Some people sleeping under bushes
QUEENSTOWN’S freedomcamping problem has turned feral.
Campers were photographed sleeping under trees beside the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park’s fence about two weeks ago — in a spot where a man was seen urinating just days earlier.
Local holiday park owner Erna Spijkerbosch, who supplied the photos to Mountain
Scene, said once they were told to move on, they walked up Isle St and got into a van with two other people already inside.
‘‘The vehicle wasn’t big enough for both the couples to lie down and sleep in, so two of them got out and slept under the bushes.’’
It adds to a growing grimy picture in the tourist mecca, coming a week after the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s parks manager Clare Tomkins said her staff find human faeces almost daily.
Mrs Spijkerbosch says the council needs to do more to police the issue.
‘‘I think we’ve got good freedomcamping laws — they’re just not being policed, it’s as simple as that.’’
But the council’s regulatory manager Lee Webster says rough sleepers are not his problem.
In a statement, he said a freedomcamping bylaw is aimed specifically at people in vehicles.
‘‘If people are just sleeping in the open, the bylaw doesn’t apply.’’
However, he adds: ‘‘If we can associate a vehicle with them, i.e. they are camping out right beside their vehicle, we can issue a fine.’’
It was not just the fact that campers were sleeping in ‘‘no freedom camping’’ areas that annoyed Mrs Spijkerbosch.
‘‘Where are they going to poo? And, where are they going to shower?
‘‘The answer is they’re going to steal the use of the campground facilities.’’
She insisted she was seeing this sort of stuff all the time.
Mrs Spijkerbosch said she was being criticised by residents who are becoming antitourist.
‘‘Residents are blaming us, saying ‘why don’t you do something about it?’ but it’s completely out of our control.’’
Mrs Spijkerbosch owns Queenstown Holiday Park and Motels Creeksyde.
She also partowns CCR Limited, the company leasing councilowned campgrounds Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park, Arrowtown Holiday Park and three other holiday parks in Wanaka.
The council patrols about four to five hours daily looking for freedom campers — which costs about $100,000 a year. The money is recovered from fines.
This month, Local Government New Zealand said the country needs to plan for $1.38 billion to pay for basic infrastructure to cope with booming visitor arrivals. —