The local resident, who did not want to be named, told Allied Media he went to the Department of Conservation (Doc) campground with his family earlier this month for a night’s stay in a tent.
Later that evening, after wondering why a camp custodian had not come round to ask for payment, he was told by another camper he had needed to pre-book a site online.
With no mobile phone or internet connection at the lake, he could not try to book a site retrospectively.
"To find out about it out of the blue was pretty surprising.
"I’ve been going there for years, and had no idea they’d changed the system. I haven’t seen anything about it online or in the news."
Doc Whakatipu operations manager David Butt said Moke Lake was added to the department’s booking system in August, with the change "advertised on our website".
"We always encourage people planning trips to check the website before their trip for any changes.
"In practice, we know the first year of any change can have a settling-in period where people may still turn up without bookings."
Mr Butt said the system helped Doc better manage the site and plan its work there.
It also gave visitors "more certainty for their trips, particularly during the busy season".
Doc was also trialling camera technology at the campground that matches car registrations to bookings.
The maximum number of sites available at Moke Lake remained the same, at 50, he said.
The change leaves Twelve Mile Delta, which has 100 sites, as the only Doc campground in the Wakatipu that does not require bookings.
Kinloch (15 sites) and Lake Sylvan (26 sites) have needed to be booked since at least 2023, while Diamond Lake’s 10 sites — for campervans and caravans only — have required booking since 2024.
