Neil Mair said the group had a busy schedule over the weekend. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Neil Mair said the group had a busy schedule over the weekend. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Border closures have forced holidaymakers to explore their own backyard with the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association reporting abut 1000 new members a month.
The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association held a rally in Whanganui over the weekend with members from as far afield as Pukekohe and Wellington taking part.
Their base was at the Whanganui Racecourse.
Whanganui area chairman Neil Mair said the group, made up of 96 caravans and 168 people, took in greyhound racing on Friday night, horse racing on Saturday, and they were set for trips up the Whanganui River aboard MS Wairua on Sunday.
There were also two vans in operation through the weekend, to take trips around the city's wall art and to the newly-opened Durie Hill elevator.
"It's a bit trickier when there are this amount of vans," he said.
"Everyone gets a job, because if you don't have some form of organisation everyone just goes everywhere. Safety is important."
There were 110,000 members of the association around the country, Mair said.
"Things are really snowballing at the moment. We seem to be getting around 1000 (new members) a month.
"It's crazy."
Mair, who has been chairman for the local area for the past two years, said a reason for the strength of the group at the moment was the fact that New Zealanders could only visit their own country - as a result of Covid-19.
"It has encouraged people to travel around," Mair said
"We spent 10 weeks down south just after Christmas, and it was just as busy as when all the tourists were here. It was all Kiwis in motor homes.
