When friends and family drop into Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park to visit Jocelyn Robertson, they know to drive directly to the guest entrance off Parkers Road and they’ll find her in the so-called ‘green zone’ somewhere between the willow trees and the estuary. This is the 49th year Jocelyn, who is now a great-grandmother, has […]
Every morning, weather permitting; Harry Osborne hitches the ‘fun trailer’ onto a bright red Massey 135 tractor and waits promptly near the Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park gates for his passengers. The trailer, which is decorated in colourful comic-book-like postage stamps featuring kiwis in different costumes, seats about 40 occupants. Depending on how many children, parents […]
The winners of the Collective Holiday Memories competition were announced at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park’s Big 90th Birthday Bash on 6 January 2017. STORY COMPETITION WINNER – The Annual Holiday Argument by Evelyn Dalzell Really resonated with the judges, who enjoyed the running gag. It had a good storytelling structure and lots of memorable moments. […]
Winner of the 2016 Judges’ Choice Award: · ‘Root Ball’ by David Carson [Tasman Artist] Exhibit #12 Recipients of Merit Awards for ‘Highly Commended’ Entries: · “Tree of Pablo” by Donna Allfrey [Nelson Artist] Exhibit #9 · “Anti-Amphitheatre” by Dan Braulsh [Transient Artist] Exhibit #3 · “The Cycle Trail” by Maggy Johnston [Tasman Artist] Exhibit […]
We are proud to announce the shortlist for the Collective Holiday Memories story competition includes: Diane Bargas Rees – A Night Encounter Hayley Barrett – Summer Storm Steve Cassidy – Fifty-four years of happy memories at Tāhuna Beach Jude and Dave Coursey – A lifetime of Tāhuna Christmas’ Evelyn Dalzell – The annual holiday argument […]
1. There’s no such thing as getting away from it all ‘All’ is what makes life easy and keeps you warm, dry and well-nourished. ‘All’ is what makes a decent cup of coffee, retards the decay of foodstuffs and keeps your belongings stored in some kind of order. ‘All’ is also what keeps you fresh-smelling, […]
In early 2017, ‘Couch Stories’ teamed up with Collective Holiday Memories to entertain campers and Nelson locals on a summer evening at the Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park. The event was held on Saturday, 11 February 2017 at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park’s Keith Hall Memorial Outdoor Theatre (known as the Amphitheatre). The theme for the night […]
When I was nine years old, my parents Ray and Dot Cassidy from Belfast who were enthusiastic caravaners, decided it was time they ventured further than the beach camps north of Christchurch. This was the beginning of annual family holiday treks to Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park. There was always much excitement when it was time […]
How do we fill three weeks of camping? We love the days at the camp where we just laze around and go nowhere at all! We swim surprisingly infrequently but there are plenty of other reasons to head to the beach. Graham tries to catch a fish sometimes (reasonably unsuccessfully), and we often take an […]
It’s never been an option for us. We are Tāhuna tenters all the way. There’s something about the smell of a tent, year after year. There’s something about being able to hear the morning plane and the welcome over the load speaker. There’s something about the anxiety during periods of high wind or rainfall, where […]
Early on in our relationship, my husband recognised the importance I placed on the annual pilgrimage to Tāhuna, and fortunately he also enjoys the experience. So through thick and thin, we go to Nelson and seldom leave before our allotted time is up. But three times out of the last 20, we almost didn’t have, […]
Our memories of Tāhuna begin in 1956 with our parents, Herb and Hazel Pattinson, taking us on a Newman’s bus to spend Christmas holidays in a old caravan at the park close to where number four kitchen is now. While we were in Nelson that year, Dad brought the first family car and a tent […]
A couple of years ago, after a great Christmas at home in Christchurch, we decided to top it off with a few days of relaxation at Tāhuna, our favourite camp ground. We knew we would find great facilities and beautiful scenery there. However we also looked forward to making new friends, and the possibility of […]
My parents lived on a farm at Gropers Bush, which is between Riverton and Otautau in Southland. My father bought their caravan and had a large awning made to measure. He gave my mother lovely picnic sets for Christmas presents so she could leave these in the caravan to save her unpacking when they arrived […]
Growing up in Ashburton as the youngest of five, I made pocket money for being a nuisance to my older sisters whose boyfriends paid me to stay away! My family and our neighbours travelled to Nelson and Tāhuna beach for our annual Christmas holiday. Our caravan, driven by Mum was towed by a PAX Vauxhall […]
Jude: My connection with Tāhuna began as a young child when my parents decided to start camping in ‘M’ block after staying in the Lodge Motels, which backed onto the camp with a gate into the camp. Family friends called the Bollands were camped at Tāhuna and would visit us and Mum and Dad decided […]
My story starts approximately eight years ago. My granddaughter said to me: “Why don’t we have a Cousins Camp?” I had my eldest grandchild aged about 12 in the car with me and we heard a lady on the radio, from America, talk about how she and her husband were having a ‘Cousins Camp’, so […]
I was two years old and my sister was five when, back in 1953, our family made the first long car trip from Ashburton to Nelson – a tradition that continued for many years, with a trailer behind the car packed high with all the camping gear. Our tent was a motor tent (green roof, […]
Our family has a tradition of saying our good and bad things at the end of each day while we sit at the dinner table. Frequently, my good things are about special memories of camping or me counting down the days until we next go camping. My absolute favourite thoughts are our family camping holidays […]
Back in 1996 three families went to Tāhuna on a camping holiday. Twenty-one years later they are still going. The camping ground has changed, our camp site has changed and boy have we changed! We had all been friends for many years and when we first decided to head to Nelson to camp there were […]
In 1953 we travelled over Arthurs Pass to the Glaciers, where it rain most days. Next was camp was at Punakiki for three nights and then onto Tāhuna to dry out out tent and ourselves, and it was at Tahanua Beach Camping ground that we caught up with the news about the terrible accident at […]
The Jackson family decided to start having family holidays at Tāhuna Holiday Camp in the 1950s. Every Christmas the car and trailer would be packed up for two to three weeks of fun in the sun. The tent, canvas stretchers, food, Tilly lamp, clothes, games, etc were all packed, with not a inch of room […]
Keryn Cawood has been enjoying sunsets during her annual holiday at Tāhuna Beach for over 30 years – and looks forward to another 30.
Keryn Cawood has been coming to Tāhuna Beach for 30 years, over the Christmas and New Year period, with extended family and friends – camping on the same sites every time. She says she wouldn’t change it for the world. This photo was taken on the back beach behind the camp on the last night […]
The McNatty family holidayed at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park in 1983. Trish’s brother John enjoyed riding the crazy bikes.
At first it was just a rumble in the distance that barely disturbed the quiet summer night. I needed to go to the toilet block, but I wasn’t going anywhere with that strange noise around. I squeezed my eyes shut and shuffled further into my sleeping bag. Perhaps if I ignored it, it would go […]
Hayley Barrett has been coming to Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park every Christmas since 1978 when she was three years old. She started bringing her husband twenty years ago and now they bring their children who look forward to their summer caravan holiday all year, the same way she did when she was a kid (and […]
Julia Daly’s father has holidayed at Tāhuna Beach for 60 years and first brought her along when she was only six weeks only. She is now 33 years old and brings her own children. Sofia is four and first came at six weeks and Henry first holidayed at Tāhuna when he was only two weeks […]
I was two years old and my sister was five when, back in 1953, our family made the first long car trip from Ashburton to Nelson – a tradition that continued for many years, with a trailer behind the car packed high with all the camping gear. Our tent was a motor tent (green roof, […]
“We live here out of inspiration, not desperation.” So declares long-time permanent camp resident Paul Dayman who lives with his partner Marion Whyte in an area of the camp its residents call The Heights. Looking west across the camp towards the snow-capped Mt Arthur Range, home is a comfortable caravan and insulated annexe, with a […]
Itchy feet have seen Bob and Trish Ryder take to the road around the country in house buses and caravans through the decades but now they prefer sandy feet as permanent residents at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park. The couple have lived in the park since 2011 and say the decision to swap moving wheels for […]
Ayumi Murdoch’s image, titled “The Happy Followers”, is the July Photo of the Month in the Collective Holiday Memories competition. Ayumi, her husband, son (now nine years old) and daughter (now 12) have been camping at Tāhuna Beach over the summer holidays every year since 2009.
Ayumi Murdock is a 45 year old mother of two children. “My husband, kids and I have spent the Christmas holidays at Tāhuna Beach every year since 2009. We enjoy camping, swimming, fishing and playing holiday park activities.”
Ro Cambridge moved to Nelson in her 50s and has never camped at Tāhuna. However, she says the ‘back beach’ – a place where dogs and their owners are allowed to run free – is a delight.
Anna Wilde lives in Nelson with her husband and two young sons. “We always feel like we’re on holiday when we visit the beach,” she says.
Michelle Betts has been camping at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park for the last seven years with her kids Izaak and Tyler and parents. Izaak and Grandad used to love the tractor rides around the camping ground.
My first memories of holidaying at Tāhuna Beach Camp start in the 1940s. We lived in a small coal mining town on the West Coast and every year for our annual holidays we came up to Tāhuna for a month. It seemed like most of our street in Dunollie came too, plus many others from […]
As the summer holidays got closer each year, preparations for a long stay at Tāhunanui Camp would begin, including packing the caravan with what we would need for the holiday. I was primary school age when we started camping here and would count the days down until we hooked the caravan up and set off […]
Two years ago my family and I had an amazing first camping trip away as family. It was my daughter and partner’s first time camping trip ever, all of us had so much fun with all the activities available at the Tāhuna Beach. My daughter was initially so scared of the water slide but as […]
Tāhunanui Beach was commonly known as ‘The Sands’ until a competition was run in 1902 to suggest a name, with a prize of One Guinea. The Maori name Tāhuna was selected from 442 entries, the English translating as ‘sea beach’ or ‘sand hill’, with Tāhunanui being suggested to refer to the locality. As there was […]
A dark blue wave intersects with patches of blue and silver in the striking custom paint job that adorns the sides of Jude and Dave Coursey’s caravan, which they inherited back in 1997 from Jude’s father. The 25-foot home on wheels now serves as “caravan central” for Jude and Dave’s extended family during the three […]
Walter Nash was prime minister of New Zealand when Diane Harris’ family first embarked on the road trip from Ashburton to Nelson on Boxing Day in 1958. At the time, the road up the coast via Kaikoura was only gravel. Diane’s family made the journey in a Humber 80, towing a trailer full of camping […]
“For many New Zealanders the beach is the essence of the Kiwi dream – the sun, the space, the physical beauty and the sense of a relaxed escape into nature. Easy and free access to the beach has been seen as a national birthright. The beach is considered to be the place to go for […]
When we consider beaches as permanent features, problems can arise. We build roads, playgrounds and businesses on sand dunes and estuary lands – and in the case of Tāhunanui, have established an iconic recreational asset – on places that are actually on the move. 1930 to Present Day Since 1935 it has been possible to […]
Maori history Maori first settled around the Waimea Inlet over 600 years ago. Successive tribes made their camps and settlements on the coast and islands. One of the oldest of these camps was located near the junction of Bisley Avenue and Rocks Road (then at the edge of the Waimea Inlet). Nestled in sand dunes […]
Tāhunanui Beach did not exist when Nelson was settled by Europeans. What is now the beach was once mudflat near the edge of the main channel draining the Waimea Inlet. It has taken a mere 100 years for Tāhunanui Beach to build, with sands from Tasman Bay. Such is the nature of beaches and coastal […]
We’re really proud that New Zealanders have been making Collective Holiday Memories here at Tāhuna Beach since 1926. In 2016, we celebrated! The Tāhuna Sands Association first took over responsibility for development of the site back in 1926 and soon built changing sheds, a playground and a kiosk. Locals and holidaymakers started enjoying the site […]
Many New Zealanders have fond memories of staying at Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park in Nelson Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park has been collecting these holiday memories. The site where Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park is located, adjacent the golden sands of Tāhunanui Beach, has been available for holidaymakers and locals to enjoy since 1926. To celebrate, we […]
The Tāhuna Beach Sculpture Walk competition was a central focus of the celebrations in 2016, running alongside the Collective Holiday Memories competition – so there was much for locals and visitors to discover, explore and celebrate. To coincide with the call for contributions of photographs and stories, TBHP partnered with Arts Council Nelson to put […]