More places to 'go bush'
31 Oct 2007
There’ll be plenty of happy campers with the news that 100 new camping sites are to be created around New Zealand.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) has announced the new sites after a review found the rising land prices and the sale of camping grounds to developers, had caused a drop in the number of places to pitch a tent.
Camping is a New Zealand institution with approximately a third of Kiwis going bush every year. The site of a pitched tent on a secluded beach, or guitars and barbeques around a camp fire, are as much part of the scenery in the summertime as the pohutukawa in its brilliant red blossoms.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter said four new sites would open during summer 2007/08, and a fifth by mid-2008.
New campsites
One new site is at Canaan Downs near Takaka which adjoins the Abel Tasman National Park. It will accommodate around 50 people in an area that is popular with mountainbikers, trampers and cavers. It is also the main access-way to the 176-metre marble shaft known as Harwood's Hole.
Other sites due to open include Moawhitu on D’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds, Moturua island in the Bay of Islands, Ox Bow Kiripapango on the banks of the Ngaruroro River in Kaweka Forest Park, Lake Arapuni near Tokoroa and Port Jackson at the far tip of the Coromandel Peninsula.
DOC has a list of 94 locations where low impact campgrounds could potentially be developed or existing camping opportunities expanded. A number of campgrounds around the country have also been upgraded by DOC.
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