CAMPING THE KIWI WAY

Pack up your tent or camping vehicle and join us at the Bulls Domain for a weekend of fun, music, food and family-friendly entertainment.

No matter which direction you are coming to Camp Fest from, there are many worthwhile, interesting places to explore and enjoy. North, South, East or West, or just a short distance from the Camp Fest venue there are some great opportunities to take a break and check out something a bit different.

I really like the Waiouru Army Museum as a safe place to park up for the night.

This remote and extraordinarily beautiful part of the Pacific Coast Highway is fully open and welcoming campers for the summer season.

No end to confusion and misinformation out there about what is lawful or required to be a freedom camper. No consistency. No fair control of freedom camping.

Check your card against these, to see whether you can still freedom camp.

Each council makes its choices when it trains its enforcement officers: what criteria determines ‘freedom camping’ or ‘preparing to freedom camp’; how to recognise a ‘day-trip excursion’ vs ‘preparing to freedom camp.’ There is no way for the traveller to know in advance what criteria any particular council is using.

A roof-top tent captured at the Ōtaki Rivermouth freedom camp as the sun was going down.

The design behind Fix’n’Rail supports a circular economy by giving new life to portable toilets that may otherwise end up in landfills.

It’s amazing what is out there to be seen when you are tucked up in bed

There are parking bylaws and nationwide reserve laws that continue to affect freedom camping in Queenstown this summer, but the years-long prohibitive bans are gone from Queenstown Lakes District.

After a peaceful night’s sleep a hearty breakfast on the Wairau river is always a good way to start the day

NZ Lifestyle Camping’s network of more than 150 testing officers offer self-containment testing for all types of campers

Have you had a flat tyre on your caravan? I have now had three and would like to pass on some experience that may help you.

Sunday morning caravan Lego with our boys, Eddie and Boston.

The camp still has quite a few hardy campers on-site, it’s Labour Day weekend after all. You wait, the sun will be shining tomorrow & the fish biting!

Setting up my tent this weekend I noticed about a dozen little holes in the roof.

So far I’ve had gale force winds and 30mm rain in the last 24 hours…

If you are travelling along the Southern Scenic Coast then 10 minutes out of Riverton, turn off Highway 99 and follow the Thornbury Gropers Bush Road.

A nice relaxing weekend at one of my favourite spots, Temple Stream DOC Campsite.

Marfells Beach is a DOC camp (pay online, whew, there is mobile coverage this time) has wild silverbeet.

All Points Camping enjoyed craft shopping, toasting marshmallows in the fire pit and Devonshire teas at the Milford POP.

“Being able to get out into nature and go places that I would not physically be able to reach on my own is such a joy and privilege.”

Making a campsite accessible involves more than installing accessible toilets.

Our boys were 8 and 6 years old, the younger one, Rueben, having severe autism. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to go camping and that we would learn to deal with things as they happened and some we could prepare for beforehand.

When I stayed at the holiday park earlier this year, Keith showed me the work being done to make the facilities more accessible.

What a view to wake up to this morning. National Park, Waiouru

While we were exploring the geosites in the Waitaki Valley, we saw several signs to Danseys Pass.

After years in the fast-paced and ever-changing world of sports and technology, David had spotted a gap in the market for a tech-forward solution around pets and instant video advice.

Pippa in the hammock