An accidental camping love affair
Eighteen years ago Rachel and Jamie Janssen couldn’t get into the Taranaki campsite they wanted to.
So the Hamilton couple went to their second choice, fell in love with it and have been sharing every summer with their family there ever since.
The Janssen, Noble and Orton clan – 20 people and about six tents strong this year – now have an 18-year-old tradition of going to Oakura Beach Holiday Park in Taranaki.
‘‘We did start off in a little dome tent. We’ve grown.’’
Rachel Janssen
‘‘Before we started here Jamie and I did the top of the North Island and the next year we did the bottom of the North Island,’’ Rachel Janssen said.
‘‘We actually tried to get into the Opunake campsite but they were full and they rang ahead to here. Of all the campsites we’d been going to this was the one,’’ she said.
The family – who have had as many as 32 in their group – love the location.
Their spot is virtually right on the beach.
‘‘We did start off in a little dome tent. We’ve grown,’’ Rachel said.
As well as the familiarity they reckon the camp ground’s facilities are top notch, the pleasant drive from the Waikato a winner, and the proximity to New Plymouth’s supermarkets helped keep costs down.
‘‘But you’re far enough out of town that you can forget about town,’’ Jamie said.
‘‘For us it was just the whole package was good. We were just lucky they were full at Opunake that day.’’
Every year they have a New Year’s dress up. This time it was Mexican.
‘‘We usually have a fire on the beach and we toast marshmallows. That’s pretty cool for the kids. It’s a communal holiday.’’
And they are planning to keep returning for the foreseeable future.
They usually book for next year when they leave – although fellow campers have threatened to try and out-book them for their semi-secluded spot at the far end of the park.
‘‘We’ve already had people come and say ‘we’ll try and get your spot for next year’,’’ Jamie said.