The creation of a covered outdoor area overlooking the bay, with gas barbecues and plenty of tables and room for campers to congregate and interact is just one of many draw-cards at the Beachside Holiday Park in Paihia. But camp managers Dusty and Aroha Miller believe it was a key factor in winning the 2007 Qualmark Award for most improved park in New Zealand.
Beachside won the award after going from a three star Qualmark rating in November 2005 to a four star rating December 2006, and being judged to have improved the holiday park by an impressive 15.8 per cent. In that time, the barbecue area had been upgraded, along with upgrades to the kitchens and family cabins and improvements in the shop and office.
Popular Beachside Holiday Park & Camping Ground
For Dusty and Aroha, the award is not only pleasing recognition of these latest improvements, but marks just how far the holiday park has come since they started as managers four years ago. At that time there had been very little maintenance for a number of years and the park was run-down, with facilities that were damp, wet and rotting. Within a year it had been transformed, with upgrades to all the tourist flats, family cabins, caravans, the TV room, toilet and shower blocks, laundry and kitchen, and extensive sub-standard drainage systems. The old rusted playground went to the tip, and a new adventure playground incorporating the best ideas from playgrounds in the areas was built. With the camp already oriented towards families, the playground was the perfect finishing touch.
Kids love it, Dusty says. Families pull up in their cars and while the parents are coming into the office to make enquiries, the kids have made a beeline straight for the playground. Mum and dad turn around and say: this looks good; we'd better stay - the kids will spend their week in that playground, so we'll get a bit of peace!
Offering all the best in a Kiwi camping experience
While the three star-rating in [2005] was not to be sneered at, Dusty, Aroha and the camp owners went hard to work again on the further improvements that earned the four star rating and most improved award, and on adding the things that people would keep coming back for. At Beachside, that's all the things that make for a great kiwi camping holiday, and more. Situated in a bay surrounded by native bush, the park is tranquil and quiet, with a sense of being off the beaten track, while still being only 2km from Paihia - the kind of place where you can truly relax, where the kids are happy at the playground for hours on end, where you can dabble in some fishing at the entrance to the bay, get out on a boat, or have a go in the kayaks - or simply sit at the water's edge and lose yourself in a good book.
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