Freedom Camping Tips
The Tiaki Promise - a commitment for visitors and locals to care for New Zealand for current and future generations. It encourages responsible travel by asking people to protect nature, keep New Zealand clean, be prepared for their activities, drive carefully, and show respect for the country's culture and people.
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New Zealand is extremely well set up for freedom camping and there are hundreds of stunning sites across the country where you can park up for the night. However you can’t just stop wherever you like – every council has it’s own rules and regulations on where you can stay. Here is a link to the Department of Conservation (DoC) website where you can find a list of sites:
https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/stay-at-a-campsite/
There are also a couple of great apps you can download on your phone that are really helpful to find camp sites, dump stations and lots of other helpful camping information:
When you are freedom camping your main considerations are going to be filling and emptying your water, and emptying your toilet. Depending on how often you use the toilet, you will probably need to empty the cassette every 2 or 3 days. Water usage can vary greatly depending on how many people are in the campervan and if you are using the shower (which uses a lot of water). You will need to keep an eye on the water gauge but most likely you will need to refill with fresh water and empty the grey water every couple of days. For a comfortable journey we’d recommend freedom camping for a maximum of 2 nights in a row and then book into a campground with a dump station and fresh water facilities.