Campground resident by choice
Wayne Curragh will never live in a house again.
The permanent camping-ground resident moved into the Pineacres Holiday Park near Kaiapoi four years ago and loves his new lifestyle so much he will never go back to living in a house.
He doubts the findings of a Massey University researcher who found many residential campers were socially vulnerable and lived in substandard conditions.
As part of a PhD study, Chrissy Severinsen visited traditional holiday spots in the North Island and interviewed campground residents and workers.
The residents were aged 18 to 90 and had lived in camping grounds from two months to 17 years.
Curragh said Pineacres had ‘‘everything you’d ever want’’, and the 98 permanent residents did not mind their ‘‘trailer trash’’ label.
Curragh, the Pineacres camping manager, decided to sell up and buy a caravan after separating from his wife five years ago.
The change of scene took some getting used to, but he believed he would be there for the long haul.
‘‘I didn’t have enough money to go into a home, so I bought a 29-foot caravan,’’ he said. ‘‘The idea was I was going to move around, but I love it here.
‘‘It’s peaceful and quiet, and everything you want is here.’’
It seems many others have cottoned on to the idea. The camping ground has no vacancies for permanent residents. One resident has been there for 16 years.
There were also many breakup victims, tradesmen and people forced out of Christchurch because of the post-earthquake housing shortage, Curragh said.
The campground’s permanent residents were a tight-knit community, and only a few were ‘‘a bit strange and kept to themselves’’, he said.
‘‘Some days when you’re on your own you do feel lonely, but that can happen anywhere,’’ he said.
Life was simpler, without burglaries, unwanted visitors and pesky neighbours.
‘‘We don’t have a lot of problems. All you hear of is things like the other day when someone cooked a chicken in the kitchen and they came back and the chicken was there, minus one drumstick,’’ he said.