8 Winter 2024 8 Winter 2024 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption CKW-cover-8-24-H.webp Table of contents, Winter, issue 8 Editor 2 Where are we at with self-containment and freedom camping? 2 Who can freedom camp from now until 7 June 2025? 4 Editorial: Winter 4 Getting your camping vehicle certified 5 The road less travelled 7 Autumn gold 8 Am I freedom camping? 8 What you need for a green warrant for freedom camping 10 Planning a toilet for the freedom camping green warrant? 12 Venting a toilet cassette: why, what, when and how 14 Keeping up with the self-containment changes 16 Composting and coddiwompling ︎ 18 RECIPES: Winter meals on the road 19 Hakatere Conservation Park 21 Carbon monoxide poisoning 24 Walking the race 25 Staying safe solo 26 Fixing a soft floor on a UK Caravan 28 Watts & Amps 29 Kiwi camping coven 31 A weekend at Mt Somers 31 Winter tips from our previous issues 32 Diesel heating in caravans and motorhomes 33 HOBBIES: Home brew spirits 35 Thermettes 35 Flaxmere Garden 36 TIPS 36 NIWA Winter climate outlook 2024 37 Camping at Wanaka 37 What is KiwiCamp? 38 Staying safe 38 Mountains have their own fingerprints 39 DOC update 40 Stop and Stay… 40 …in Winter 41 Five days from Alex to Cromwell 41 Comfort Zone, Whakatane 42 Camping events 43 Festivals 44 GAME: DOC campsites 2 Freedom camping & self-containment 2 Where are we at with self-containment and freedom camping? 2 Who can freedom camp from now until 7 June 2025? 4 Getting your camping vehicle certified 8 Am I freedom camping? 8 What you need for a green warrant for freedom camping 10 Planning a toilet for the freedom camping green warrant? 12 Venting a toilet cassette: why, what, when and how 14 Keeping up with the self-containment changes 16 Composting and coddiwompling ︎ Up Up 8 Winter 2024 , p 3

11 autumn 2025 11 autumn 2025 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption Early at Waihora ©2025 Linda Butler We came early Linda Butler The weather was so nice that we came out early. All that is missing is you.©2025 Linda Butler Up Up 11 autumn 2025 , p 36

11 autumn 2025 11 autumn 2025 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption The cafe © Cafe77 Piako Google maps SS-cafe77-sign.webp ©2025 Maggie O’Rourke SS-cafe77 sites.webp ©2025 Maggie O’Rourke STOP and STAY Cafe 77, Manawaru Maggie O’Rourke Another great place to go to is the Community View Motorhome Caravan Park and Cafe 77 at the heart of Manawaru. It’s a lovely rural spot 15 mins from Te Aroha and 20 mins from Matamata. They have a lot of visits from cyclists doing the Hauraki Rail Trail and tourists. It was lovely seeing our All Points Camping sign on their park over property, in the cafe window and the flyers inside. They make good coffee and yo yo biscuits the old fashioned way —super yummy. Booking is essential to park in the self-contained camping area. They can fit up to 20 vehicles (for a group) but normally there are 10 spots to park-up on the grass. Open all year around. For $10 a night per unit, you have access to the toilet block, power points to recharge your bikes and wifi, as mobile reception is bad here — ask for the wifi password at the cafe. Bookings can be made at reception next to the toilet block or online. A post box is provided to pay after hours. Also on site are bike racks, a bike tool kit and an air compressor. Cafe/reception is open from 8am–3pm with the kitchen closing at 1.30pm.There’s a large event area with a climbing wall and plenty of seating onsite. Lovely spot to either stay, visit the historic old dairy company, historic churches, or have a beverage or something to eat. ckw.nz/camp-cafe77 Up Up 11 autumn 2025 , p 30

3 Autumn 2023 3 Autumn 2023 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption Vans can be SMALL but MIGHTY resources Vans can be SMALL but MIGHTY resources. Orange Sky are providing shower and laundry services to many in flood-affected areas right now. Up Up 3 Autumn 2023 , p 7

5 Spring 2023 5 Spring 2023 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption Watching the sunrise in Bluff Cruising on the open road. 
No where to be — everywhere to see. Heading for Te Anau. Mirror Lakes Homer Tunnel. Spot the Kea! Spot the Kea! (Homer Tunnel) Milford Sound! Somehow I scored a free kayak tour— under waterfalls, next to dolphins — just magical. Milford Sound! Probably the best day of my life so far. Milford Sound! Probably the best day of my life so far. Milford Sound! Probably the best day of my life so far. Queenstown Lakes Queenstown Lakes Queenstown Lakes Clay cliffs, Omarama Felt like the Grand Canyon Arthur's Pass Thunder Creek Falls Thunder Creek Falls on a rainy day. (Mt Aspiring National Park) Tunnel Beach, Dunedin Tunnel Beach, Dunedin Moeraki Boulders Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes National Park Port Underwood. A cool detour to Picton, very scenic. Freedom camping near Featherston Freedom camping near Featherston Freedom camping near Featherston Castlepoint, Wairarapa My solo adventure began on my 20th birthday Around my own back yard Maia Steiner I’ve always dreamed of travelling around my own back yard in a van and I finally did! I saved up and brought myself Wally (my van) in May 2022. I worked 6-day weeks to save up some travel money and left for my solo adventure on my 20th birthday! I got home a few days before Christmas and sold my van not long after, for the same price I brought it for. All in all it was an awesome trip I will never forget! Get out there and travel our awesome country! Photos ©2023 Maia Steiner Up Up 5 Spring 2023 , p 30

8 Winter 2024 8 Winter 2024 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption The top of Dansey’s Pass Tony Kissell The top of Dansey’s Pass (935 metres) looking out toward Oamaru 50 kms in the distance. ©2024 Tony Kissel Up Up 8 Winter 2024 , p 13

8 Winter 2024 8 Winter 2024 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption easy, effective and safe Diesel heating in caravans and motorhomes – 
it’s easy, effective and safe Collyn Rivers Diesel heating for caravans Diesel heating for caravans and motorhomes is easy, effective and safe because it hugely reduces the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, Collyn Rivers reports. Diesel heating for caravans and motorhomes is also relatively affordable. Furthermore, it is easy to self-install. Fuel is readily available, safe and readily stored. LP gas versions are also made. This is the Webasto Dual-Top water heater unit. The Eberspächer (Dometic) unit is similar. Pic: Webasto. Carbon monoxide poisoning is your main risk (of heating) in a confined space. Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless. It forms when a carbon-based substance (coal, LP gas etc) burns without enough air. The (only minor) indications are headache, nausea, fatigue, and then unconsciousness. If you sleep, you may never wake up again. Carbon monoxide is rightly called the ‘silent killer’. It also causes brain damage at minor concentrations. Your second risk is oxygen deprivation. We need about a half a cubic metre of air an hour. We convert about 4% of that air into carbon dioxide. If you are in a confined space the exhaled carbon dioxide level rises. As a result, the remaining oxygen level falls. It is normally 21%, but symptoms (such as fatigue) set in below 15%. Brain damage consequently occurs shortly after. Oxygen deprivation is serious (or lethal) in poorly ventilated areas. It occurs whether heated or not. See Gas risk in caravans. Diesel heating for caravans and motorhomes — safety Use diesel or LP gas heating in caravans and motorhomes to avoid such issues. Both draw air from outside the RV into a tiny furnace that is sealed from the living area. Diesel oil or LP gas is injected and ignited in this furnace. Air to be heated is blown across it and ducted to wherever needed. The ‘burnt’ air expels to the atmosphere. Burning gas is thus totally sealed from the air heated within the vehicle. The units were first made in the 1930s by Germany’s Eberspächer and later by Webasto. Both are still respected worldwide. The units are similar in many ways. Some parts (such as silencers, calorifiers etc.) are interchangeable. The Snugger, a similar but cheaper unit, is sold by Diesel Heating Australia. The Snugger unit. Pic: Diesel Heating Australia. The company’s Genesis product too is worth considering. So also is the Alde Compact 3010 LP gas unit. This combines space heating and water heating. It also runs from 230 volts ac. The Genesis II provides space and water heating in one unit. Pic: Diesel Heating Australia. Truma introduced similar (LP gas) units a few years ago. The Truma LP gas space heaterPic: Truma The two main types are air heating, and air and water heating. Some are made in various sizes. Use the smallest to heat annexes, camper trailers, small caravans and motorhomes. Use the next size up to heat large RVs. Air heating The basic (soup-can size) unit is best floor mounted. A separate tiny electrically-driven pump, hose and filter connects to a separate tank. Alternatively (with motorhomes) to the vehicle’s tank. You can locate the electric control panel wherever convenient. Water heating The combined space/water heaters use a furnace unit to heat glycol. This flows through a calorifier heat exchange unit, that also stores heated water for taps and showers. In addition. small fan-powered radiators blow hot air wherever required. The calorifier is also available as a tiny unit that heats water as it is drawn. The heaters in action We used a Webasto air heater unit in our OKA in outback Australia. Temperatures there drops quickly after sun-down, often below freezing. Even on its lowest setting, it heated the OKA to 25º C. Expect to use a fifth of a litre of diesel per hour. We had a Webasto Dual-Top air and water heating unit in our Tvan camper trailer. Used too, around Australia, it worked well and reliably. Its on-line calorifier supplied hot water for cooking and showering. The water is hot within a few minutes. You must, legally, in Australia, add a tempering valve. This valve automatically mixes cold and hot water. It prevents it from exceeding 50º C. Without it, however, the water reaches a scalding 80º C. If not silenced, the exhaust is noisy outside the vehicle. It bothers nearby campers. You can reduce this by adding the (now standard) exhaust silencer. You can reduce it yet further by adding an inlet silencer. The units are still not totally silent, but unlikely to disturb others. Here is the Webasto Dual-Top water/space heater in my Tvan. Pic: rvbooks.com.au Further information on diesel heating for RVs is in Caravan & Motorhome Electrics and The Camper Trailer Book. In addition, The Caravan & Motorhome Book. You can use these units to heat rooms in solar-powered houses. My books on solar are Solar That Really Works (for cabins and RVs), also Solar Success (for homes and property systems). rvbooks.com.au ©2024 RV Books This article: onlineckw.nz/d-heater Collyn Rivers has published 6 books relating to caravans and motorhomes. Information about them & more than 150 searchable articles are included on his website: rvbooks.com.au Up Up 8 Winter 2024 , p 32

1 Spring 2022 1 Spring 2022 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption A gathering on an Ohope orchard A group of us met up in Ohope, Bay of Plenty. in August 2022. ©2022 Angela Bryan Poptop campers meet up ©2022 Adam Beaumont How to organise a group weekend Mary Reid We all look forward to the catch ups, the fun, laughter and good times; doing as much or as little as we choose at the venues. I give a venue address and date, at the right price, along with a list of possible activities that members can explore, including just relaxing and lazing and refreshing ourselves. We regularly have around 20–25 people at our camps in a range of motorhomes, caravans, buses and yes tents too, along with up to 6 dogs. We have a wide range of people of all ages and senses of humour. Happy hour (and beyond) can often mean a good belly laugh or three as people get the mood going and the stories flowing. BY: Mary Reid, All Points Camping Club in Waikato/ Bay of Plenty Keep on making memories, having fun, meeting new people and exploring: #campingTheKiwiWay Photo: An All Points Camping gathering on an Ohope orchard (Bay of Plenty). August 2022 Photo: Poptop get together ©2022 Adam Beaumont Up Up 1 Spring 2022 , p 26

1 Spring 2022 1 Spring 2022 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption I hear people on Facebook saying ‘I am with xxx and I have no speed problems.’ This is not a big help... Getting the internet on the road Miriam Richardson There are two ways to get on the internet while on the road: with your mobile phone or with mobile broadband. ONE: mobile phone Modern mobile phones use the internet routinely: have you checked your email? viewed a YouTube video? read Facebook? used Campermate? used Google? All of these use the internet through your phone connection. The plan on your phone determines how much internet you can use in a month. TWO: mobile broadband There is a network of towers through NZ that allows Netspeed and Wireless Nation to give travellers access to mobile broadband. Modem To connect to mobile broadband you need a modem. Generally travellers get an adapter to connect the modem to their 12v/24v power. Choosing: mobile phone or mobile broadband? If you are content to do all your internet connection through your phone, stick with a mobile plan. If you want to connect a tablet, iPad or a computer as well as your phone, you have a choice. To choose a plan you need an idea of • how much data you need, • where you might travel, • what devices you want to connect to the internet, and • whether you want to use your phone as the modem. How much data do you need? What do you normally use? Look back on the last few months of internet use, if you can. Will you continue to use the internet the same? Might you use use less when travelling? Might you watch TV through the internet and use a lot more? Hot spot the phone or use a modem? To use your phone to connect all your devices to the internet, you need a plan that allows you to do it: it is called ‘hot spotting’. When you ‘hot spot’, your phone becomes a wireless network that lets other phones, computers etc get online via the phone. The phone needs to sit where the signal is good while you are using it as a modem. Coverage: where can I get a signal? Your phone/internet provider has an online map that shows their coverage — where you can expect to get a signal. Mobile phones have stronger and more complete cover near towns and cities. Different providers share the towers. The coverage maps show the strength of the signal. There are dead zones with no coverage at all (no towers). Speed The biggest complaint people make is about the speed of the internet when they are travelling. There are several reasons why the internet could be slow. You are comparing it to a fibre connection at home. Mobile broadband is slower than fibre. It just is. You are a long way from a tower, so the signal is weaker, or there is something between you and the tower. Try moving. The nearest tower has lesser capacity. Some towers have greater capacity than others. Areas with few people may well have lesser capacity — and a bevy of motorhomers enjoying the back of beyond at the same time might overload it. You are parked up with a bunch of other travellers who are all using the same tower at the same time to get online. (Netspeed, Wireless Nation and local providers are all using the same towers.) You, or your neighbours are doing something that uses a lot of data: downloading video, visual phone calls, online TV or listening to radio, all use quite a bit of data. The locals are busy and using the same tower at the same time. The modem or its connection needs refreshing: do a speed test ( www.speedtest.net ), and then talk to your provider. _____________ I hear people on Facebook saying ‘I am with xxx and I have no speed problems.’ This is not a big help: it all depends where they have been travelling, how far they have been from the mobile tower, when they tend to use the internet, and how many others are using it at the same time. There might be particular times when the towers are being overworked: before work; after school; evening entertainment time (video and TV use a lot of data). Try after 11pm, at 1am, at 6am: if the speed is good, then it is a competition problem. ____________ Aerials Having an aerial on the roof might improve your internet connection. BY: Miriam Richardson Photo: ©2022 Miriam Richardson Next issue: How to choose an internet provider Up Up 1 Spring 2022 , p 23

7 Autumn 2024 Autumn 2024 ISSUE 7 BUY PDF CONTENTS Click on image for full view and caption The cat comes too ©2024 Warren B Smith The cat comes too Warren B Smith The cat comes too. This spot is only 6km from home. And the cat always come along for the adventures… ©2024 Warren B Smith GO TO Celebrating Summer only 6km from home... Up Up 7 Autumn 2024 , p 16 ISSN 2815-827X (Online) | ISSN:2815-8261 (Print) ISSUE 4 editor@campingthekiwiway.org

11 autumn 2025 11 autumn 2025 BUY AUTHOR INDEX AUTHORS Click on image for full view and caption ©2025 M Richardson waiting to get a freedom camping fine But I am not freedom camping… Megan Hieatt I am a keen night photographer, and when I go away to dark sky areas, my motorhome is my transport as well as my accommodation. I often stay at permitted camping locations (often NZMCA eg Tekapo or DOC) rather than campgrounds but usually go to better sites to take photos for better foregrounds, compositions, etc, and these are often not right next to the parking area, eg Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti. I’m just waiting to get a freedom camping fine as some official will decide that I’m camping when I’m actually parked using my RV as my means of transport, particularly in busy places like Queenstown, Tekapo or Wanaka. I’ve considered making a big sign to put on my windscreen/side door saying “Taking nightscape photographs, NOT camping”! Queenstown was always apparently bad for ticketing empty motorhomes and campers parked on the street when they were in fact empty and the occupants were staying in a hostel or with family/friends and they had to jump through all sorts of hoops to prove they were not camping, difficult when staying with family and there are no bookings or payments to use as evidence! I guess all you can do is stay at places where you pay for the night and present any receipts as evidence that you were not in fact, camping, and take photos of your vehicle at the campsite when you get there as future evidence of your overnight stay! Preparing to freedom camp This offence of “preparing to camp” is going to open a big can of worms. What’s the difference between cooking dinner or an evening walk at a nice spot, and “preparing to camp”? If I’m staying somewhere with a reserved site and its not so nice I will often go elsewhere and return to the campsite later in the evening. Those of us who use a RV as our transport when away from home will be unfairly discriminated against here. I’m sure if I was in the car doing my night photography it would not be an issue. Up Up 11 autumn 2025 , p 2

Autumn 2023 ISSUE 3 BUY PDF CONTENTS Click on image for full view and caption Events Up Up 3 Autumn 2023 , p 34