Freedom camping

Camping is a popular activity for both New Zealand residents and for some of the two million foreign tourists arriving every year.

Camp sites of varying standards, generally in conjunction with other forms of accommodation, are offered by holiday park operators throughout New Zealand. The Department of Conservation, which administers one third of the land area of New Zealand, operates 250 vehicle accessible campsites on public land. The facilities at these campsites varies from those with only a basic toilet to those that have the full range of camp ground amenities.

The largest organisation representing motorised campers is the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association. It was founded in 1956 and currently represents 33,000 owners of a fleet of 18,000 camper vans.

The thermette, a type of storm kettle, was a popular camping accessory before the advent of gas fired camping stoves.

Popular campsites during the summer holidays include the Mavora Lakes, Kaiteriteri Beach, Marahau and the Coromandel Peninsula. The summer holiday period, which is over Christmas and New Year, coincides with the peak of inbound tourists leading to high levels of crowding at popular locations.

Camping grounds are governed by the Camping-Grounds Regulations 1985.

Freedom camping, where camping is done in a location without facilities and is not a designated campground, is allowed in most public areas of New Zealand under certain conditions. Limitations have been put in place in recent decades because of litter and human waste problems, and attempts to encourage payment for camping by directing tourists to commercial facilities. Local residents, government authorities and tourism organisation are concerned about the impacts. The tourism industry has set up the New Zealand Responsible Camping Forum to address these concerns. The forum directs visitors to their Camping Our Way website for more information.

Although there is the realisation that the right to access the wilderness must be protected, as it is in European countries with local laws protecting the Freedom to Roam, this needs to be balanced with the realisation that freedom camping, where campers choose to camp in areas without facilities, can create problems when Freedom Campers choose to incorrectly dispose of human waste. There are also reports of the discharge of greywater from campervans while parked on suburban streets. Campers using self-contained camper vans are also disposing of human waste incorrectly by not using the dump stations supplied for this purpose.

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Wikipedia