Packed holiday park buzzing

HAPPY CAMPERS: Top 10 Holiday Park owners Jeannie Marshall and Ben Kay with summer worker Denis Irecge.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

There were Christmas campers aplenty at Wanganui River Top 10 Holiday Park, where all the cabins were booked and owners Jeannie Marshall and Ben Kay were gearing up for a big season.

"A lot of the campers came here for the Cemetery Circuit and some people book in for Christmas so they can spend the day with their Whanganui families," Ms Marshall said.

Mr Kay and Ms Marshall have been running the park for two years since arriving from England and they enjoy the lifestyle and the people.

"We had never run a holiday park before, and the floods gave us something of ... well, the opposite of a baptism of fire, I guess," said Ms Marshall.

Working at Top 10 this summer is 22-year-old Denis Irecge, a travel and tourism student from Hamburg, Germany.

"I'm doing my internship here," she said.

"I came in September and I will be staying until February."

This is the young student's second Christmas away from home - she has experienced an American Christmas before, but this was her first summer Christmas.

Ms Irecge said she had done a bit of travelling on her days off and believed she had seen most of the North Island now.

She won't be having a lot of time off this week, however, because the park will be busy with guests.

Ms Marshall said they were also expecting a lot of day visitors who will come to use the pool and playground like they did last year.