellent recommendation.
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South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura ▷
Alpine Pacific Holiday Park
Bit of a glorified car park for powered camper van sites at $56 for two a night.
The small swimming pool and hot tubs are out in the open. Convenient for Kaikoura but it didn’t offer us much more than a place to park for a night.
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Hutt Valley ▷
Wellington TOP 10 Holiday Park
Typical top 10 - large, pretty decent sized pitches.
Good if quite old fashioned facilities. Convenient for bus into Wellington. Catch the 81 if you can because the 83 goes all round the houses and avoid the rush hour coming back because the queues are bad. But very easy to get into the city and see Te papa museum and the botanical gardens. Staff were very helpful with maps and information and change for the laundry.
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Golden Bay ▷
Pohara Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park
As beach campsites go this is very good but, inevitably it is busy but it wasn’t noisy after 10.30 the night we were there and really people seemed to be very law abiding.
It’s an excellent beach and the facilities were good and clean. It’s a big site and the pitches area good size.
That's great to hear Liz. Enjoy the rest of your travels ...
Brent
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North Island ▷ Ruapehu ▷ Ohakune ▷
Mangawhero Campsite
Quiet, decent sized and flat pitches.
Good road up to the campsite. You pay $13 pp in an envelope and in the box - someone came to check in the morning but hardly anyone there so very peaceful and pleasant.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Okarito ▷
Okarito Camping Ground
Good place to stop for a couple of nights.
Very good facilities and free WiFi they worked perfectly! Charging point and water point. Good value for money. There’s a nice walk up to a lookout to the mountains and you can also continue on the walk to the lagoon. If the tide is right you can walk back along the beach - but do check the tide.
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South Island ▷ Central Otago ▷ Cromwell ▷
Lowburn Harbour
Good size area for stopover.
Didn’t use the facilities and WiFi not working. Busy but fine for an overnight stop.
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Motueka ▷
Sunrise Whare
It’s a real privilege to stay at Don’s site and receive the wonderful fruit and vegetables that grow there.
It’s a beautiful spot over looking the river. There are only a few vans there and on one night we were the sole van on the site. You can swim in the river and there’s a point for plugging in devices and excellent WiFi. Nearby motueka airport has an accessible and useful dump point. The site is well placed for exploring the Abel Tasman country park and Golden Bay as well as Nelson.
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North Island ▷ Taupo Region ▷ Turangi ▷
Turangi Holiday Park
Very good size pitches.
Excellent for Tongariro crossing ( shuttle is $50 pp)
Facilities are quite old fashioned, in need of modernisation but clean. Didn’t use WiFi but Vodaphone coverage is good. Was not busy when we were there.
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South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Havelock ▷
Smiths Farm Holiday Park
This is a very pleasant family run campsite which is very convenient for Picton and the ferry.
Home cooked muffins greet you and a bag of animal feed for the sheep and goats. There’s a walk up to a waterfall through glow worms which we didn’t do since the weather was poor but it’s another bonus. The facilités are clean although there are just three showers and three toilets for the site but that didn’t seem to cause any problems.
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Waitomo ▷
Spellbound Ltd
This was an excellent trip and very good value for money.
Although up to 12 people can go on each trip, we were the only two on this one at 9.00am. Norm is very knowledgeable about the area and about the caves. He ensures that you really experience the impact that Glowworms have on your sight. Nothing is rushed and the tranquil trip down the underground river under a canopy of Glowworms is quite magical. We also enjoyed the cup of tea/coffee and biscuits between trips to the caves. The second cave is also fascinating for very different reasons. It’s interesting to see the bones of different creatures who have made their way down to the caves, particularly the moa bird whose remains have been dated as over 38000 years old! This feels like a very personal and privileged tour and we are delighted to have experienced it.
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North Island ▷ Coromandel ▷ Whitianga ▷
Flaxmill Accommodation and Campground
Very large pitches, open not hedged in.
WiFi very good. Clean facilities. Ideal for cathedral cove, hot beach, cooks beach etc.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Greymouth ▷
Jacksons Retreat Campervan Holiday Park
Good size pitches, clean facilities, helpful staff/owners.
Just a pity the WiFi isn’t more effective especially since it costs extra. We’ve stayed in some really understated sites which have only cost a few dollars but where the WiFi has been included and excellent so just not sure why this isn’t always the case? It does seem that if the site operates WiFi through the iks company its’s pretty poor. I guess it’s to do with signal strength maybe? Just be careful if you do the walk up to the waterfall - we got lost on the way back down - no doubt our mistake but just be careful! With regards to facilités though, this is an excellent site.
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Twizel ▷
Lake Ruataniwha Reserve
Keep going on down the road past the campsite and other entrances to the reserve.
There are several spots just before a turning on your right. Easy to find somewhere on the waters edge with a view of the lake. High spots for those with the vehicles that can get up to them. Use your own toilet and don’t leave mounds of toilet paper in the trees! And don’t park right on top of others when there’s plenty of space!
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South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Wanaka Tasman Holiday Parks
A beautifully maintained and well managed site with excellent WiFi included in the cost.
You can also hire bikes. It’s situated a little out of the centre but there’s a free shuttle into town and you can either walk (20mins) or get a taxi back. Some of the pitches are quite small so make sure you give accurate dimensions for your van and ask to change (as we did) if the pitch is too small. It’s a popular site but it’s very attractive and the wash places are excellent. Just one thought some of the non English speaking visitors could benefit from a copy of the rules in their own languages so there is no misunderstanding about things like curfews. Also maybe some monitoring of the night time curfew so that guests don’t have to do it.
Hi Liz,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. Such a detailed review which we love- thank you. Yes, our sites are all different sizes so please ensure you let us know the length of your van in metres when you book :)
Tasman Holiday Parks Wanaka
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Lake Tekapo ▷
Lakes Edge Holiday Park
By NZ standards this is camping on the industrial scale.
A large impersonal site which is functional but a bit of a building site and a bit of a blot on the landscape. It seems that those in control have decided to herd all the tourists into one spot - presumably to prevent them from spoiling everywhere else. There may be a landscaping plan in progress which, in 10 years time or so could render this a still large but not unattractive site, situated as it is on the very edge of the lake but it’s not clear what is planned if anything. Still it serves the purpose for an overnight stop and the facilities were clean. Don’t buy too much WiFi because the bandwidth is limited and you can’t do much.
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South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Milford Sound - Fiordland National Park ▷
Milford Sound Lodge – Rainforest Campervan Park
Very clean, excellent facilities, expensive and surprised that for the money they don’t include free WiFi.
Convenient for Milford sound.We
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Twizel ▷
Lake Pukaki Overnight Campervan Parking
As others have suggested, it’s worth travelling along the road as far as the power station to see what’s available but we didn’t find it very busy at all.
On a large area just down from the power station there were just 4 vans. It’s a shame that some people don’t respect the rules of these sites and insist in leaving mounds of toilet paper amongst the trees. But, if you stay out of the trees, it’s a lovely place where you can swim in the lake and appreciate the beautiful location.
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South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Manapouri ▷
Manapouri Motorhome and Caravan Park
Exceptionally well laid out and well run campsite.
Outstanding facilities. Large pitches. Private bathrooms - just like home. Couldn’t fault it. Found us gas when ours ran out. Well paced for visiting doubtful sound and walking in Fiordland and visiting Te Anau. Excellent WiFi included in daily charge. We stayed at 24 different campsites during our 6 weeks trip to New Zealand and this was probably the best campsite out of them all.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Amber Kiwi Holiday Park and Motels
Sites a bit small but all very clean and attractive.
Excellent facilities including good WiFi
Convenient bus stop outside campsite to city centre.
Helpful and honest ( watch found and handed in)
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Banks Peninsula ▷
Duvauchelle Holiday Park
Large pitches with wonderful view Clean wash places Quiet after the weekend Would recommend