Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Covid 19 coronavirus: Bach owners relocating during lockdown ready for Easter

By Alison Smith
Bay of Plenty Times·
4 Apr, 2020 07:27 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

New Zealanders have locked down in a bid to lock out Covid-19. A look back at the country's first week of national lockdown. Video / NZ Herald

Bach owners are travelling under cover of darkness to get to their holiday homes on the Coromandel and they are being warned - home is not your holiday home.

"We're hearing that holiday home and bach owners are relocating to our district between now and Easter," said Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie.

"There appears to have been a marked increase in traffic, particularly during the hours of darkness, travelling up both sides of the Coromandel and lots of reports of holiday homes with people in them, which is not the norm for this time of year.

"The message is clear - stay home and save lives. Home is not your second holiday home, it's your permanent place of residence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
NeedToKnow3
NeedToKnow3

Goudie said the Coromandel would struggle if bach owners travelled to the region.

"The capacity of our medical and other essential services is not the same as the larger centres. If we get a cluster of sick people outside of our usual permanent population, our medical facilities will struggle."

Residents say they have noticed increased traffic and some shop owners confirmed they were seeing people who were not local in beach towns such as Tairua where the ratio of holiday homes to permanent residences is high.

In the days before the lockdown, the Matarangi Four Square store owner Darren Walker told the Coastal News his business was 70 to 80 per cent busier than the same time last year and was promoting deliveries for people who were coming to the area to self-isolate.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He believed there were more bach owners on the Coromandel, self-isolating in the leadup to lockdown.

In Pauanui, Linley Hadwin said there had been a noticeable increase in traffic coming in and she disagreed that bach owners who drove down during lockdown should get away with flouting the rules.

"They are a law unto themselves. They seem to think because they pay rates they have a right to be at their bach, with disregard for the consequences of that action."

Suz and Steven Thomas moved from their apartment in Auckland before the lockdown to their home in Tairua, which they live in three days out of seven.

Discover more

10 Easter lockdown activities for families

08 Apr 10:00 PM

'Cracks starting to show': Concerns for couple grow as fellow passenger fights for life

03 Apr 04:00 PM

Hike in domestic violence expected

03 Apr 03:32 AM

Tauranga Covid-19 Assessment Centre moved to Baypark Stadium

03 Apr 05:24 AM

She agreed nobody should be travelling now but said negative comments about bach owners who'd relocated before the lockdown were "hard to stomach".

"It's got really nasty," she said. "My husband and I downsized to an apartment in Auckland so that we could lock and leave to spend more time here. We've been coming to Tairua since we were 15. This is home to us."

Her son and daughter were living with them in Tairua while other immediate family members remained in the city because they were frontline workers and did not want to subject them to any risk.

Thames-Coromandel District Council Mayor Sandra Goudie.
Thames-Coromandel District Council Mayor Sandra Goudie.

"We're all set up for family here. There's no way we could take them in at our little apartment in Auckland."

In Whangamata, police had issued five warnings for non-essential travel, including a bach owner who drove 400m down the road to "check the surf" and a motorcyclist who had ridden to Whangamata from Auckland and was followed when he passed the station.

Most people entering Whangamata will pass the police station and the sound of an unfamiliar motorbike was enough to raise suspicion in the town of 4000 permanent residents.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When we stopped him at Williamson Park, he said he'd driven to the Coromandel because he hasn't been to the Coromandel in approximately 20 years. This was a blatant breach of the self-isolation and lockdown rules and he was issued with a breach warning," Sergeant Will Hamilton said.

Goudie thanked the many residents who were abiding by the guidelines but she added the category of exercising far from home to the list of no-gos.

"Those that continue to disregard the guidelines to suit themselves by fishing, boating, swimming, surfing, exercising far from home, driving around for no particular reason, and so on are placing unnecessary added stress on the rest of the community," she said.

"We're all in this together and need to take this seriously. This is not a holiday and it's likely measures will stay in place for a number of weeks," said Goudie.

TCDC was promoting a hotline for people to report suspected breaches of guidelines by businesses and individuals.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

11 Jul 02:00 AM
Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 01:33 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

11 Jul 12:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

Theatre stalwart's triumphant return after PTSD recovery

11 Jul 02:00 AM

Di Leach is returning to theatre seven years after she became unwell.

Tauranga power cuts cause traffic chaos

Tauranga power cuts cause traffic chaos

11 Jul 01:33 AM
'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

'Moments are priceless': Silver Ferns stars reunite for TV reality show

11 Jul 12:00 AM
Home-schooled students ride 755km to Parliament for equal sports access

Home-schooled students ride 755km to Parliament for equal sports access

10 Jul 11:07 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP