Paying campers are having to wait in line to use shower and kitchen facilities, which have allegedly been taken over by freedom campers.
A Queenstown holiday park owner, who wished to stay anonymous, said the situation was becoming "vexatious" for their staff and customers, and alleged freedom campers were also urinating on the grass outside their campground’s fence.
The owner said over the past month they had spotted about a dozen freedom campers every night parked up near their business, and had erected trespass warning signs — "we have, in fact, carried that out".
"We can’t live cleanly in our town — freedom camping is out in the sticks, it is not in the urban strip," the owner said.
According to a nearby resident, freedom campers clogged up the footpath with picnic tables and chairs, brushed their teeth on the side of the road, and were taking up their visitors’ parks.
Issues have re-emerged this summer in Queenstown after the High Court deemed Queenstown Lakes District Council’s 2021 Freedom Camping Bylaw invalid in September last year, following a judicial review sought by the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
The council is working on a new freedom camping bylaw with community consultation is expected to take place mid-year.
