Holidaymakers welcome more family campgrounds

Eileen and Ken Ogden from Massey are having a whale of a time at the Waiwera camping ground. Picture / Martin Sykes

Eileen Ogden is not keen about being photographed in the holiday deshabille she is displaying for the 10m walk to the beach by the Waiwera Holiday Park.

For Mrs Ogden and husband Ken, camping does not involve photo shoots, and they should know.

Over the past 20 years they've parked up in camping grounds throughout New Zealand in their 1970s caravan, which they journey in about five times a year.

It used to be Eileen and Ken and their four daughters all happily sardined in, and now the first grandchild is being introduced to the experience.

They don't like hearing news of camping grounds being sold to developers.

"You can't blame them," says Ken, "because they have an investment and it's a lot of money that is offered."

Eileen adds the "but".

"But for the average Joe Bloggs New Zealanders it's a bit sad. Camping grounds are affordable. If you've got three or four kids a motel is not reasonable."

It's not just the money.

"You meet really interesting people. And at camping grounds your children can meet other kids so while they're off playing you can relax."

Eileen does this bit with aplomb. She has read 12 books in the past 10 days. Ken says he has done all the dishes and washing and now he has to go back to work while Eileen, a schoolteacher, gets in a few extra days.

Their philosophy on camping grounds is the more the merrier.

They like the big ones - Ruakaka and Orewa - because they are family-oriented. Now that the daughters are grown up, they also like the small, hard-to-find ones, like Waikaremoana, because they can get away from everyone else.

"New Zealand has got a lot of places to see, if you don't mind going off the beaten track," Ken says, and the more camping grounds there are, the more places people can see.

In the middle of the campground we've interrupted a game of Scrabble, which Leanne Matatahi is winning.

Her whanau like Waiwera, partly because it's close enough to the shops for emergency trips to stock up on tomato sauce.

"You eat a lot when you're camping," says Leanne. Especially when there are 20 of you - the grandparents, three sisters, partners, 10 offspring and assorted others.

They like Waiwera because it is within their budget and this holiday was hard-earned. They were last here in 2000 and most holidays involve day trips from home in Huntly.

"We always spend Christmas and holidays together. This time all the sisters got together and decided to save up to come out here together. We opened a whanau account and put $20 a week in each," says Leanne.

Waiwera also has a sandy beach, and camping means you can afford to be picky in choosing sandy versus stony.

"When we were younger we went to Kaiaua [in the Firth of Thames]. We never knew there were beaches with sand. We always thought there were only beaches with rocks. So when we discovered sand, we didn't want to go to Kaiaua any more."