New managers for Collingwood Camp
Bill and Shelley Climo are the new managers at the Collingwood Camping Ground. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Bill and Shelley Climo have returned to manage the Collingwood Camping Ground after 14 years’ break from the job.
They started their new three-year management contract for the TDC-owned campground on 1 October, taking over from Brian and Diane McKenna.
Bill says the move for them feels a bit like going back in time. “We got to know quite a few regular campers in our previous 10-year stint here. Now we’re already recognising some of their kids who are turning up to camp with their young families.
“This place has had a very loyal clientele over the years - whitebaiting and summer holiday seasons always the busiest of course.”
The pet-friendly campground presently hosts around 50 people, its allowable capacity being 167 persons. The prime-located two-hectare property, surrounded on three sides by the Aorere River or sea at high tide, comprises 40 power sites, 20 ordinary tent sites, 11 standard cabins, two self-contained cottages and one rental house, along with two communal kitchens, two ablution blocks, a TV room and high speed internet access.
“The place has seen some big upgrades over recent years and is pretty neat and tidy,” says Bill. “I’ve got the roofs to paint and a tennis court to tidy up so it can be used again, but otherwise there’s no big work planned.”
He plans to offer a local shuttle service this summer, including trips to feed the tame eels at his previous home in nearby Poplar Lane. To take up their new contract, both Bill and Shelley left their jobs, his as property manager at Collingwood Area School and hers on the front desk at Farewell Spit Safaris.
The original camp opened as Collingwood Motor Camp in the early 1950s, with the loan of £200 from the Nelson Automobile Association for five years to help get it going. Preliminary work to the value of £300 was carried out, and in August 1955 the Golden Bay County Council agreed to act as a Domain Board to control the camp.
TDC inherited the camp along with its others at Pohara, Motueka and Murchison, and leases them all out today.
Gerard Hindmarsh
