Locals’ bridge blockade curbs freedom site

FRUSTRATED West Coast residents fed up with tourists crowding their small camping ground have taken matters into their own hands by blocking the bridge to the site and turning away dozens of vehicles a night.

Peter Salter, who has lived in Kakapotahi, 45kilometres south-west of Hokitika, for about 40 years, said residents were angry with the lack of policing of the site and since Monday night have taken on the job themselves. ‘‘Enough is enough,’’ he said.

Standing in front of the Squatters Creek bridge that leads to the site, wearing a hivis vest and carrying a stop sign, Salter was one of a dozen mostly older self-appointed guardians of the campsite.

Salter said for a long time residents of Kakapotahi had been hidden away from the rest of the world but during the past few weeks ‘‘the rest of the world is catching up with us’’.

Stats NZ said visitor numbers to New Zealand reached an all time high in December, with 529,300. There were also a total of 3.86 million visitor arrivals between January and December 2018.

More than 110,000 of those visitors were freedom campers, mainly from Australia and Europe, who tended to stay longer, spend more money and get to less touristy areas of New Zealand than other overseas visitors. But the volume and ‘‘pitch up and park anywhere for the night’’ approach has led to tensions with residents.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said Kiwis and overseas visitors both had a ‘‘collective duty to care for our country’’.

New Zealand was a long way from being at risk of ‘‘overtourism’’ and needing to limit visitor numbers, Davis said. ‘‘While most campers are respectful, some communities needed assistance to help people camp responsibly, and that’s why the government set aside $8.5 million to fund infrastructure, education and enforcement projects across New Zealand this summer.’’

The council-run ground at Kakapotahi was a relatively unknown off-road, area with few visitors until earlier this year, when the Westland District Council set up a freedom camping site there, with toilets and rubbish facilities, using money funded for it through the Government Tourism Infrastructure Fund.

Since then the site, which is now being advertised by the council through smartphone apps, has as many as 50 campers arriving each night, despite only 15 vehicles being allowed at any one time.

Salter said he’d had enough of overcrowding at the campsite, as well as the fact many of the tourists were then

‘It’s about taking control of our area.’ PETER SALTER