CAMPING BY THE SEA

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1935, Page 9

CAMPING BY THE SEA

TARANAKI FACILITIES WEALTH OF SITES AVAILABLE. CHEAP HOLIDAYS BY MOTOR. HEAVY TRAFFIC ON THE ROADS. The coast from Mokau to Patea is the motorist’s paradise. In the several hundred miles of coastline he will find delightful little bays, swimming places just meant for lazy days in the sun and motor camps where every facility is offered. If he is a wise motorist he will give thanks and rejoice exceedingly and plan more holidays with the succeeding years. At the present time motor camps in Taranaki have reached their highest point of development, and under' the stimulus of increasing traffic the facilities now available can be compared with those of any other district in New Zealand. Im- ■ provements are constantly being made and motorists have shown their appreciation of those improvements by staying at Taranaki motor camps for long periods. At the New Plymouth camps, for instance, several parties have booked for,stays of three months or more, some of-.-the parties being from' as far afield as, Otago. The experience has been the same with all the camps in Taranaki. It is possibly a circumstance of Taranaki life that the sea hps come to mean • a great deal more to the people man beauties of the hinterland. Consequently the growth of motor camps at seaside resorts, while amazing in quickness, has been, when all is said and done, merely a reflection of the tastes of the people of the province. Wise civic ! authorities have wasted no effort In making their camps the best possible, and their work has been splendidly carried out. At Mokau and Patea rivers run into the sea, and at the mouths motor camps have been formed. Both are splendid and to the traveller entering from either end of the province they are a prelude to camps that can give delight to the most jaded traveller. Tongaporutu, Urenui, Waitara, Fitzroy, Belt Road, Omata, Oakura, Opunake, Kaupokonui, Ohawe, Waihi and Patea are just a few of the camps situated along the coast of the province. Each one provides the traveller with all that is best in camp life. STEADILY GROWING TRAFFIC. Although for the past few weeks, there has been a steadily growing volume of traffic, within the last few days, and particularly in the Christmas-New Year period, the amount of traffic to Taranaki motor camps has been, and will be, astonishing in size. Cars from all parts of the Dominion, laden not only with the necessary camping gear, but also with families that give the lie in size to statements that the families of to-day are smaller than in the “good old days,” have been on the road in T<yranaki, and the comparison with the state of affairs of the holiday periods of a few years ago is remarkable. ‘ One notable feature of camping life to-day is* the way the motorist has -beeh catered for. Nowadays it is nothing for a car to roll into a camp, disgorge humans and luggage and have a radio in the, front seat dispensing dance music of the hottest kind on the cool, evening air. The humans, safely disgorged, proceed to erect tents‘of about four rooms, with a special compartment for garaging the car, and with other extraordinary facilities, almost including bath-room and shower. But the process of human evolution has not quite reached that stage yet, though it is reaching a stage, so far as holiday motorists are concerned, where mutronchopped old-timers are disposed to wag their moustaches fiercely in denunciation of the modem motorist. The outcry lasts only as long as the mutton-chopped veteran stays away from a holiday by motor. At all of Taranaki’s motor camps by the sea the facilities installed by considerate authorities have been specially designed to do away with the unfortunate peculiarities which made motor camps in the old days more a matter of peril than of holiday. Now the prospects of sandy food, sandflies or mosquitoes is, speedily being removed and a halcyon period is being entered. Camp houseshave had gas rings installed, facilities for the washing of clothes have been placed at suitable points and everything has been done for the motorist. HEALTH-GIVING SUN. There is after all little to better the prospect of an early morning swim and a lazy- day, with plenty of swimming, to follow. For workers engaged in a harsh struggle for existence for about 50 weeks of the year no moi;e desirable holidaycould be imagined. There are other benefits than peace of mind. There is the possibility of fishing, of acquiring a coat of, sun tan that will stay on till the next holiday, and of becoming more active, physically and mentally, by absorption of the health-giving rays of the sun. The holiday motorist really doesn t care-' whether he absorbs violet or infra-red rays. All he cares about is that he should have a good holiday. Of that he is assured in Taranaki’s motor camps. From Mokau to Patea, over 400 miles of littoral, the wandering motorist will find much to interest and detain him; He will find perfection of bathing places, perfection, or near enough not to matter of motor camps, and a climate that caii easily become perfect when it wills. If he is an outside motorist he will return again, rejoicing at the opportunity If he is a man of the province he will be astonished at the wealth of material in his own land and he will rejoice even more than the outsider when returning to some favoured spot.