Full hookup campground in Petone New Zeland
We value the Kiwi 'down to earth' approach and next to our sense of fun, you'll see this reflected in the way our park functions. Just 15km from central Wellington, we are close enough to be near the action but far enough away to offer a serene retreat and open grounds for couples, families, business guests and large to small sized groups.
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There is plenty of parking, public transport is just minutes away and we can arrange shuttles suit all requirements. View on Google Maps. We often hear our guests remark at the benefits that our holiday park offers over caravan parks in Wellington.
All that makes for a relaxing and comfortable vacation. For many, choosing a motel room or cabin in a holiday park provides the perfect vacation. If you are a TOP 10 Club member you can book the Interislander online by using the following promotional code: Promo code - top10club1. Each of our journeys has a distinctive flavour, but all embody the same unique and authentic Kiwi character. Find a Park Find a Park. Interactive map. Apart from the greatly increased distance, this route — while extraordinarily scenic passing through the heart of the Southern Alps — is narrow, narrower again in places, twisting, tortuous and much more suitable for a leisurely drive than for fast trips to catch ferries or deliver perishable goods.
But where there is a will there is a way, and for the best part of the next two years this route played a vital role in keeping the entire South Island operating. Traffic volumes went through the roof. Life changed dramatically for the people living in the small towns and villages along the way.
Some never understood that trucks were that big, nor that there were so many people living on the planet.
It was a drive that required maximum concentration and lower average speeds. Travelling from Christchurch to Motueka, using the Lewis Pass route, the Shenandoah, Murchison and the Motueka Valley has always been one of my favourite drives, and with traffic flows back to sanity level again, I decided on a leisurely drive and an opportunity to soak up the sights. Much of the Lewis Pass and Shenandoah highways are like this — through heavy native forest 2.
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Start of the highway through the Southern Alps 3. Historic pub at Hurunui suffered earthquake damage but has since been restored. This is a region steeped in Canterbury traditions — and the creation of a medium-sized wine industry seems to have further ingrained those traditions. We were hoping for good weather as we planned on using DOC camps along the way — of which there are plenty. After paying homage to Captain Charles Upham VC and bar, whose bronze statue graces the lawn in front of the local council offices in Amberley, we ambled on up SH1 to turn left onto SH7 in Waipara — once the home to a mysterious sect who were well-armed for some reason.
On SH7, traffic was surprisingly heavy. But this rush of traffic, while heavy, was brief and was probably the backlog of traffic that had been held up at Springs Junction while road crews cleared the snow. From Waipara the road pretty much follows the Weka Pass railway line which is the remnant of a main line that once ran to Culverden and on to Waiau. Waikari is an odd little village, built on a 4.
Frog Rock in the Weka Pass — if you look you can see a similarity. Weather-worn clay cliffs near Hanmer turn-off 6. Hanmer was once famous for Princess Margaret Hospital and its treatment of people with addictions, but it closed in 7. Heavy snow had closed the road a day before 8. Spectacular alpine scenery — road, mountains and snow 9. An old railway carriage serves as a sleep-out in the Boyle settlement.
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The Rutherfords were early settlers and had a significant impact on the region as well as business interests in Christchurch. Duncan Rutherford, who died about a decade ago, was an eccentric who divided his time between his massive car collections in Nelson and his farm, flying back and forth in his light aircraft. From here there is a gradual change of scenery as SH7 dives into the mountains.
Access units. To find out first-hand just how well the new Kenworth T will fit into the team, we went to the trucking heartland of central NSW for a real-world road test. Watching the surge of the waves pummelling the rocks far below, even on this calm day, was a lesson in the awesome power of the sea to shape and fashion the face of our land. Switching on my GPS units, I begin a journey on one of these urban paths linking the city to the suburbs; a safe and green way to explore the blooming beauty of the Garden City. The next feature I pass is the boot pole.
Shenandoah road up. This is a sensational drive. The road is crowded in by heavy native forest and ferns. This is vast, difficult and remote country by any standards. And when you consider that the entire South Island has a population of about one million people, and that most of them live south of that line from Christchurch to Greymouth, you begin to understand just how sparse the population is where you are heading.
Of course we had to make the detour into Hanmer not Hamner where the weather had decided it was going to snow if it could — the result was that messy stuff called sleet.
The Navigator applied pressure to shop for half an hour then take a restorative plunge in the pools, but I objected saying we needed to press on and find one of the DOC camps before it got too dark. Truth is, there is nothing I like about sitting in a hot pool for 30 minutes or more. I get bored, tired and end up pink and wrinkled. Back onto the main road and we pressed on westwards into the mountains proper. We pass the lodge at Maruia Springs and the forest continues. Workers were putting away snow ploughs after a day spent clearing the road further on.
It was getting towards evening, and surprisingly the weather had improved inasmuch as it was no longer raining, but the skies were patchy so we started looking for a campsite. A pretty standard small DOC camp — toilet and half-a-dozen gravelled car parks set in native forest and with access to a river. As we set up camp, one of the locals paid us a visit — a small and charming robin who showed absolutely no fear at all.
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Camp coffee Nestles Coffee and Milk was welcomed in the morning even if it was made with chattering teeth. On the road again early and soon it became obvious where the road gangs had been busy clearing the snow off the road the previous day. Snow may be cold and wet as it turns into slush, but there is no disputing it can double the scenic value.
At Springs Junction there was no sign of the life there had been the last time I was through. Here, the mountains take a bit of a rest and you are in farmland with dairy cows being the most common inhabitants. We stop to have a look where the Murchison earthquake raised the bed of the Maruia River by several metres, creating a new waterfall. We are skirting around the eastern edge of the Kahurangi National Park and there are some no-exit roads that lead into the dark mountains. If we had more time, we would have explored. Up until the change of highway we had been following the Maruia River, but the point where the road goes left to Westport is also where the Maruia joins the Buller which has been coming from an easterly direction.
Soon we are in Murchison.
I like Murchison. In much of the town was destroyed by fire. But the Big One came in when a large earthquake struck at The epicentre was 65 kilometres north of Murchison and resulted in 17 deaths, two of them in a coalmine but the majority in landslides that followed the long shaking. There were more than 10, landslides and the damage was great — roads and rivers were blocked and 38 new lakes were created.
Spectacular Maruia Falls were created by the Murchison earthquake Yorkshireman Lee has found his new home in Murchison — baking pies and bread and doing a roaring trade Today, there is no easily visible sign of this massive displacement of soil and rock. They are very, very good and loaded with meat. The bright green exterior of what appears to have been an old garage and service station. Like many New Zealanders, I admit to being a pie enthusiast.
The Oxnam family bought the store in and it remains in family ownership today.
Barbara Oxnam ran the place until her death earlier this year at 88 years of age. The family now have two local staff running the place. Mixed among the goods on the painted shelves that line the walls are tins from years ago, so you get a picture of a shop that is part museum as well. I meet up with the Navigator, laden down with her purchases from the second-hand shop.
Last time we were here, two months. Instead, Murchison has found its place in mining, logging, farming and, for some years now, in tourism — first as a stopover, but more recently adventure tourism. One of the two pubs in Murchison — traditional in every way The old stables in Murchison — a wonderful historic building now with another use A bizarre sight at Kawatiri Junction — a railway platform! There are subtle changes in the geography now. We pass the Owen River hotel and carry on through Gowan Bridge where, until comparatively recently, there was a shop that specialised in fishing gear, or so I have been told.
Soon we are at Kawatiri Junction — remarkable for its old railway platform. This was part of the line that was built in stages from Nelson, heading to Inangahua with the aim of connecting up with the West Coast lines. But Kawatiri was as close as Nelsonians ever got to the dream of being connected by rail to the main railway system. After Kawatiri the changes in the geography quicken pace — there are vast tracts of pine forest — and as we reach our turn-off down the Motueka Valley at the old Kohatu Hotel, we are pretty much into civilisation again.
After leaving SH6 at Kohatu it goes on to Wakefield we are on the last leg of our journey to Motueka. I love the Motueka Valley.