The couple took over the popular North Canterbury camping ground early last year after long careers in business management.
Jean›Pierre says their first season had been a really good with lots of families staying at the camping ground and thousands more visiting daily next door at the recreation reserve which they manage on behalf of the Waimakariri District Council.
‘‘Our vision for the camp ground is to develop it as a safe and welcoming family friendly destination. This year we have been working really hard to develop the playgrounds and facilities to provide a safe environment for families to stay here. We offered many new activities to attract families and being close to Christchurch helps a lot with campers budgets in these tight times.’’
However he says the biggest eye›opener he and Michelle have had is seeing the amount of extra electrical devices people are bringing with them on camping trips today.
‘‘I was amazed at the number of devices, phones, gaming consoles, tablets, coffee machines and air›fryers people are now bring with them along with their electric bikes and scooters.’’
He says in the future the industry is going to have to look at how they provide charging points for all the electric devices.
Over the Christmas / New Year period he says they were pretty full with over 300 people on›site.
‘‘It was so great to see so many families here, the camp roads were packed with children everyday riding bikes, scooters and playing. Even our new glamping units, two Norwegian kit set homes, were popular and we haven’t even advertised them yet,’’ he says.
Megan Flutey of Kaiapoi says she loves the safe family orientated environment Michelle and Jean›Pierre have developed there. This is the third year she has camped there with her family alongside six other families, all friends from her school days in North Canterbury.
‘‘It’s very easy going here, very safe with lots of space and it’s great for the kids, there were so many here of the holiday period but there were no problems at all.’’
Jean›Pierre and Michelle are now preparing for the onset of retired campers, the grey nomads who like to travel at the end of holiday seasons, to miss the crowds while the weather is still mild.
