Five decades of sun at Kaiteriteri

After 56 years, the Logans know a thing or two about camping in style.

Over more than five decades of summers at Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve Camp, the Christchurch family have upgraded from a oneroom tent to two sites packed with modern conveniences.

They have Netflix and Sky for entertainment, and their motorhome has air conditioning, set to icy cold on hot days.

There’s also Alexa, the voiceactivated virtual assistant, which controls lights, music and other essentials.

‘‘Alexa, turn on the bubble machine,’’ instructs Quinn Logan.

But most of the family traditions, honed over decades, embrace good old-fashioned fun. The extended Logan family – numbering as many as 40 some summers – enjoy a pot luck Christmas dinner, poker nights, kayak trips, walks, and Uno championships.

A much-anticipated outing to see the latest summer blockbuster sees the family fill the back row of State Cinemas Motueka.

Brent Logan’s first visit was in 1963 as a toddler, but extended family members had been holidaying at the campground since 1934, when it opened, he said.

The site has changed a lot. Brent and wife Faye remember a treelined beachfront, drive-in movies, and beauty pageants.

Thirty years ago, the Logans secured two permanent sites at the front of the campground, known as ‘‘Death Row’’ – ‘‘because someone has to die for you to get a pitch there’’, Brent says. The sites overlook Kaiteriteri Beach’s golden sands and sparkling blue sea.

The trees have been replaced by a road filled with cruising cars and tanned holidaymakers, but the family don’t mind the summer bustle.

The Logans have missed only one summer, when Faye was heavily pregnant with her first child. But after that, they just packed up the children along with the camping chairs and Christmas decorations.

‘‘Didn’t matter how young they were, they were brought camping,’’ Brent says.

The family have no plans to summer elsewhere. ‘‘We love the weather, we love the traditions. It’s good to catch up with the family.’’

Brent’s father, who died in November, is missed at this summer’s gathering. But his memory lives on, not only among the family but on the internet, too.

‘‘When you go to Google street view, you can see my father looking through the window of his caravan.’’

MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF Brent Logan, right, first holidayed at Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve Camp as a toddler in 1963. Now he returns each summer with wife Faye and their sons Quinn, left, and Xander for a holiday that combines family traditions with modern conveniences.