Help – we were trying to move on - then in came a gaggle of geriatric golfers. They parked their cars, unloaded their golf trundlers, and left them standing every which way in front of our caravans. We were trapped. There was only one thing for it, boil the jug for a cuppa and wait for the golf club captain to sort everyone out. After some time the golfers had been put into teams of four, and the group slowly started taking their trundlers away and teeing off. Now we could finally hook the caravans up and start on our way to Duddings Lake.
Surrounded by golfers at Rangatira
It was an easy 55km trip to Duddings Lake Holiday Park. The park was gifted to the Marton Borough Council in 1964 by John Dudding and the Lions Club ran it until 1987 when it was leased out. Sadly, it has been the centre of controversy recently when the council mooted plans to sell the land. Under the Dudding's trust, the council is allowed to lease the park provided it is accessible to the public, it is kept under council management, or it is sold with restrictions on how it spends the money for the asset. The camp has been cleaned up considerably since we last visited, and appears to be managed by a group of volunteers. We certainly hope that it continues as a viable camping ground, as it is such a pretty place.
Day trippers, campers and boaties alike are catered here, and is centrally situated between Turakina and Bulls, and is 11km from Marton. The centrepiece of this park is the lake, with shady trees, picnic tables and playgrounds scattered around the edge. There are 24 power sites available and plenty of unpowered sites for tenters. We have the place virtually to ourselves with just one other large bus on site.
Camping at Duddings Lake
Duddings Lake
1 comment:
When I was in the Royal NZ Engineers we used to travel from Linton Camp to Duddings Lake to practice our boating and rafting skills. It didn't look nearly as nice back then!
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