Profile
Grace Craven
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North Island ▷ Ruapehu ▷ Ohakune ▷
Raetihi Holiday Park & Cabins
Although not the most charming campsite, this is a brilliant place to stop after the Tongariro crossing.
The site has some views of the mountains, and is set back from the main road in a grassy enclosure. It was a little bit difficult to find a flat non powered site for our van but but the cooking and washing facilities are clean and well maintained. The showers are hot, powerful and best of all FREE! It was well worth the cost after being exhausted from the crossing!
Hi Grace, thanks for staying with us. We love our views of the mountains too - and are always working on the grounds trying to make things easier for our campers!!
raetihi_park
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North Island ▷ Taupo Region ▷ Turangi ▷
Waikoko Campsite
Its a very popular campsite as a stopover before the Tongariro crossing, even in low season it was fairly packed.
Nonetheless it is still a lot better than the surrounding free DOC campsites and has access down to the river (where if you're lucky you might see some native blue ducks riding the rapids).
It is essentially a car park with a communal covered area for cooking in the centre (no cooking facilities though) and a long drop toilet. There is a rainwater tank/sink for washing up and a hilarious water sign that leads you down to the river. The river water is delicious (locals okayed it and said it was good to drink).
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North Island ▷ Taupo Region ▷ Turangi ▷
Kaimanawa Road Campsite
Not the cleanest or nicest of stays at this campsite.
It is essentially a dirty car park with quite an unsightly drop loo in it. If you have the option, go to any of the other DOC campsites in the area as they are much nicer, have better views and access to the river. Even if you have struggled to find this campsite, the other two DOC's are literally 4 minutes away and worth the extra drive!
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Te Kuiti ▷
Mangaokewa Reserve
A really beautiful campsite with stunning views and hidden spots to set up camp down by the river.
The river itself was fresh (late March) but was great for a little swim, and there are two short walks you can do in the surrounding bush. Perfect location to get to Waitomo for some glow worm cave action!
The toilets were clean and had loo roll and there are even a sink for doing the washing up. One of the top free campsites in NZ!
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Woodend Beach Holiday Park
A big campsite next to the beach with good connections to Christchurch.
However, passive aggressive official notices throughout the campsite meant we felt unwelcome. The showers cost a dollar for six minutes of hot water and were RUBBISH, it was like being dribbled on by a dog and were either freezing cold or boiling hot. They were also incredibly dirty with lots of hair on the walls and we had to pay a dollar for the experience!
We only stayed near Christchurch for one night however, if we were staying longer we would not have remained at this campsite as it did not have a welcoming atmosphere.