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Caravan Parks are the best places to stay if you are travelling with a motor home or caravan, or if camping are also the best places to set up tent. Caravan Parks normally have an area to park your motor home, an area just for caravans, and a designed area for camping. Some caravan parks also offer different types of cabins, some with two rooms, bathroom, and kitchen, some very luxurious.

Caravan parks offer a great range of facilities and infra structure, with separate community bathrooms for men and woman, a community kitchen, electric barbeques, games room, TV room, laundry room with washing machines and dryers, basically everything that you need for you convenience. The facilities are normally well maintained and so clean it’s hard to believe it is for community use. The best thing of all is the price, very cheap by accommodation standards, on average costing around NZ$12 per person for a camping powered site. Caravan Parks are very popular with overseas tourist as well as the local people of New Zealand who are looking for an economical accommodation option.

If you are looking for a more permanent stay, some caravan parks also offer smalls houses (normally built as extensions to a caravan or cabin), which can be purchased for between around Nz$ 30 000 to $ 40 000.Tthe owner will then be required to pay rent for the space of something around Nz$80 per week. During high season it is always a good idea to call the Caravan Park in advance to make a booking, as they can often be completely full.

 Using public places to camp, or to park your caravan or motor home is very safe in New Zealand. However you will need to see if there are any signs prohibiting this activity, and make sure you are not actually in someone’s private property without their permission. In the cities you are not allowed to camp at any public parks, but for those who are travelling by caravan or motor home, you can park your mobile home overnight, and use the facilities provided by the public parks such as taps, electric barbeques, bathrooms. In more isolated places such as mountains and beaches, you will also need to see if there are any restrictions, especially National parks, where you should contact the local ranger will be able to provide information about this. They may sometimes ask for a contribution for the maintenance of the park.

If in doubt about where you can and cant stay, it is advised that you contact the local city council or go to the local tourist information centre for guidance. It is important when staying overnight in any public place to take care of the environment, so for example if you need to get some wood for a fire make sure to only pick up dead pieces from the ground. Caution: sometimes a fire ban maybe in place, always verify before lighting fires. Always put your rubbish in rubbish bins, and don’t leave anything behind except your memories, and don’t take anything except photos.

Note from the Author: During the winter months (and also sometimes non winter months) the temperature during the night can drop to below zero. So it is important to always be prepared and have the right gear such as thermal clothing and sleeping bags when travelling in the cold.

Overall have fun and make the most of it as New Zealand has some of the most beautiful and spectacular scenery in the world for this way of accommodation and travelling.

Roger decided to camp during winter in New Zealand and almost turn into a statue at the tents door. It took 10 penguins and  2 seals to take him to the nearest hot pool.