Freedom camping sites in Christchurch to close

I'm on holiday and have just read all this thread. My take:- 1. Most NZ people did their 'OE' when they were younger, and/or their children did, and many of us oldies freedom camped all over NZ too. Usually on a shoestring. Why hammer young people doing the same here? 2. Banning/hammering them does not work as is proved every summer no matter what laws etc are enacted. 3. Why label this subject a 'problem'? Instead try accepting it as reality and find constructive ways of making it work. 4. i. At present it is a problem for NZ 'lose/win' ii. Make it a problem for the travellers 'win/lose' iii. Find mutually beneficial solutions 'win/win' There have been several ideas in this thread for win/win solutions. I'm all for finding more. Our local Council (Tasman) is at long last moving in this direction thanks to the initiative of 2 local businesses who hired Portaloos for the worst local sites (and paid for the cleaning). Maybe the council is embarrassed?

the problem is the sheer volume of freedom campers now, and numbers keep increasing, putting too much pressure on a lot of freedom camping sites and other public areas. sure they arent all bad, but a percentage of them are and the overall no causing problems is increasing with the increasing no's. theres a lot of problems mentioned about excessive rubbish and human waste accumulating in the open in public areas. remember theres now three million tourists a year visiting NZ and climbing, these numbers are unprecedented and have been climbing rapidly... how can a population of four million keep providing the services of these increasing no's and deal with the problems created. i live in auckland and i see the numbers of big jets coming into the country, the rest of the country doesnt get anywhere near that volume of air traffic coming in and dont see the numbers so obviously... auckland airport is looking more and more like overseas airports at much bigger cities...

I've much sympathy with what BOTH deepriver and wayno are saying. Sheer numbers do have a crucial impact. Last year we visited the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. We'd actually walked a fair section of the coast track to get there, but when we arrived, it was horrendous. And I don't use that word lightly. It was just another weekday, but there were at least four helicopters operating continuously, dozens of buses and literally thousands of people cramming every metre of walkway and vantage point. We looked about for a short while and got the hell out of there. I really don't know what the simple answer is.

don't under estimate the rising no's of tourists. saw an article on brumby island in tasmania, they're having big problem with people crapping on the island. caught out by fast rising tourist no's people rave about places like cathedral cove and other beaches in the coromandel. but i can find far less crowded beaches far nearer auckland that i dont have to face prolonged drives on over crowded roads getting to.. the best place to be around auckland on long weekends is in auckland, because anywhere nice within a couple of hundred k's of auckland is swarming with people because the locals have added to the tourist no's flooding the nice coastal places and tourist spots and any tramping huts are full... honestly i'd never met a foreign tramper when i was young till i went to abel tasman park, they hardly existed outside the main tracks, but not anymore, they are spreading further afield, which is not necessarily a bad thing , but in some cases they are in areas en masse. and in enough cases they arent paying fees...

another problem site at a kawerau river carpark that isnt a freedom camping site with the usual problems, described graphically http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/376833/camp-site-refugee-camp

Yes I was 21 once upon a time myself. And yes I freedom camped all around the SI many times. But I was almost always on my own. I carefully picked spots well out of sight, preferably 100's of metres away from any road or building, carefully disposed of any waste and I'm certain I never caused a nuisance. (Boring fellow that I am :-) ) Well times have changed. Problem here is that while some people are happy to make a profit from tens of thousands of backpackers ... no-one wants to pay for the downsides. For a start, the freedom camping van hire companies need to be putting a bit back into the game.

Ditto, PhillipW. We passed through those areas like ghosts. Used the public toilets - often at toll gate booths or buried our waste and took our rubbish with us. I even climbed fences and one time slept in someone's backyard as we arrived in Brindisi at some crazy hour of the night. They had no idea. We just needed a place to spread ourselves out and be safe. We had bugger all money to spend as I was earning Turkish wages in those days. It's a question of critical mass. Anyway our PM is going to throw some money at the problem. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78061541/councils-may-get-cash-to-tackle-freedom-camping-problem-says-pm

"A central government fund is needed to support communities around the country to respond to tourism opportunities, the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) says." http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/5/246851

wicked campers struck off DOC website listing http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78104876/wicked-campers-removed-from-doc-website

Some of those wicked campers were pretty close to the bone. Luckily the wife didnt understand many of the slogans