Department of Conservation campsites

We haven't done much true freedom or wild camping. Partly this is because it is not always possible to find a suitable place at which the District Council for the relevant area will allow you to stay overnight but mainly because there are many basic sites provided by DoC and usually in nice places.

A few of the DoC sites have wardens living on them but the majority are unsupervised.

You are trusted to sign in, giving details of yourself and your vehicle, before sealing the information into the plastic envelope which is provided, together with the appropriate fee, and depositing the envelope in a metal box.
The typical fee is 6 dollars for each person a night. For this there is more often than not, a toilet - long drop and sometimes rather smelly - but no other facilities. However, in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of South Island we paid 12.50 dollars each (about £6.50) and had flush toilets, washbasin, a cold shower and an outdoor covered food preparation, washing up and seating area.

We had intended to stay in a DoC site tonight but it was so remote that we couldn't find it!

One of our DoC campsites in Marlborough Sounds