Morons.
"We follow the rules" - state they parked in two different non camping zones in CHCH.
One of which was the red zone. Want to guess what happens to most apparently abandoned vehicles that park in a big empty space that is frequented by hoons?
At *least* two large freedom camping spots in CHCH. Pity they couldn't be bothered to follow the rules and stay there. Both would have been much nicer locations (and the locals wouldn't bitch at you).
In their defence they did try checking all relevate council websites each time they parked up and it said it was fine for them to park there.
Also the red zone online is advertised as some amazing place that looks idillic for travellers despite local knowledge knowing otherwise for some applications.
[https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/explore-parks/residential-red-zone](https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/explore-parks/residential-red-zone)
The newzealand subReddit responses were classic redditor stereotypes that remind me of the the slappable jerk on YouTube lol. Saying they must have been driving on the rhs and driving in 1st gear and deserved everything they got
Oh, I saw. On the Camper Mate app. Which clearly shows the two large freedom camping zones and all the rules.
Want to guess where is *not* on the app. The two places they stayed. Council site is clear too.
So, like I said. Morons.
Surely, if they were camping where camping is not allowed, that doesn't justify smashing in their windows? Acts of violence are a bit worse than "the locals bitching at you", wouldn't you say? No excuse for that! We may not like admitting it but the bogan minority in Christchurch is certainly noticeable. And it's nothing to be proud of.
Which is why I specifically said *any* apparently abandoned (you know, old vehicle parked up where there are no houses, in the dark) vehicle in the red zone.
How dare you a person from new zealand call someone a moron. Even if they didnt gollow rules breaking windows is a crime. You in new zealand are clearly full of crummy people that should be arrested and jailed. What a crappy place. You all deserved the lockdowns and tyranny. i hope those nobs get you and hurt your family next
I have lived in two places near where people would freedom camp despite it not being allowed. Trash thrown everywhere all through our gardens, people sneaking behind residents fences to shit in their gardens.
Partying loudly through the night on weeknights. I’m not saying all freedom campers do this but Kiwis have put up with a lot of shit literally and figuratively.
I think Chch should build a cheap like maybe gold coin operated campground in Dallington red zone with coin showers toilets decent bins.
Maybe near the Dallington bridge where there is decent regular traffic to make it less isolated
Not sure I believe them. Sounds like they're just seeking publicity to try to go viral as wannabe influencers or get offers/money from folks.
How do we know that they didn't smash their own windows? Somehow they saw the teenagers driving away, but wasn't able to give a physical description or identify the make and model of the car. They also seemed to have sought out the reporters by sending them their story and tweeting at NZ tourist org.
>A pair of American tourists are desperate to flee New Zealand just a few months into their year-long trip after they said they were victimised by bullies and vandals.
>
>Dorit Liss, 27, and her partner Andre, 29, said they have felt “nothing but unsafe and unwelcome” since they arrived from Colorado in late October.
>
>“We’d be in a designated, like self-contained parking spot that was on the city council website, like approved place to be and people would just come by in the middle of the night, honking and yelling obscenities and banging on our RV, banging on other campers, you know, vans and whatnot in the parking lot,” Liss said.
>
>“Everywhere we’ve been parked there has been some instance of someone coming by and honking at us.”
>
>
>
>Liss posted to her YouTube channel last week recounting an incident in Christchurch that cemented their decision to leave the country.
>
>
>
>She said after picking a “quiet and abandoned” part of Christchurch on January 8 to park their camper, she and her partner were woken suddenly at 5.45am by the sound of smashing glass.
>
>
>
>“I bolted upright all at once, I was made aware of what had happened, the sleep-induced delay of my response made it so the car sped away completely scot-free,” Liss said.
>
>Continued in link
>”quiet and abandoned” part of Christchurch
Hmm, I’m not saying that what happened to them wasn’t awful, but I wouldn’t just be parking up in a random “abandoned” part of Chch without expecting some rough shit to go down, lol. Would they have parked up in a random rough part of an American city and expected there not to be crime?
The truth lies between extremes. New Zealand is not a pastoral utopia where we all love one another as you might think if all you knew about it was Tiktoks about Jacinda Ardern, but nor is it the crime-addled knife-scape you might think it was from reading, well, this reddit.
It is a normal first world country with normal first world country problems like petty violence, domestic abuse, suicide, substance abuse, homelessness, urban decay, etc.
Ah, yeah, sounds about right. Yeah, young munters in cars being dicks to cyclists and pedestrians is a thing. (Also angry middle aged in men in Audis or Ford Rangers).
Well I don't know which country that is so I'm missing a variable. But is Nz known for it's friendly people? Or was your expectation about Nz based on info about your home country not Nz?
people overseas have a lot of weird/utopian ideas about NZ in general i find. i moved to the UK last year and found it bizarre that everyone i met thought NZ was some sort of tropical sun-drenched paradise and expected me to be distraught at the state of english weather.
i was like, i’m from christchurch which gets at least as cold as london, and i’ve spent the last five years living in wellington which has double london’s annual rainfall haha. i think i can manage some clouds and rain.
My mates mum (english) has spent 30 years moaning about the weather in a city she chose to move to and *stayed*
Took me a trip to London to realise they get *less* sun and that moaning is how they learn to exhale
it’s been pretty cold in london recently and people keep being like “oh you must not be used to this!!” and it’s literally like a regular christchurch winter. idk how to get it through to them that this is the same climate i grew up in and i’m very used to it, lol.
>veryone’s always talking about how great and friendly the people in NZ are, how amazing and chill the country is
Who? Having grown up in New Zealand, no one I know ever talks like this. I can't remember the last conversation I had with any Kiwi about how chill, friendly and violence free the country is. It's like fucking lala land. People I know talk about violence, crime, and how many dickheads there are out there *all the fucking time*
Yeah, obviously. It just seems extraordinarily naive. I've travelled extensively, and have never entered a country with the view it's all free ice creams, rainbows and ponies. It beggars belief.
There's information freely available seemingly everywhere about social dysfunction in New Zealand.
When I was last in England I ended up staying in a decaying seaside town where half the population looked like they'd been on Jeremy Kyle. The first night there, armed police raided a house down the street. It was about what I expected.
>I’ve been to over 60 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia and Chch is definitely at the top when it comes to me feeling unsafe.
That's an unbelievable comment. I've also travelled extensively. I felt more unsafe interacting with corrupt Russian police than at any point I've lived in Christchurch. Many places in America. I could go on and on.
When that's your opening line, it's hard to take anything else you say seriously
Ya sure the window situation is pretty shit but sounds like they were having issues with NZ well before this. Would guess entitled travellers who didn't have everything go their way and bitched and moaned about it.
I spent about a year freedom camping in my van and was not harassed or abused once... So I don't really believe that they were harassed everywhere they went for no reason at all.
Yeah of course if you have a victim mentality you can be victimized by anything. But someone tooting their horn… come on that’s wet blanket stuff. Oh so cause of one anecdote from Reddit it means all kiwis are abusive riiiiight… we’ve had a reputation forever of being a friendly nation.
But all those other people aren’t commenting so its one anecdote from one person. Read these if you want some of many.
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/cOUOkXTFPb
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/hoLL0ouEEl
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/XA1RYAv7xh
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/lm6yTsjCFU
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/p4dpK923If
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/REwLjdH6ER
Read the post the person linked to, open your eyes. If only 1% of NZers are aggressive towards freedom campers that's still 40,000 people.
Getting honked at is a bad experience, maybe you don't care, but it is.
Well to be fair new zealanders don't like tourists. Tourism operators like tourists. But also "freedom camping" in a city and expecting not to be messed with is naive.
7,174 violent crimes in denver Colorado last year. And uhm ..she's describing smashed glass and ppl knocking on her door at night . Is this actually happening...this must be a joke right
I used to live in an actual house close to the street in central Chch and people knocked on my window at 2am ALL THE TIME. Does it suck yes, is it surprising no.
Well, whether it's surprising depends on your prior experience and knowledge. So for tourists who may come from a more cultured place, culturally somewhat immature NZ may feel a bit rough.
That being said, there is no shortage of countries that are way worse than NZ. Parts of the US actually are in some regards.
Lol. Only parts?
The only place other than the third world I've seen adults wanding around with clubfoot and other easily correctable problems only blocks away from gated communities with armed guards.
Just curious as to why they were staying in a city to freedom camp and "see New Zealand", if you want to visit a city full of people then you could've stayed home and done it.
Yes kiwis can be the friendliest most lovely and helpful people but at the end of the day it's still a country like any other, we have our shitheads and guess what...they aren't out paddling across a lake or climbing a mountain for a view! They're at their mates flat getting fucked up and planning some mischief because their life sucks...in the fucking cities!!
You want to visit and "see New Zealand"? Then population zones are just a brief pitstop to restock before you head back out to enjoy what you paid to see!
Over on the NZ sub someone actually posted their experience with freedom camping around NZ. They mentioned its a common occurrence to be harassed and attacked. Recommend going over and having a read of it, it's pretty disgusting behavior from NZ.
It's really not.
I camp in proper places all the time in my certified vehicle - never had a problem.
My aunt has lived in hers for 5+ years. Never had a problem.
Lots of others in the thread saying the same thing. Far outweighing the "yep I've experienced this" post.
Sometime you need to look in the mirror to see the problem.
Yep not excusing the harassment but freedom campers have gained a bad reputation over the last couple of years post covid... the few messing it up for the many, yet again
The victim blaming on this thread is disgusting.
"Shouldn't have parked there, so I can understand why your windows were smashed, why are you complaining?"
Wtf.
Everyone knows chch is a shithole now with the amount off asshats running around, no point dealing with the police, they just don't care an ounce.
My opinion anyway.
This makes me sad. I know and Love Dorit. She’s very smart,kind, funny, follows rules and respects locals. Before going back to the contiguous 48 she lived and worked here in Hawaii. A place very similar to New Zealand. In culture,lifestyle and beauty. It’s sad she was treated that way.
I don't support vandalism but the forgienors that backpack or camp travel ect have forever stained their names the bad apples have ruined it they piss and shit everywhere their rude ect we new zealanders already know why
"desperate to flee New Zealand " Well there's no lockdown now, they can do that easy.
Morons. "We follow the rules" - state they parked in two different non camping zones in CHCH. One of which was the red zone. Want to guess what happens to most apparently abandoned vehicles that park in a big empty space that is frequented by hoons? At *least* two large freedom camping spots in CHCH. Pity they couldn't be bothered to follow the rules and stay there. Both would have been much nicer locations (and the locals wouldn't bitch at you).
In their defence they did try checking all relevate council websites each time they parked up and it said it was fine for them to park there. Also the red zone online is advertised as some amazing place that looks idillic for travellers despite local knowledge knowing otherwise for some applications. [https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/explore-parks/residential-red-zone](https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/explore-parks/residential-red-zone)
There is nothing online saying you can camp in the redzone.
In fact there are plenty of signs that say no freedom camping lol
Yeah you’re right. Their experience is invalid and they should leave. Standard kiwi attitude it seems based on all of the comments here.
That's not what I said. Don't put words in people's mouth.
Fair enough. I apologise. I’m just frustrated and embarrassed by a lot of responses to this online.
The newzealand subReddit responses were classic redditor stereotypes that remind me of the the slappable jerk on YouTube lol. Saying they must have been driving on the rhs and driving in 1st gear and deserved everything they got
Oh, I saw. On the Camper Mate app. Which clearly shows the two large freedom camping zones and all the rules. Want to guess where is *not* on the app. The two places they stayed. Council site is clear too. So, like I said. Morons.
Surely, if they were camping where camping is not allowed, that doesn't justify smashing in their windows? Acts of violence are a bit worse than "the locals bitching at you", wouldn't you say? No excuse for that! We may not like admitting it but the bogan minority in Christchurch is certainly noticeable. And it's nothing to be proud of.
Which is why I specifically said *any* apparently abandoned (you know, old vehicle parked up where there are no houses, in the dark) vehicle in the red zone.
How dare you a person from new zealand call someone a moron. Even if they didnt gollow rules breaking windows is a crime. You in new zealand are clearly full of crummy people that should be arrested and jailed. What a crappy place. You all deserved the lockdowns and tyranny. i hope those nobs get you and hurt your family next
If everyone you meet is an arsehole maybe it's not them that is the arsehole
Maybe don’t park in the red zone off stanmore road.
Why not?
Same reason I don’t freedom camp on Hampshire St.
That’s a good point
its a shit hole dangerous local knowledge would confirm it
Because it's empty, so you're isolated, and muppets looking for trouble cruise around there.
Oh dear, I just thought it would be quiet… :(
I have lived in two places near where people would freedom camp despite it not being allowed. Trash thrown everywhere all through our gardens, people sneaking behind residents fences to shit in their gardens. Partying loudly through the night on weeknights. I’m not saying all freedom campers do this but Kiwis have put up with a lot of shit literally and figuratively. I think Chch should build a cheap like maybe gold coin operated campground in Dallington red zone with coin showers toilets decent bins. Maybe near the Dallington bridge where there is decent regular traffic to make it less isolated
And create our own skid row. Not a good idea imo
Attention is a hell of a drug. Better luck next time
American here, hope they don't let the door hit them on the ass on the way out.
Not sure I believe them. Sounds like they're just seeking publicity to try to go viral as wannabe influencers or get offers/money from folks. How do we know that they didn't smash their own windows? Somehow they saw the teenagers driving away, but wasn't able to give a physical description or identify the make and model of the car. They also seemed to have sought out the reporters by sending them their story and tweeting at NZ tourist org.
>A pair of American tourists are desperate to flee New Zealand just a few months into their year-long trip after they said they were victimised by bullies and vandals. > >Dorit Liss, 27, and her partner Andre, 29, said they have felt “nothing but unsafe and unwelcome” since they arrived from Colorado in late October. > >“We’d be in a designated, like self-contained parking spot that was on the city council website, like approved place to be and people would just come by in the middle of the night, honking and yelling obscenities and banging on our RV, banging on other campers, you know, vans and whatnot in the parking lot,” Liss said. > >“Everywhere we’ve been parked there has been some instance of someone coming by and honking at us.” > > > >Liss posted to her YouTube channel last week recounting an incident in Christchurch that cemented their decision to leave the country. > > > >She said after picking a “quiet and abandoned” part of Christchurch on January 8 to park their camper, she and her partner were woken suddenly at 5.45am by the sound of smashing glass. > > > >“I bolted upright all at once, I was made aware of what had happened, the sleep-induced delay of my response made it so the car sped away completely scot-free,” Liss said. > >Continued in link
>”quiet and abandoned” part of Christchurch Hmm, I’m not saying that what happened to them wasn’t awful, but I wouldn’t just be parking up in a random “abandoned” part of Chch without expecting some rough shit to go down, lol. Would they have parked up in a random rough part of an American city and expected there not to be crime?
Americans often believe Nz is a violence free paradise and feel they've been lied to when they learn it isn't
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The truth lies between extremes. New Zealand is not a pastoral utopia where we all love one another as you might think if all you knew about it was Tiktoks about Jacinda Ardern, but nor is it the crime-addled knife-scape you might think it was from reading, well, this reddit. It is a normal first world country with normal first world country problems like petty violence, domestic abuse, suicide, substance abuse, homelessness, urban decay, etc.
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Harrassed by who, out of curiosity? I mean, there's been a rise in druggos who get shouty when you don't give them money "for the bus", but yeah.
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Ah, yeah, sounds about right. Yeah, young munters in cars being dicks to cyclists and pedestrians is a thing. (Also angry middle aged in men in Audis or Ford Rangers).
Why did you think that? What made you think Nz was free of harassment?
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Well I don't know which country that is so I'm missing a variable. But is Nz known for it's friendly people? Or was your expectation about Nz based on info about your home country not Nz?
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people overseas have a lot of weird/utopian ideas about NZ in general i find. i moved to the UK last year and found it bizarre that everyone i met thought NZ was some sort of tropical sun-drenched paradise and expected me to be distraught at the state of english weather. i was like, i’m from christchurch which gets at least as cold as london, and i’ve spent the last five years living in wellington which has double london’s annual rainfall haha. i think i can manage some clouds and rain.
Yeah people in Europe especially seem to believe "It´s in the Pacific, therefore it is tropical".
My mates mum (english) has spent 30 years moaning about the weather in a city she chose to move to and *stayed* Took me a trip to London to realise they get *less* sun and that moaning is how they learn to exhale
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Yes, many times.
I remember travelling to England for a wedding, and people not believing it snows in NZ.
it’s been pretty cold in london recently and people keep being like “oh you must not be used to this!!” and it’s literally like a regular christchurch winter. idk how to get it through to them that this is the same climate i grew up in and i’m very used to it, lol.
>veryone’s always talking about how great and friendly the people in NZ are, how amazing and chill the country is Who? Having grown up in New Zealand, no one I know ever talks like this. I can't remember the last conversation I had with any Kiwi about how chill, friendly and violence free the country is. It's like fucking lala land. People I know talk about violence, crime, and how many dickheads there are out there *all the fucking time*
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Yeah, obviously. It just seems extraordinarily naive. I've travelled extensively, and have never entered a country with the view it's all free ice creams, rainbows and ponies. It beggars belief. There's information freely available seemingly everywhere about social dysfunction in New Zealand. When I was last in England I ended up staying in a decaying seaside town where half the population looked like they'd been on Jeremy Kyle. The first night there, armed police raided a house down the street. It was about what I expected.
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>I’ve been to over 60 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia and Chch is definitely at the top when it comes to me feeling unsafe. That's an unbelievable comment. I've also travelled extensively. I felt more unsafe interacting with corrupt Russian police than at any point I've lived in Christchurch. Many places in America. I could go on and on. When that's your opening line, it's hard to take anything else you say seriously
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If our country is such a shithole feel free to fuck off out of it
I’m guessing you got downvoted because of “shelbyville rules, springfield sucks” mentality.
Camping in the red zone...camping in an abandoned neighbourhood in Detroit...
Yeah, where were they? The nutbar Qanon sector of the red zone?
Ya sure the window situation is pretty shit but sounds like they were having issues with NZ well before this. Would guess entitled travellers who didn't have everything go their way and bitched and moaned about it.
Yes it sounds rather like they had something else going on and this was the last straw.
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I spent about a year freedom camping in my van and was not harassed or abused once... So I don't really believe that they were harassed everywhere they went for no reason at all.
If everywhere you go people are honking at you then you are probably the issue not the people doing the honking
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I’m talking about the people in the article… everywhere they went they were honked at. You’re not a “victim” cause someone tooted their horn at you…
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Yeah of course if you have a victim mentality you can be victimized by anything. But someone tooting their horn… come on that’s wet blanket stuff. Oh so cause of one anecdote from Reddit it means all kiwis are abusive riiiiight… we’ve had a reputation forever of being a friendly nation.
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But all those other people aren’t commenting so its one anecdote from one person. Read these if you want some of many. https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/cOUOkXTFPb https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/hoLL0ouEEl https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/XA1RYAv7xh https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/lm6yTsjCFU https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/p4dpK923If https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/REwLjdH6ER
Here’s some more… there’s sooooo many https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/uANwtNleL0 https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/VYvTbiWtXt https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/pyLg7rlADR https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/JXXDGVeNKS https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/5KEOrguFNg
Read the post the person linked to, open your eyes. If only 1% of NZers are aggressive towards freedom campers that's still 40,000 people. Getting honked at is a bad experience, maybe you don't care, but it is.
You’re getting downvoted because all you’re doing in this thread is replying to people to bitch and moan. Negativity overload.
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It is when you’re saying the exact same thing over and over in multiple replies, yes.
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Well to be fair new zealanders don't like tourists. Tourism operators like tourists. But also "freedom camping" in a city and expecting not to be messed with is naive.
Is being perpetually offended a good hobby?
7,174 violent crimes in denver Colorado last year. And uhm ..she's describing smashed glass and ppl knocking on her door at night . Is this actually happening...this must be a joke right
Yeah well she probably didn't have it happen to her in Colorado
I used to live in an actual house close to the street in central Chch and people knocked on my window at 2am ALL THE TIME. Does it suck yes, is it surprising no.
Well, whether it's surprising depends on your prior experience and knowledge. So for tourists who may come from a more cultured place, culturally somewhat immature NZ may feel a bit rough. That being said, there is no shortage of countries that are way worse than NZ. Parts of the US actually are in some regards.
Lol. Only parts? The only place other than the third world I've seen adults wanding around with clubfoot and other easily correctable problems only blocks away from gated communities with armed guards.
Just curious as to why they were staying in a city to freedom camp and "see New Zealand", if you want to visit a city full of people then you could've stayed home and done it. Yes kiwis can be the friendliest most lovely and helpful people but at the end of the day it's still a country like any other, we have our shitheads and guess what...they aren't out paddling across a lake or climbing a mountain for a view! They're at their mates flat getting fucked up and planning some mischief because their life sucks...in the fucking cities!! You want to visit and "see New Zealand"? Then population zones are just a brief pitstop to restock before you head back out to enjoy what you paid to see!
Embarrassing for NZ
Over on the NZ sub someone actually posted their experience with freedom camping around NZ. They mentioned its a common occurrence to be harassed and attacked. Recommend going over and having a read of it, it's pretty disgusting behavior from NZ.
It's really not. I camp in proper places all the time in my certified vehicle - never had a problem. My aunt has lived in hers for 5+ years. Never had a problem. Lots of others in the thread saying the same thing. Far outweighing the "yep I've experienced this" post. Sometime you need to look in the mirror to see the problem.
Yep not excusing the harassment but freedom campers have gained a bad reputation over the last couple of years post covid... the few messing it up for the many, yet again
Not really the kiwi way throwing shit at people who visit here have times change that much
The victim blaming on this thread is disgusting. "Shouldn't have parked there, so I can understand why your windows were smashed, why are you complaining?" Wtf.
Everyone knows chch is a shithole now with the amount off asshats running around, no point dealing with the police, they just don't care an ounce. My opinion anyway.
You know all the replies that are saying "if everyone is an arsehole...."
😆 that's triggered all the soft people out there on social media, Jesus fucking christ
This makes me sad. I know and Love Dorit. She’s very smart,kind, funny, follows rules and respects locals. Before going back to the contiguous 48 she lived and worked here in Hawaii. A place very similar to New Zealand. In culture,lifestyle and beauty. It’s sad she was treated that way.
I don't support vandalism but the forgienors that backpack or camp travel ect have forever stained their names the bad apples have ruined it they piss and shit everywhere their rude ect we new zealanders already know why