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Moeraki Village Holiday Park

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  Moeraki Village Holiday Park is one of our favorite parks to visit. We enjoy visiting Moeraki village. Good walks around the coast. We enjoy the wild seals that sit on the rocks only five minutes walk from the camp and a good pub even closer.  The only down side of this camp are the rabbits. They are everywhere and you need to be careful when walking around that you do not twist your ankle in a rabbit hole. They are also a big distraction for the dog!  The Park offers a selection of cabins in addition to caravan and motorhome sites. There are reasonable facilities available including a laundry. The toilet and showers are clean and tidy.  Depending on your site, there are nice views out to the bay. There is water and power to most sites, but not all.  There are walks from the camp along the bay where you can walk to Moeraki Boulders. It is a nice long beach to walk along, allow an hour to walk to the Boulders. The Millennium Walkway takes you past the seals and on top of the hill tha

Kurow Holiday Park Waitaki Valley

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Kurow is located between Omarama and Oamaru along the Waitaki Valley . The drive to Kurow from Omarama takes about 30 minutes. Kurow sits on the border of Otago and Canterbury. It offers great fishing for both trout and salmon. The road has a few hills from Omarama to Kurow but flat from Kurow to Oamaru. The scenery is pretty good from Omarama with lakes from a number of dams and power projects along the Waitaki river. The most famous person to come from Kurow is Richie McCaw. The Holiday Park is on the Omarama side of Kurow. The Holiday Park is a good size with two levels. The kitchen and toilet blocks are clean. There are a few small cabins at the camp. A mix of old and new. The are quite a few permanent caravans but nobody lives full time there. Just keen fisherman visiting for short stays and over the summer break for extended periods. Kurow has a 4 Sqaure, a couple of pubs and a café along with a big picture of Richie. You can eat out if you wish. There are a number bike tracks to

Kiwi Caravans Installing STARLINK

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Starlink is certainly a game changer for those of us who like to travel around but require good Internet access. Today, once you have a good internet connection, you can also stream TV, Sky Sports, Netflix etc so there is no need for an expensive Satellite TV system. Your TV in the caravan can be a Google TV, which can also support 12v. In your travels you may have noticed more caravans having a white dish sitting outside their van. This is the Starlink disky (it's name). There are a couple of ways Starlink can be used with a Kiwi caravan . These include simply powering up the router once at a camping ground and passing the cable out the window to the dish which is placed outside and in a location that can receive a good signal. This works fine and takes about 5 minutes to set up. This will however only work with 240v power.  If you wish to camp off-grid there would be a need to use 12v battery power. The most efficient way to deal with this is to replace the Starlink router and pu

Kakanui Southern Coast

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Kakanui is a coastal village just south of Oamaru or about 1 hour north of Dunedin. Like many coastal villages it is a popular place for many families from around the region. The Kakanui River and its estuary divide the township in two. The estuary stops short of flowing into the sea by only a few meters however it is opened up annually for the white-baiting season, to allow the whitebait to enter the river. Keep your dog out of the lagoon because of the algae.  The Kakanui Motor Camp is well established but a little tired. However there are new owners now in charge with big plans to bring the camp up to date. There are several areas divided by hedges and trees as well as some open spaces. There is good shelter from the winds coming from the beach which is very close.  The amenities are in the central area of the camp. Clean and tidy but I am guessing a little small when it comes to busy times with a full camp. Showers require a $2 coin so make sure you have a few of these available

The Catlins Staying at the Whistling Frog

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The Catlins area is a great place to get away to for a few days. We always start our Catlins trips with a couple of nights at Pounawea Motor Camp . This is about 25 minutes south of Balclutha and just 2-3 minutes from Owaka.  Pounawea is a tidy camp to stay and is surrounded by native bush which attracts many singing birds. There are a number of good walks and other beaches close where seals can be viewed.  On our most recent trip we ventured further south and stayed at the  Whistling Frog . We did wish to stay at the  Curio Bay Camping Ground  however they do not allow dogs so this was not an option for us. This rule is simply because of the seals and other wild life around. To provide a powder site the Whistling Frog was our best option. This is quite a big camp with a number of cabins and powdered sites for vans and RVs. There is a cafĂ© also that offers meals and drink. It is only a short drive to both McLean Falls and the Cathedral Caves . The caves can only be visited at low ti

Moeraki Boulders Holiday Park

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The Moeraki Boulders Holiday Park is located at Hampden, just north of the road access to the Boulders themselves. It is a great site, right beside the beach with powered sites on one side of the road and non-powered on the other.  While the camp is small there is plenty of room for kids to play and of course it is only 2-3 minutes walk from your caravan to the beach . The north end of the beach, where the camp is located has a few rocks on the beach compared to the other end of the beach close to Moeraki township. The waves are good with a few people giving surfing and fishing ago.  The camp has been around for many year s but as it is privately owned (but on Council Leased Land), it is well maintained with all facilities tidy and very presentable. A few small family cabins are also located close to the facilities. The non-powered camp offers sites looking right onto the beach. There are a few toys and a trampoline to keep the kids happy.  Hampden township is about 5-8 min walk. Th

Glenmark Holiday Park - Timaru

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Glenmark Holiday Park is located on the south side of Timaru. We enjoyed staying here as it was a smaller park, was quite, plenty of room and a couple of good walks for our dog, Noodle. We have stayed at the Top 10 camp at Timaru but preferred the space and walks offered by this camp. The Park   is around 500m off the main state highway. It has a country feel to it with farms surrounding the park.   There were a number of older Kiwi built caravans onsite that belonged to the camp. Some rented out and a few parked under some trees at the back of the park. Some were interesting as they are seldom seen anymore. Was fun researching the names of a couple of older vans which were 40 to 50 years old. The bathrooms and showers were all clean and well maintained. Was clean and tidy except the wheelie bins were full. But we do see this often at this time of the year.  There is a swimming pool available as well as a few modern cabins. A few families were enjoying the camp.  The upper end of the c