Man camping at abandoned Gulf Harbour Country Club calls himself ‘volunteer security guard’

A freedom camper at the abandoned Gulf Harbour Country Club says he is being wrongfully targeted by residents.

• Police are investigating reports of freedom campers at Gulf Harbour Country Club threatening the public.
• The property faces issues including squatters, fires, and a $244,000 demolition bill to Auckland Council.
• But one camper claims locals are sensationalising issues to remove him from the property.

The man at the forefront of ongoing tensions in the Whangaparāoa community is speaking out against what he believes is sensationalism from locals conspiring to get rid of him.

Police have dropped one report, and are looking into another, of freedom campers at Gulf Harbour Country Club threatening members of the public with a weapon.

Members of the Facebook page Keep Whangaparāoa’s Green Spaces (KWGS) said they witnessed one camper throwing a machete at someone’s vehicle last month, while another said their husband was threatened by “one of the squatters with a machete” some weeks later.

Problems with squatters have plagued the once-prestigious property on top of existing issues, including two fires which ravaged its clubhouse and golf shop over three days, and an outstanding $244,000 bill to Auckland Council for demolition costs.

More than 50 firefighters from across Auckland fought the second blaze at Gulf Harbour Country Club. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Timothy Stewart has lived in his caravan at the course’s carpark since it suddenly closed in July last year, and claims he’d been permitted to stay there by now-banned company director Greg Olliver.

In regard to the first alleged incident, he said people had threatened him while he was asleep, which another camper “dealt with” before he could.

“The other one is when I’m there during the middle of the day,” Stewart said.

“The driver turns up … gets out of the van, and approaches with verbal abuse.

“Why did he drive down there right beside the caravans? You’ve come to intimidate, to start something, to throw it on Facebook to create the false flag.”

Timothy Stewart says he's lived in his caravan at the Gulf Harbour Country Club since it suddenly closed in July last year.

He said antagonistic and threatening behaviour from the public had evolved to people on social media even proposing to go to the property with “petrol and matches” to deal with freedom campers.

Stewart said he was protecting the property “as much as [he] physically could” from turning into a “refugee camp” by stopping dozens of people from staying on the property long-term.

He said residents were “absolutely” able to use the green space and rejected any claims he was stopping people from doing so, despite it being considered trespassing.

Freedom campers park behind a makeshift barricade at Gulf Harbour Country Club.

However, one man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he drove on to the property with a colleague to see what remained of the clubhouse at the start of the month, when someone yelled at them to “get off the f***ing property”. He said a camper then threatened to set his dog on the visitors.

“He went back to the caravan and opened the door and pulled out a fairly large machete and started coming towards me, so I just hopped in the vehicle and drove out.”

The owners of Long River Investments refused to comment on the legitimacy of Stewart’s stay.

Police said the investigation into the incident was ongoing but had no jurisdiction to forcibly remove the man on the property without permission from the owners, who they were “unable to contact”.

An earlier version of this story said police were looking into two reports.

Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.