Camping etiquette 101: leave the disco balls and flood lights at home

When Kim Griggs​ and her family pulled up to their campsite in Ōhope, the disco ball hanging from the tent opposite theirs was an ominous sign.

Then the Cher sing-along started and didn’t stop until it was shut down in the early hours of the morning.

Griggs, who works for , is among the across the country during the summer holidays.

For most of those people, camping etiquette is rather self-explanatory, but that doesn’t stop some rogue operators from trying their best to unbalance the fragile campground ecosystem.

“I cannot tell you how hideous it was listening to Cher into the morning,“ she says.

“I still can’t listen to her music.”

But there was a moment of karmic retribution when a day or so after she left she heard the offending campers’ tent was blown away in a “mini tornado”.

“I must admit I have never laughed quite so hard as when I heard their tent had blown down,” she recalls.

Rodger Lowry,​ who has close to 20 years of campground hosting under his belt, says the key to a happy camp ground is a bit of consideration.

Currently manning a campground in Auckland over the summer, Lowry says for the most part people realise they are in a shared space and act accordingly.

He says reading the rules of the campground – which can usually be found online when booking or on signs at the site – is a good start.

The rules set the expectations, he says, so it’s not often he has to step in.

“We had a pastor one night who decided he was going to bring a generator, speaker system, ghetto blaster, floodlights – everything,” he said.

“Then one morning around 5.30am he got the speaker going. He got told where to go.”

Both the Department of Conservation and Auckland Council have much the same rules when it comes to courteous camping.

A guide on the DoC website teaching people how to be “” suggests being tidy and always leaving campsites clean.

It also asks campers to “always use toilets provided” and “pay your fees”.

Colin Hancock, owner of Hamilton’s Trek ’n Travel and a keen outdoorsman, says the key to a good campground experience is patience – both for yourself and others.

”Preparation before you go, patience when you get there and take your time on the roads,” he says. “Just relax.”