Timeline Ticker - latest news 

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09 February 2022- An update from the APCNZ office.

Freedom Camping Review.  Over the past couple of weeks I have been having online meetings with  team comprising MBIE, NZMCA, the Plumbers and Gasfitters board and other parties involved with self containment or motorhome and caravan construction. MBIE has been directed to hold these meeting to develop a pathway for new self containment regulations (law) should MP Stuart Nash's proposal / bill go through. 

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We are not allowed to consider portable toilets as this is how MBIE has been directed despite the fact that no bill has yet been drafted or passed to outlaw these from self containment. the technical meetings are simply to look at the management of the self containment system which will come with considerable costs. It is very clear from NZMCA representative comments that they do not support portable toilets. Being on the advisory committee is not fun as we are fundamentally opposed to the proposed changes and increased control.

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It will be up to organisations like ours and individuals to submit on the proposed Bill when it does go to parliament. 

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Currently it looks as though all caravans, motorhomes or smaller camping vehicles with portable toilets will be excluded from the definition of self containment and under further proposed changes to the Freedom Camping Act excluded from camping on all council and NZTA land where self contained vehicles can camp, unless the authority makes an exception to allow this. (not including campgrounds)  Councils current bylaws will therefore have a higher exclusion rate than currently or will have to allow all campers in their bylaws. This will affect council controlled land at beaches, river reserves etc. 

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Events under Covid  We are being very cautious with holding events in the current climate.  Our committee will be meeting on Tuesday 15th February to discuss the current situation. 

We are always keen to have help from members to continually improve the club and support our national membership. If you are interested in helping out please contact our president Wayne Ravelich. 

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APCNZ Hello Club portal.  The club investment in a new member management system seems to be paying off but we are still very much in a trial stage. The latest newsletter was sent out to members via Hello Club with good success. The system sends automatic reminders for subs and club admins can email regional groups and set up regional member lists. Go to https://apcnz.helloclub.com/ to update your membership details, list or view the member directory or invite friends. Your login is linked to your club email. All members should have received a welcome email from Hello Club so check your emails. If not you can enter your email address and request your user name and set up a new password.  

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Note: to search the member directory for club members near you (only some members choose to share details) go to https://apcnz.helloclub.com/directory. There is search box at the top and you can enter your region or district.

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27 January 2022 - An update from the APCNZ office. 

The club office is now up and running again after the Summer break. Firstly, welcome to all our new members. It's great to have new faces onboard, wherever you have come from and whatever you interests or beliefs. 

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APCNZ operates as an inclusive camping club but sometimes our hands are tied with Government or property host or government expectations. The club is managed by a small, volunteer team with the home office based in Feilding Manawatu. We have a significant number of projects on the go and are currently dealing with several government departments  to ensure campers rights to enjoy sustainable and responsible camping. A monthly newsletter is emailed to all members providing updates.  

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We are in a bit of  tricky situation with club events at the moment due to the Covid situation, Our preference is for smaller informal get togethers rather than large events. 

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Please check out our club shop at www.apcnz.org/shop and use your membership cards to support our suppliers and make some great savings. Contact the team above with any questions.

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Our new membership management system is coming.  We believe the Hello Club membership program will make it easier for our team to communicate with and manage our membership tasks. Members will be able to update their details online, add family members etc. membership renewals will be processed automatically saving many hours our work for our team. This will enable us to spend more time focused on what is important.  We hope that this will be up and running before the new year.     

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06/12/2021

Hi to all our members. If you are a new club member or this is the first time you have accessed our member only pages please remember that we are a volunteer team and working hard to continually support NZ Campers and improve our systems.  We are passionate but we aren't professionals and as our national camping club grows we will continue to make improvements.

 

Well that last two weeks have been exhausting and the projects we were working on got shelved while we dealt with the fallout from MP  Stuart Nash's attacks on the lower end of the camping industry and point scoring at the national tourism conference. Stuart seem to forget that his attacks on 'slider' vans 'those people' and proposals to remove portable toilets from self containment affect all campers in NZ who use portable toilets in their vehicles from pre 1995 Motorhomes and 2000 caravans, through to poptops, trailer campers, slide-ons, and higher end sliding door campervans. A $150,000 volkswagen camper is designed only for a portable toilet. Stuart Nash has made it clear that he wants to focus on the premium tourist and perhaps believes that those in repurposed trade vans are not worth campers. T

 

The MBIE report on the 2021 public consultation includes no factual evidence to support MR Nash's, image focused, assertions and the level of restrictions he proposes. The report reviews consider there is only low to moderate chance that the proposes will achieve an improvement to freedom camping behaviour. The blame game against campers ignores the impacts and behaviours of some residents and other users of our outdoor spaces such as trampers, cyclists and day trippers. We consider it is those with a portable toilet who are responsible and being singled out because campers stay overnight ignores daytime behaviours. 

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The APCNZ team is committed to support all campers and will be working hard in 2022 to make sure MP's and the public are aware of the positives of camping in NZ. This will be done primarily through our Camping The Kiwi Way Forum and we hope that all NZ camping groups can come together on the issues.  We have continually advocated to the government that developing a sustainable leisure camping industry requires all parties, including the people, to be involved.

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Membership management program - Our team is currently developing / trialing a new membership management system. This is a major and costly project, but something we desperately needed to do. We hope to have this up and running over the next couple of months with an improved member directory. 

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Monthly membership newsletter - The next issue is going out this week by email

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Our Online Club Shop - Our club shop has been set up to enable members to purchase club merchandise and to have a range of interesting products that we can display at markets etc to better engage with passing public. You will see that it includes some OzTent products as our members get a special rate through OzTent as well as other national suppliers. 

 

Supplier discounts - There are too many to name here but of note are Bluebridge which offers year round discounts, Star CamperCare Insurance and NetSpeed mobile broadband for ongoing member discounts.  If you have recently joined you membership pack will be posted out to you.

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www.stopandstay.org is our growing network of recommended and discounted stops. APCNZ does not operate on an exclusive basis so this listing is being developed for all New Zealanders. We need you recommendations which can be made through the website.   

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 Camping the Kiwi Way Magazine - In early 2021 the APCNZ team agreed to cosponsor #CampingtheKiwiWay to promote camping positively in NZ. This includes the development of social media pages and websites, a free camping magazine for campers and clubs and a central levy group for developing a sustainable camping future. The magazine has been delayed as we are seek a skilled editor to help us get this released. the magazine will be available and distributed online as well as limited distributed through public businesses, cafes etc. magazine costs are covered by low cost advertising. 

 

21/11/2021

Growing our national camping club. Time certainly flies when we are busy. If you are a new club member I want to welcome you. The club is managed by a volunteer team who put in many hours on top of our busy lives. we believe firmly that family and health comes first so sometimes their can be delays in what we are doing.

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The last 18 months have been particularly challenging in the leisure camping industry and the effects of Covid-19 and it's economic and psychological effects will continue for sometime. As an incorporated society, accountable, interacting with Government, Councils and the NZ public it is important that we are seen to be responsible in how we deal with the ongoing issues. Accordingly we are taking a cautious approach to club events and get togethers.  The club is required to comply with the new Covid-19 Protection Framework (Traffic Lights)

 

We know many of our members are hurting from the ongoing lockdowns and restrictions. We are passionate campers / travelers and we are biting at the bit to get out and about. 

 

I have just returned home from a brief South Island trip where I met with associated businesses and club members, culminating in a small but successful club dinner at Speights, Tower Junction in Christchurch. It was good to meet with members and share ideas. promoting and attending Folk Festivals is a suggestion we will follow up on.  

 

APCNZ was formed 6 years ago to provide support to all campers in NZ, from lower income families to Motor homers. In the early days we promoted inclusive 'family' camps often targeted towards engaging with and supporting families with children with a disability. As Covid restrictions ease up this is an important area that we want to focus on. 

 

There is still considerable uncertainty in the leisure camping industry over the Government's (read Stuart Nash) proposals for the future of camping. There is a stated intention to focus on high value tourism which is at odds with our camping industry. We hope that the government will make wise decisions and recognise the health, social and economic benefits of camping for current and future generations. 

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Managing and growing the club is demanding and we are continually looking at ways to do better. Over the summer we will be looking to cement our status as NZ's National Camping Club. We are seeking help from members in the areas of marketing and operating our systems.  If you can help we would love to hear from you.   

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20/08/2021

DOC Passes: Following the recent release of the DOC campsite passes there has been considerable online discussion about the fairness of the pass structure. The APCNZ team led by our DOC Liaison Officer and northland member Alex Hastie lobbied DOC through multiple channels to get a pass that was fair to all NZ campers. At the last minute DOC dropped a further club discount on us (of up to 30%) with 7 days to make application to a minimum contribution of 1000 volunteer hours or dollar equivalent.  As the discounts are targetted towards organisations with a high turnover far exceeding that of APCNZ we are unable to qualify for the additional discounts. Our team is now working with DOC on a new pricing structure for 2022 onwards. It is slow progress.  

 

Resignation: The committee advises the resignation (from committee) of Ross Bennett. Ross and Lyn have been very active members of the club and committee from 2017 to 2021 and we thank them for their contribution over that time.

 

Leisure Show: This year the club was accepted to host a stand at the Waikato Motorhome and Leisure Show. However on 16 August our stand was cancelled by the event organisers with a refund to follow, citing a 'conflict of interest' relating to NZMCA naming rights. As this is a breach of Section 27 of the Commerce Act and has been occurring since 2018 the committee has considered what action to take. Subsequent to social media posts advising our cancellation the event organisers have backed down an offered the club its stand again and advised that NZMCA have no issues with our attendance. No explanation has been provided. Following discussions with NZMCA upper management we have decided to not pursue legal action in this matter and will focus on strengthening contact and common areas of support for the NZ leisure camping industry. APCNZ will be seeking to exhibit at smaller home and leisure shows around the country and involve our local groups and area reps.  Our Vice President Neil O'Gorman has been appointed NZMCA Liaison Officer.

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Camping the Kiwi Way Magazine:  This initiative has been delayed due a change of editor and health matters. As a volunteer run organisation we are dependant on our volunteers time. If you are interested in marketing our club or the editor role we would be keen to hear from you. 

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Membership Software:  The committee is keen to pursue a dedicated membership software system with a members portal, regional listings etc.  We now have the funds to do this and hope to have an improved system in the near future. In the meantime we encourage our areas reps and members to keep in regular contact with each other.

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Subs: This year year we have seen a much lower uptake in membership renewals and new memberships while at the same time providing greater benefits and more events for our members. We need to improve this and are open to your ideas.

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02/07/2021

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Time goes so fast and it's time for another update. The new look, fee, digital, 'Camping the Kiwi Way' magazine will be coming out on a few days. We are just  waiting on a couple of articles and images to come in. The magazine will have a new format with around 50 pages. This issue will include our Stop and Stay listings.  The ongoing attacks on freedom camping by Govt MP's is causing some additional and time consuming work for our team.. Remember we are all volunteers.  

p.s. Don't forget to check out our club shop at www.apcnz.org/shop 

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26/05/2021

Subsequent to the club AGM Lyn Bennett made the decision to step down as club Vice President and Neil O'Gorman has been appointed to this role. Neil is a business professional from Auckland and will be a great benefit to our club in this role. Current priorities are continuing to work with MBIE on the Freedom Camping review and DOC on the new campsite pass. Our new look club magazine goes out in June.

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The APCNZ submission to MBIE on Stuart Nash's proposals can be viewed here.

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04/05/2021

Well the Club AGM is now over for another year and we can now start moving forward and planning for the next Summer Season and work on our improvements to how the club operates. 

The following persons were elected to their Respective positions to lead our organisation for the 2021 / 2022 year. 

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Executive committee:

President:              Wayne Ravelich     email president@allpointscampingnz.org   ph.  022 3280973

Vice President:      Neil O'Gorman      email aucklandnorth@apcnz.org    

Secretary:              Gillian Searle          email secretary@allpointscampingnz.org   ph.  03 381 4393

Treasurer:               Gary Stoneley       email treasurer@allpointscampingnz.org   ph.  027 2469778

(Note:  Lynn Bennett has chosen to not take up the Vice President position post election. Accordingly the club committee is required to determine the course of action in moving forward to fill this position)  

 

Regional Representatives:

Northern:                                    Vicky Holden               ph. 027 2408 748

Auckland:                                    Neil O'Gorman            ph. 022 437 8747 

Waikato - Bay of Plenty:            Mary Reid                    ph. 022 468 0433 

Central - NI South of Taupo:     Jo Ravelich                   ph. 021 0564 445

Tasman - Marlborough:            Martin Ireland             ph. 027  201 8887

South Island Central:                 Wayne Searle              ph.  021 022 98326

Southern:                                    Tracey Johnston           ph. 021 121 8612 

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General Committee:

Les Convery                             ph.  021 169 0939

Ray Harris                                ph.  027 242 1846 

                       

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07/04/2021 

It never stops at our little office. Welcome to new members and thank you to those who have recently renewed. The club had a very successful promotion with the Kimbolton Sculpture Festival on the 27th March. We have supported  three events now, sponsoring one of the sculpture prizes and hosting the camping. We also operated a club stall and sold a range of products.

 

The club has held three camps over Easter being 2 North island and one South Island. Their are more camps coming up and we will be advising all members shortly.

 

Lobbying and AGM . These are two current priorities for us at moment with the Government reviewing Freedom Camping and our AGM on 1st May.  We are seeking people with marketing skills to help us raise our national profile and grow our membership and capital base. This is necessary to more effectively provide support future support to our campers. Please contact our club President if you would like to help.     

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27/02/2021 If you are a new member please accept our apology in the delay in granting you access. The past two weeks have been crazy as we have had to deal with political attacks against NZ Campers. We are developing a strategy to address these ongoing attacks and to promote camping positively to all parties.  

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13/02/2021 The club shop is now up and running! There are still a few tweaks to be made to it and items are still being added but you can check it out at www.apncnz.org/shop.

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The Kimbolton Sculpture Festival is coming up on the 27th March 2021. this is a fantastic rural festival. the club operates the overnight camping and sponsors the event prizes to $600.00. Check it out. 

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13/12/2020 As we head into the new summer season the club has several events happening around the country including or 5th Birthday celebrations at Broadlands, North of Taupo. We also have new suppliers on board for the summer with Torpedo 7, BigSave and NetSpeed discounted mobile Broadband. Check out the latest club magazine and newsletter for more details.

 

Technology and communication are amongst our biggest challenges and expenses. We are working hard to make information easy to access. The public club magazine is available to read on any device, no download required and we are looking at ways to  make internal club documents easier to access. These ae all uploaded to the member's documents page as pdfs.

 

06/10/2020  Well the club AGM was a great success and we now have a very strong committee with a a good range of skills. There are lots of club events coming up and the team under Wayne Ravelich is working hard to build supportive regional networks. Check out the latest member Newsletter on this page. Member newsletters come out Monthly with the NZ Lifestyle Camping Magazine coming out quarterly. 

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NEW DISCOUNT SUPPLIER   - APCNZ financial members can now enjoy trade discounts at Bunnings which is super handy heading into Summer. All new and renewing members get the new discount cards and existing members can contact their Regional Reps to get a new / replacement card if needed.

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The club has now purchased the web domains APCNZ.org  and StopandStay.org. These will help us to better promote the club and our popular and growing Stop and Stay Network.  

 

06/05/2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has put a hold on many of our club  activities. We have been taking the opportunity to refresh the website and do some planning for what the NZ leisure Camping industry will look like.

 

Our Stop and Stay- recommended and discount camps listing has been updated and we will now be working with camping hosts to grow this. Campground operators need to make a profit and we need to also support their role in the industry. In some cases discounts will be offered but not by all and this shouldn't be expected.  

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As soon as we are able we will be organising camping events and get together in regions. What these will look like at this stage we don't know.  

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11/12/2019  Several members of the committee are currently working on updating our club membership records. This involves issuing annual subscription renewal invoices for all members who joined in November, December and January of any year. Email reminders are also being sent out to members who have not paid their subscription renewal. 

 

Summer Programme - Having just held successful several successful camps our priorities now are on bring verything up to speed at the club office and managing the significat growth in membership we are experiencing. Updating the club website and cintinuing to improve our communication and engagement with members is a priority.

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Our club Vice President, Wayne Ravelich, publishes a monthly club newsletter that is eamiled to each member but we would ideally like to see more members interacting socailly and getting together for weekend events.  APCNZ provides Liabilty Insurance to cover group events. 

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Lobbying - The APCNZ team has been actively lobbying with DOC over discount campsite passes. Through our association with NZ Lifestyle Camping we now have input into the TIA's Responsible Camping Forum and Govt contacts. We are continually seeing campers rights being eroded by local authorities and will need to make valid submissions to all councils in 2020. We urgently need supporters with the relevant knowledge skills and a level  head to help us make a difference. 

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Website changes, communication and club promotion 

(05/12/19) - We are still working on improving the website. The member benefits page will be updated prior to Xmas 2019 and the Stop and Stay page will be moving to it's own website. (This is a free listing ofrecommended, interesting, unique places to stop at or stay which offer great service. It can include boutique businesses (with parking space), country taverns and campgrounds. 

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(20/05/19) - We are currently rebuilding the APCNZ website top make it more effective, user friendly and to provide more information for our members. We plan that the changes and improvements will be completed by 31 May. 

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Latest news on member benefits (20/05/19) - Interislander and Bluebridge Ferry have both come onboard with member direct discounts on Ferry crossings and NZ rail Great Journeys. We are currently working to negotiate a national discount deal with a NZ battery chain and International Travel / Cruises. Our Network of discount campgrounds is growing and we plan to have 100 discount / recommended campgrounds by March 2020.  As from 1 July the KHP discount card will no longer be supplied to every new APCNZ members but will be available to be purchased. 

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2020 AGM Overview (20/05/19) - A very successful AGM was held at Taupo All Seasons Kiwi Holiday Park on Saturday 11th May 2019. We had good discussion on the direction the club should be taking, our partnership with Kiwi Holiday Parks and membership benefits. The focus forheading into the next 12 months is to improve our support base for members with local access to support, advice  and resources. There were lots of ideas for events shared. It was good to have new faces come onto our committee and we now have a wide spread of skills and experience. Full details on the AGM  will be uploaded to the member's only pages shortly and an email sent out to all members.

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01 May 2019 - What an amazingly busy Summer it has been. We have had some very successful club events and are looking forward to the winter months to catchup on all the missed tasks, rebuild the websites and plan the future direction of the club.

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We have had very postive results from the survey that has gone out prior to our AGM. It's good to know we are on the right track. We have alow response to membership renewals but invoice reminders are being sent out. This needs further analysis.

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Concerns:

• APCNZ has requested input to the Governments Responsible Camping Working Group but has received no response.

• Reports are coming in about NZMCA entering into numerous private 'exclusive' camping agreements  with  local authorities and regional councils. 

• DOC campsites passes have been under review. Thes are currently only available to NZMCA members and rental companies.  We have requested an update on progress with making this fairer to NZ campers.

 

Coming Up. 

1. AGM at Taupo All Seasons 11 May

2. Thames Steam Punk Camp November

3. 4th Birthday / New Year Camp

 

In progress - Listing of recommended member camps and member only properties, National servicing and upport register, website updated. 

We have new business partners / savings coming on board.

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Seeking. - Youth focused members to start setting up regional camps

                - Committee member / representative to build contacts with disbility groups 

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28 December 2018 - Having enough time to do everything we need to do has been a challenge. 

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Please check out the latest club magazine for a full listing of upcoming events. http://anyflip.com/jusu/cziy 

We have started re designing our website and member only pages. The aim is make it more user friendly and easier to find national and regional services and member support. This will include a full listing of membership benefits.

 

Kiwi Holiday Parks discount card.  Currently APCNZ purchases a KHP discount card for each family membership as a discounted rate. APCNZ actively promotes the Kiwi Holiday Parks  chain and has spent more than 13000.00 on the cards over the past 2 years. KHP have now increased the price we pay and we are considering our options. Together with our promotional partnership with NZ Lifestyle Camping and other contacts we now have the numbers to develop our own national (discounted) camping scheme.  This is something we wil be investigating further over the coming months.

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27 August 2018 - Winter is just about over and things are starting to crank up for summer. Over the next few weeks we will be finalising membership discounts including a member fuel card and retail discount cards. 

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More information will be available in a few days.

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Aucklanders. Colin Forster is the man to contact about getting things humming in your region. We provide liabilty cover of $2 Million to give that extra reassurance. 

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5 June 2018 - The new constitution for the All Points Camping Club of NZ Incorporated has been approved by the Companies Office. All financial members as at 01 June 2018 Are considered members of the new incorporated society.

The new constitution may be viewed here .  

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24 May - The new draft constitution for APCNZ Inc. is currently with committee members for consultation.  It should be uploaded to this page within the next week for comment.   

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24 May - Kiwi Holiday Parks 

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On Tuesday 22/05 I flew down to CHCH and spoke at the Kiwi Holiday Parks conference. It was also a great oportunity to meet with some of the park owners and several other industry partners.

 

There is considerable support withing KHP for our efforts to get more kiwi families into camping and also to suport targetted camps e.g for childeren with disability or learning impairment. 

the following camps are worth a mention.

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Otorohanga - won the top camp award with a raft of developments throughout the year. The camp also has a special area at discounted price for CSC vehicles.

 

Omokoroa offers no charge for children Autumn and Spring. Love that.

 

Turangi camp can cater for large groups and has potential for next years AGM.  

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20 May 2018 - AGM update

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Held at Himatangi Beach Holiday Park

12 May 2018

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Election of office holders as listed.

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Discussion on North and South areas for events and  membership contact support - Committee to finalise these 

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The general consensus was that each area should be able to form a 'local' group to organise events etc. and have representation on the APCNZ committee. This will be included in the new constitution.  Liability to the club for member activities is an issue. Member guidelines for events apply.  Liabilty cover is currently set at $1M. 

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Membership list. Due to privacy requirements a members only area on the club website to be created. Member contact lists can only show details of those members that authorise it. (Exception all committee members will be listed)

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Subscriptions to be raised to $30.00 yearly. This includes KHP card.

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The draft constitution for APCNZ Inc was discussed at length. There is some fine tuning to do and this will then go to Department of Internal affairs for approval. The final draft constitution will be posted online for discussion. 

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