Commerce in paradise angers cove's donor

Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula attracts 150,000 visitors a year. Photo / Alan Gibson

The family who gifted Cathedral Cove to the public with the intention that it remain untouched are livid that commercial enterprise has begun on its sands.

The first business to open on the remote beach, a drinks kiosk, ended its 12-week trial on Sunday. Its owner, Shanan Laird, said he would reapply to run the makeshift stall again next year for a longer period.

Dawn Harsant and her late husband, Vaughn, sold the 32ha reserve to the Government for one shilling (10c) in 1972, with the wish that it remain unblemished by subdivisions and commercial operations.

Mrs Harsant, who now lives in Hamilton, told the Weekend Herald she was "very disappointed and hurt" by the development. "This was never meant to happen."

She said the Department of Conservation had added many good facilities to the area - a lookout, a carpark and a walking track. But she felt the drinks stall in the reserve carpark catered to visitors' needs and there was no reason for a shop on the beach.

In a 1972 Herald article, Vaughn Harsant said he wanted to give the land to the Government because it had very few coastal reserves.

His widow says she "never, ever dreamed it would become so popular".

A lucrative offer for the land from an American buyer was rejected by the Harsant family. They developed a general store and group of shops deliberately away from the beachfront to have separation between local businesses and the golden sands.

Shanan Laird's small kiosk, tucked into a corner of the pohutukawa-fringed cove over the summer months, divided the local and wider community. Some felt it was a necessary service for parched tourists, but others felt it was an unsightly blot on a beach marketed by Tourism New Zealand as pristine.

Kirstie Dickie, a relative of the Harsant family, said that without the kiosk the beach looked identical to pre-settlement New Zealand.

"Retaining that quality should be paramount. Cathedral Cove does not have to be part of that McDonald's world ... an ever-increasing 'instant' society of convenience with less and less substance."

Ms Dickie said DoC should consider signs on the reserve which alerted visitors to the lack of facilities.

Mr Laird said he was simply the latest business to work on the site, after the kayak tours and guided walks which used the cove.

"People came up to me and shook my hand, congratulating me for doing something different. Many were thankful they could get a drink at the end of a half-hour walk - it's a necessity."

He said that he only covered his costs this summer, so he hoped to run the kiosk for an extra month next time. He wanted to set up more rubbish bins on the site to ensure it was kept tidy. He said his opponents' concern that his shop would open the floodgates for more operators was unfounded.

"DoC have never indicated that my shop will be the first of many."

DoC conservation support manager Rachel Kelleher said visitor surveys had revealed "overwhelming" support for the concession.

Hahei Beach Ratepayers Association chairman John North said most residents now accepted that creating business opportunities on the reserve was part of DoC's mandate.

"We are not taking the high ground and saying, 'You shouldn't do it'."

But he said the kiosk was poorly conceived, and his own survey of all 580 Hahei ratepayers showed that 87 per cent opposed it.

Mr North felt DoC should work with the community to ensure that any developments had a long-term plan and made financial sense for the department.

"We need to be visionary about this. With 49,000 people coming through here in January alone, we need a sustainable management plan which creates actual revenue streams for DoC."

DoC now takes 8 per cent of the profit made by commercial concessions.

Ms Kelleher said full public consultation would take place only if Mr Laird reapplied to run the kiosk on a more permanent basis.

She denied earlier reports that the stall had been allowed primarily to recover the costs of maintaining the reserve.

"The trial was to provide a service and see if there was a demand for a stall in that area."

The cove, which is accessible only by boat or half-hour trek, has 150,000 visitors a year.

Images of its cavernous arch and crystalline waters have been at the heart of the 100 per cent Pure New Zealand tourism campaign.