The camping ground at Northland's Uretiti Beach has already welcomed hundreds of LGBT campers, with many more expected in the run-up to New Year's Eve. Tent city: Uretiti Beach campground this morning State Highway 1 traffic was slowing to a crawl north of Warkworth yesterday and again today, with thousands of city-dwellers escaping Auckland for their summertime camping holiday. Today has been overcast at Uretiti Beach, but dozens of gay campers were still relaxing on towels out on the golden sand from early this morning. After some rain tomorrow, MetService predicts mostly fine weather mid-week for the New Year's celebrations on the beach and camping ground close by. This year's new liquor ban in the campsite means campers may still drink alcohol in their own campsites, but cannot drink on the beach or wander around with opened bottles in the campsite. The nearby town of Waipu is also busy with campers picking up supplies on their way through or stopping for meals in the many cafes. A few minutes up the road is new gay homestay Dragontree Lodge, which has hosted several gay couples over the weekend. Salty Dicks, just outside of Waipu, is also available as a gay campsite.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Sunday, 28th December 2008 - 4:22pm