I’d heard good things about this campground and with a few nights in the area with no plans, we decided to give it a try. As it was New Year’s Day, there was no issue with getting a camping spot. If we’d wanted to go over Christmas, I know we’d have needed to book months in advance and adhered to minimum stay requirements.

What we liked:

• Location, location location! What a magic spot! The sand dunes are the only thing separating this campground from the most beautiful beach, great if you have kids that aren’t likely to run off to the sea without anyone noticing….
• The sand dunes and border of trees create a natural buffer against the wind and provide shade when it’s 30 degrees plus in the height of the summer. In cooler months, pick your spot carefully as you might want some sun warming the tent during the day.
• Lots of activities to do on your doorstep as well as the beach and sea. You can walk/cycle down that huge wharf, fish off the wharf or hire a kayak from the holiday park or explore the Cook’s Cove Walkway. Further afield in the wider Gisborne area, there are even more things to explore, including some wet weather activities. You won’t get bored!
• This area in general is very popular with keen fishermen and the holiday park has a tractor for hire to tow boats into the water, it can accommodate small boats, bait is sold in the high season and there’s a bait freezer and a fish filleting area near the kitchen.

Things to be aware of:

• This is a basic campground so parents that prefer the kids to be entertained with an inflatable pillow, huge playground, TV room etc will be disappointed. There’s a small playground and the beach and sea are minutes walk away but it does mean that parents with younger kids will need to be more vigilant and mindful of where their kids are.
• In the height of the summer the kitchen and bbqs get so busy that you might have to wait to use them. If you can, take your own bbq and then you’ll only need to queue for a sink!
• With a high volume of occupants, equipment wasn’t always working but a word to the onsite manager usually saw the problem being fixed quickly.
• Gisborne is just over 50kms away so it’s worth stocking up on supplies for several days if you can.
• There’s no indoor space to hangout if the weather isn’t so great so look to have a gazebo with you for extra covered room.

For more ideas of what to do in the Gisborne region, look here.

General Info:

Tologa Bay Holiday Park address: 167 Wharf Road, Tologa Bay. Contact number 06 862 6716.

The holiday park has cabins, powered and unpowered sites.