Everyone's happy as bright sparks cash in

Ayleth Barr, her son Samuel McCosh, and Dan Barr serve campers Alex Bulpitt and Alex Bidwell (nearest camera). Photo / Beck Vass

An enterprising couple have plugged a gap in the summer holiday business market.

Dan and Ayleth Barr have had hundreds of campers stop by their Gisborne property - one block from the city's coastal camping area - to recharge their cellphones and camera batteries.

Between 7am and 6pm, they are manning a table on their front lawn that is strewn with multi-plugs filled with dozens of phones and chargers after they struck on an idea to make the most of the city's swollen camping population.

More than 18,000 people have converged on Gisborne for the three-day Rhythm and Vines festival - and thousands of them are camping along the 1.5km strip of coastline right next door to the Barrs.

"We had a guy come in to use the power for a shave," Mr Barr said.

"And another bloke came and straightened his hair. So did his girlfriend. He comes every morning."

The couple charge $5 for "as long as you like" to recharge a device.

Mr Barr said they had charged about 250 phones since Sunday when people began arriving.

Several campers and passers-by were yesterday also offered free water to fill their drink bottles from the Barrs' garden hose.

Mr Barr said he first came up with the business opportunity last year when he watched hundreds of campers stream past his property on their way into Gisborne city and Waikanae Beach.

"There's hundreds of kids here and they've all got cellphones," he said.

"We thought: 'oh well, we'll give it a go'."

Hawkes Bay campers Stephen Bulpitt, 19, and Alex Bidwell, 18, who stopped to hand over their phones and chargers, said the service meant they didn't have to wait in the long line at the camping ground.

They also felt the service was more secure, with the Barrs' system of numbering each phone and taking careful notes on its description to keep track of each device.

The service has been so popular the Barrs had to buy more multi-plugs, and even needed to borrow more from a friend and a neighbour.

Mrs Barr said all the campers were in good spirits.

"The young people that have come have been really nice and polite. We've had no yahoos here, they've all been really decent."

Asked when they will stop sitting at their front gate, Mr Barr said: "When they leave."