Aoraki / Mount Cook
Holiday park · South Island
Curio Bay
The Catlins
Camp above a petrified forest and a beach where yellow-eyed penguins come ashore at dusk.
Curio Bay sits on the wild Catlins coast at the bottom of the South Island, famous for a 180-million-year-old petrified forest exposed at low tide and the hoiho (yellow-eyed penguins) that waddle up the beach in the evening. Hector's dolphins often surf neighbouring Porpoise Bay.
The camping is community-run and right on the headland, so you're steps from the penguin viewing at dusk. It's remote and weather-exposed — bring everything you need and give the wildlife plenty of space.
Planning this area? Curio Bay & the Catlins camping guide →
More campsites in the South Island
White Horse Hill Campground
Mackenzie
Lake Tekapo
Kaikōura