Click photo to enlarge
Richard and Sarah Burdon are the new owners of the Lake
Hawea Holiday Park. The couple take over from the Cotter
family who founded the camping ground and ran it for nearly
40 years. Photo by Lucy Ibbotson.
After nearly 40 years in the Cotter family, the Lake
Hawea Holiday Park is now under new ownership.
Richard and Sarah Burdon, owners of the camping ground's
neighbouring Glen Dene Station, have bought the business and
will take over in October.
Camping ground founder Dick Cotter told The News the sale had
been confirmed last week and it was an exciting time for all
involved.
‘‘All my family came home on Saturday for a celebration and
we met Sarah and Richard at the camp and shared a bottle of
wine.
‘‘There was a bit of emotion attached to it at the beginning
when we put it on the market, then when it's all sold and
you've got what we wanted, it's a bit of a celebration.''
Neither party was prepared to disclose the sale price.
However, Mr Cotter did confirm it was ‘‘pretty near what we
asked''.
The Burdons said they were ‘‘absolutely stoked'' with their
new venture and while they acknowledged they had big shoes to
fill, they hoped to be able to continue operating the
business as a ‘‘family holiday park'' in much the same
fashion as the Cotters had.
‘‘[The camping ground is] the gateway to Hawea. And we've got
the surrounding land behind it so we see some opportunities
in the future to amalgamate some of that land with the
camp,'' Mrs Burdon said.
Mr Burdon said the couple were keen to work with the council
and the community to find out what the needs were for the
camp.
The reins had been handed over by the Cotters with ‘‘lots of
really good advice'' and ‘‘a lavatory brush'' for good
measure, the Burdons said.
Mr Cotters' son Jimmy and daughter-in-law Rebecca had been
running the camp since 2000 but would move on in October, so
the Burdons were on the hunt for a new manager.
Mr Cotter and his late wife Margie developed the Lake Hawea
camping ground from Crown land previously managed by the
Hawea Domain Board and obtained the original 33-year lease
and rights of renewal.
The tenure on the land is secure. It has been vested in the
Queenstown Lakes District Council, which oversees the 33-year
lease, of which 29 years remain.
