Mobile Unit. Fox's motor camp, Alexandra

Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5614
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1948
Reference
5614
Media type
Audio
Series
Mobile Unit - NZ oral history, 1946-1948
Categories
Interviews (Sound recordings)
Sound recordings
Duration
00:14:24
Broadcast Date
1948
Credits
RNZ Collection
Fowler, Leo (b.1902, d.1976), Interviewer
New Zealand Broadcasting Service. Mobile Recording Unit, Broadcaster

A description of Fox's Motor Camp, Alexandra. Leo Fowler interviews the camp owner Mr Fox, and several campers.

Mr Fox says the campground was established on the site in 1939. It is located about a mile out of Alexandra, on the banks of the Manuherikia River. The site was previously a "dregs tailings" heap [mine dump]. The land was drained and levelled out, and it is now the biggest camp in New Zealand with space for eight or nine hundred tents or caravans.

Mrs Hoffmann, a recent English immigrant, is interviewed. She has been in New Zealand for two years, and was a 'Land Girl' during the war. She compares camping in New Zealand to camping at "Home" (England). She says campers are catered for better in New Zealand, and it is far better country for touring. She has been at the camp for three months.

Mr Fox says there are twenty-seven families living in the campground, in cottages. An unidentified woman camper talks about facilities in the cottages. The cottages have electricity, and there is a community wash-house.

Mrs Strang has been coming every Christmas since the camp opened. About three thousand campers come at Christmas time to stay in caravans and tents. Mr Fox speaks about the shower and wash facilities, which have hot water. All the cottages have cooking facilities too, and there is also a community room and laundry facilities. There is a large hall, which is the scene of quite a few concerts and dances. The camp committee organises activities and Christmas celebrations.

Another camper, Mrs Larsen, is a repeat guest. She is staying in a single hut for four weeks - it is the third holiday she has spent at the camp.

An unidentified woman [Mrs Gower?] then talks about the camp's "beach" - a very safe riverside spot for babies and children. Mr Fox also made a swimming hole with a bulldozer. She is staying in a hut, but also has a caravan. She says it's a very healthy climate for children.