Workers' homes at Gumdigger's Park , a reminder of much tougher times.
Workers' homes at Gumdigger's Park , a reminder of much tougher times.
One of Northland's most popular tourist attractions, Gumdigger's Park, is on the market.
The property, just south of Waiharara, comprises 27.6ha and has been operating for 16 years.
The owner is selling because of a change in the owners' personal circumstances, through Bayleys Real Estate.
Bayleys business sales consultant Mike Peterson said that while Gumdigger's Park had initially been established around showcasing the region's rich kauri and gumdigging history, there was now considerable potential to expand that visitor base into a raft of new tourism-related activities.
"The sealing of the final 20-kilometre stretch of road to and from Cape Reinga was recently completed, and this has made the greater tourist route, and the Gumdigger's attraction, far more accessible to visitors.
At the same time, word-of-mouth reputation has seen awareness of Gumdigger's Park grow considerably," he said.
"It's all about offering more choice and reasons for visitors to stay. By extending the scope of activities available within the park and the adjacent vacant land, there is substantial potential to increase the stay-time of visitors, and per-head spend levels.
With approximately 22,000 visitors coming through the park's doors annually, there is now the opportunity to look at added value activities appealing to a broad range of interests.
"From cultural and historical perspectives, Gumdigger's Park is one of the most valuable eco-tourism sites in New Zealand, right up there with the geothermal pools in Rotorua, the glow worm caves of Waitomo and greenstone rivers of Westland," he said.
"The kauri buried below Gumdigger's Park is some of the oldest workable wood in the world, dating back between 100,000 and 150,000 years. Over the past decade, scientists from New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom have spent considerable time on the site, studying and dating swamp kauri samples they found metres below ground level."
The park comes complete with a shop and museum.
The owners already had plans for new revenue streams, including kayak tours amongst New Zealand's largest mangrove reserve, building a kiwi and gecko breeding and viewing pavilion, creating a rope-climbing and confidence-building course among 12 acres of mature pine trees, developing a range of accommodation facilities for overnight stays, from campervan parking and camping amenities to budget cabins, expanding a wetland conservation area in conjunction with the Department of Conservation, extracting huge buried kauri logs on the property, hosting school and cultural groups, and planting avocado orchards.
The small shop and museum showcasing an array of gumdigging antiquities and salvaged gum pieces would provide a base for future expansion plans, including a small coffee shop.
"You could say Gumdigger's is a gold mine in a kauri swamp," Mr Peterson said.
