Only three guests are at Kai Iwi Beach Holiday Park for the lockdown. Photo / File
Only three guests are at Kai Iwi Beach Holiday Park for the lockdown. Photo / File
At least 22 people are facing the period of lockdown in Whanganui campgrounds and holiday parks.
Under alert level 4 restrictions, people staying in holiday parks and campgrounds must not use shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.
Campgrounds the Whanganui Chronicle talked to have all closed their shared facilities, except forCaroline's Outback Camping Ground in Aramoho. A Whanganui District Council officer has agreed that people from the same "bubble" can share the facilities there.
Most of the campgrounds and holiday parks are all but empty, with bookings cancelled and Kiwis going home for the lockdown.
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The Kai Iwi Beach Holiday Park has just been bought by Diane and Bruce Taylor, who are from Otaki. They and their two children moved into the furnished house on site before settlement day, because of the lockdown.
It's a terrible time to buy a holiday park, Diane Taylor said. They are now familiarising themselves with processes at the park. It is open with just three residents.
One is a woman with asthma who has chosen to self-isolate away from her husband, who has just returned from London. The other two are a couple who usually spend their winters in Australia but couldn't get there this year.
"They have an amazing set-up, fully self-contained and self-isolated."
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The Taylors are open to taking more visitors if they have self-contained accommodation.
"It would be nice, if tourists are stuck at the moment and can't go anywhere. We can separate them out quite a bit, because the place is pretty much empty."
At Castlecliff the Whanganui Seaside Holiday Park is closed to all except about four permanent residents in self-contained accommodation, owner Carla Swainson said.
It's the same at Lakelands Holiday Park, which closed to the public on March 21. It has just three long-term residents, in self-contained campervans.
The campground "outback" of Caroline's Boatshed Bar & Eatery has about 12 residents staying for the lockdown, and its No Vacancy sign went up on March 25.
Owner Caroline Norton won't have bar and eatery guests for a month, and plans to move a desk into the pub and make good use of the time.
"I'm going to restructure, plan and everything. I'm looking forward to it. I am sure that we are all going to be better people for this pandemic, when we get through it," she said.
Bignell St Motel and Caravan Park has absolutely no guests, manager Peter One said, because everybody left early in the week. It is open to new arrivals who are self-contained.
The Whanganui River Top 10 Holiday Park owner didn't want to say whether there are residents during the lockdown. Top 10 Holiday Park Group chief executive David Ovendale said the parks are all individually owned and the owners can decide whether to stay open, partially open, or close.
They are deemed essential services and can stay open if they choose, accepting only people with self-contained accommodation. Any new guests must abide by restrictions, Ovendale said, and either stay for the whole lockdown or have airline tickets that will take them out of New Zealand.
