Ian and Vicki Smith sell Top 10 Waihi Beach Holiday Park after 25 years

Ian and Vicki Smith sold the Top 10 Waihi Beach Holiday Park after 25 years. Photo / George Novak

It's the end of an era for three iconic holiday parks in the Bay of Plenty as their longtime owners sell up and move on. Reporter Samantha Motion spoke to Ian and Vicki Smith of the Top 10 Waihi Beach Holiday Resort and Beachaven Holiday Park, about how they took the worst park at the beach and turned it around.

Ian Smith still remembers his first impression of what is now known as the Top 10 Waiheke Beach Holiday Park, 25 years ago.

"The place was the worst park at the beach. The grass was up around your knees, it was in major need of investment."

It started as a goldminers' camp in 1898. His wife, Vicki, had holidayed there as a young woman.

The pair were raising their two children on Auckland's North Shore and Ian was traveling over the harbour bridge to work as a school principal when they decided something had to change.

The Top 10 Waihi Beach Holiday Park from the air. Photo / George Novak

"In winter, the kids would be in bed asleep when I left to go to work and they would be back in bed at night by the time I got home. So, I didn't get to see them. It was like, 'what else can we do?'" Ian said.

They saw holiday parks advertised in the newspaper.

"We thought, yeah, we could probably do that."

He had never been camping but his parents had a church camping ground on their farm when he was growing up and Vicki had grown up camping.

Vicki Smith, Tania Connelly, Helen Cooney and Ian Smith in 2008. Photo / File

Waihī Beach was the only park they looked at seriously.

"We didn't do much due diligence or research, I just took one look at it and said, 'Let's see if we can make a difference to this place'. And we have."

They took over on February 6, 1996.

"We borrowed everything to get in there so, of course, we had no money to spend. It was like, do what you can to try and make it work."

Over time they have added a lot more showers and toilets, a swimming pool complex - memorably opened by Helen Clark - a gym, a sauna, a jumping pillow and much more.

The Top 10 Waihi Beach Holiday Park from the air. Photo / George Novak

They added two more kids to their brood at the park, and have watched multiple generations of visitors come through, adapting the park to their changing needs along the way.

They would go on to buy the Beachaven Holiday Park, four streets over, 11 years later.

Ian and Vicki agreed the people had been the best thing about their time.

"A highlight is when you see a kid come into the park, you're doing your night rounds, they're 14, 15, and you put your torch on in the laundry and there they are having their first kiss," said Ian.

"And then, they come back 10 years later with a partner, and then they bring their own kids. They just want their own kids to have the same experience."

Vicki and Ian Smith when Waihi Beach Top 10 Holiday Park won a tourism 'Oscar' in 2007. Photo / File