Camping grounds across Dunedin are full to the brim and are likely to stay packed for the next two weeks, ground owners say.
Dunedin Holiday Park assistant manager Chloe Stretton said about 300 people stayed in tents, units and camper vans at the Tahuna grounds on Christmas Eve.
While the city location did not offer beach views or an expanse of fields, guests were often seeking a different experience anyway, she said.
''Most of them are from overseas so from here they go to the Peninsula and the beaches and do the Cadbury factory.''
The park was not likely to quieten down until after Easter, which meant summer was not the holiday season for camping ground staff, she said.
The biggest challenge of managing the site, with 61-units, plus 200 camping sites, was making sure all of the ''new neighbours'' got along.
Yesterday, Mark and Lily Scott, of Wellington, made the most of the park's playgrounds despite ominous black clouds hanging overhead.
They had stayed at the park in a tent for a week, Mr Scott said.
''We were glamping but we lost our sun shelter in the wind yesterday.''
The family still had the creature comforts of a fridge, laptops and iPhones, he said.
Further down the road, the Gutschlag and MacDougall families, of Invercargill, had just set up camp at the Taieri Mouth Holiday Camp.
Within 10 minutes of parking their Elf camper van, the adult campers had positioned themselves in camp chairs with cans of beer, and the children had begun racing around on the sun-scorched grass.
Days at the holiday camp passed quickly with little activity, Mrs Gutschlag said.
''If the weather's good we will just go down to the beach for the whole day and fill it in, occasionally we will have a nap.''
Waikouaiti Beach Motor Camp staff member Margaret Meikle said it had been a very busy season for the motor camp.
''We usually get them the day before Christmas but this year they started coming much earlier.''
Ms Meikle said she helped run the park voluntarily, because she enjoyed its ''back to basics'' atmosphere.
''I've been coming here for 21 years and it is getting busier and busier but it is good old-fashioned camping.
''We have three showers for men and three for women.''
Regulars to the motor camp came for different reasons.
While many from Central Otago were escaping the ''rat race'', for some Dunedin residents it was an affordable holiday.
''I will be blunt, camping used to be cheap and it's not anymore.
''For Dunedin people, staying out here uses less petrol and one parent can go back to work during the day and then stay out here with the family at night.''
Leith Valley Holiday Park employed university students over the summer to keep up with demand, assistant manager Elizabeth Ferguson said.
The additional short-term staff meant some permanent staff could take Christmas breaks.
Among the park's guests was the occasional Dunedin resident who temporarily moved out of home to accommodate an influx of out-of-town family members, she said.
The park was likely to be close to capacity until midway through January.
