Processions of caravans trundled into Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park, their awnings unfurled like sails as holidaymakers set up camp for another summer holiday memory.
For Jeffrey Eales, who worked across maintenance, the office, and the park’s mini golf course from 1984 to 1988, the sight of the “great lifestyle” caravans entailed was captivating, and his interest in them was soon in tow.
The Brightwater man was one of 40 former staff who were back at camp on Saturday for a reunion as part of the park’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
"It's still a noisy place," he says during our interview as a plane departs nearby Nelson Airport.
Records from the park's 1980s era, dubbed From Stubbies to Software, show guests arrived with increasingly elaborate camping set-ups.
One regular visitor brought a waterbed, another an electric organ, and caravans were packed with "every imaginable comfort".
Jeffrey's dream of owning a caravan eventually became reality. After retiring in 2005, he and his partner spent seven-and-a-half years touring New Zealand, travelling about 330,000km.
Today, he lives in a caravan parked on 10 acres.
He also recalls a major flood at the park in 1985 that inundated campervans and forced many visitors to leave.
"It was real pantomime with 6000 people that came and assembled, we were then told there's no more campers to come in, couldn't take any more accommodation," he says.
Despite the disruption, the park still achieved a turnover of $1 million that year.
Jeffrey also remembers Christmas parties and the staff's "peanut room", where workers gathered for refreshments at 4pm each afternoon.
Valda Holland and Karen Wilkinson were very happy campers behind the office desk in their combined 46 years.
Their memories of working at the park are as full as the holidaymakers' vehicles that rolled through the gates each summer.
Karen, who was a receptionist before becoming health and safety manager from 1994 to 2020, says the generations of staff and same-site visitors epitomise the park.
She’s even able to name the families who stayed at certain sites.
"We've seen people come, people go, people born, people die… it's symptomatic of how the camp stays in people's lives, that's the nice thing about it," she reminisces.
"It was awesome to see people coming in with relief on their face after driving here from Christchurch with their 27ft caravans behind them.
"I think the great thing about this place is that you very rarely used to go around and see kids sitting, they were always out doing stuff."
Karen even stayed in her caravan at the park for five days over New Year in 2021, after checking out as an employee the year before.
Valda was an office manager from 1997 to 2018, and worked just about every Christmas Day and New Year.
She cherishes the park’s entertainment and evolution.
“We used to have entertainment for the children and what have you, and put the big marquee up here, have quiz nights, and that really brought so many people together,” she enthuses.
“The Lions used to bring their little train in for free rides.
“People used to come with a little car and a tent, now they come with a caravan, a tent, a three-room tent that attaches to another three-room tent, and trailers with jetskis.”
While the caravans, tents and traditions may have changed over the decades, the staff memories remind us that the stories from Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park remain alive and well long after the holidays end.
