112 | “Prior to buying the place, we established a relationship with Ngāti Awa so we could understand their values and what they would like to get out of the land.” TOURISM Ohope Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park Park’s winter focus includes hot tubs Kelly Deeks Award-winning Ōhope Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park is including new hot tubs and a hot soak pool to entice guests in the winter. The award-winning Ōhope Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park is set to remain one of New Zealand’s most popular, with new owners Ian and Vicki Smith already making strides on their 10-year development plan, which has been devised from 3000 lots of customer feedback. Ian says Ōhope Beach has always been a summer market, and Ōhope Beach TOP 10 has traditionally gone from extremely busy to very quiet in the winter. He and Vicki have decided to include something specifically for the winter guests, with new hot tubs and a new hot soak pool, where guests can sit up to their necks at 38 degrees. New back decks with Hot Springs spa pools have been added to the park’s best three apartments where guests can relax while they soak up the winter sun. Landscaping has been high on the development agenda with the mini golf course upgraded and resurfaced, and up to $40,000 worth of new plantings around the gardens, mini golf course, and hot tub area. Ian and Vicki are the previous owners of Waihi Beach TOP 10 and Beachaven TOP 10 and they say holiday parks have always been about having a private place to retreat to, whether that’s your unit, your motorhome, your caravan, or your tent site, but also having good communal spaces and things people can engage in. With this in mind, the couple have installed a huge outdoor screen, 5m by 3m, where they can plug and play a movie or a rugby game at any time. Tracking their developments as they are completed, Ian and Vicki are using A3 sheets of paper which are intermittently on display. “People need to know that we’re listening to what they say,” Ian says. Ian and Vicki are also now running the neighbouring Surf and Sand accommodation and events centre under the Ōhope Beach TOP 10 brand, and have connected the two sites with a new road. Ian and Vicki are working with two landowners, at Surf and Sand it is the original owners, the Maguire family, and Ōhope Beach TOP 10 is sitting on DOC land, all of which was returned to Ngāti Awa in the 2005 Treaty of Waitangi settlements. “Prior to buying the place, we established a relationship with Ngāti Awa so we could understand their values and what they would like to get out of the land. “Together we have developed a range of iconography which represents various aspects of the iwi, and keeps them represented throughout the park. When people are on holiday, they have time to read and take in the relevance of this.” Not limited to telling the Ngāti Awa stories, this relationship has Ian and Vicki approaching the iwi first whenever jobs come up at the park. “By working here, they can verify that storytelling. It’s so important to tell these stories, that is how they survive.” Ngāti Hokopū is a hapū of the Ngāti Awa tribal confederation who holds mana whenua in Ōhope and the western section of Ōhiwa Harbour. In 1866, the entire Ngāti Awa tribal estate, including the lands of Ngāti Hokopū, was unjustly confiscated by the Crown as punishment for taking up arms against the Government in defence of their tribal lands during what are commonly known today as the New Zealand Wars. In 2005, Ngāti Awa iwi settled its Treaty of Waitangi grievances with the crown. Alongside an apology, the settlement reaffirmed the rights and interests of Ngāti Awa, and Ngāti Hokopū in the Ōhope and western Ōhiwa areas. The Kitchen Lady is a family owned and operated business offering an end to end service. From consultation, through the design process, manufacturing and installation, you’ll have just one line of communication – and that’s us. CONTACT thekitchenlady.nz Joanne Mouat: joanne@thekitchenlady.nz 0275 868 993 Renee Mouat: renee@thekitchenlady.nz 0211 778 695
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