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No wind? No worries...
 Blokart Heaven, New Zealand’s only land-yachting track at Papamoa, is now offering a bundle of outdoor activities – with appeal to all ages.
Blokart Heaven - described as the place where sailing meets the speedway - is the original home of the unique land sailers and inventor Paul Beckett. The tar- sealed purpose built track draws everyone from locals to tourists to corporate and school groups.
On windy days the track hums with action, as the karts blast around the course. It’s what happens when the wind drops that inspired Richard and Karlene Brown to expand the venue’s activities.
파파모아에 위치한 블로카드 헤븐은 뉴질랜드에서 처음으로 육상 도로위에서 바퀴달린 요팅을 해볼 수 있는 곳!
 The pair have introduced combat laser tag, and laser clay bird under the name Game on Activities, to make it three-in-one venue no longer wind-dependent, with a choice of action sports. “If there’s no wind there’s no sailing,” says Richard, “and we were forever getting larger groups of people coming out and finding they just sat still on the tarmac...so we thought we’d offer them something else that everybody could do.”
Laser tag, imported from the U.K., has been described as taking a virtual reality computer game out of doors and making it a reality. Players are each armed a gun that sends out an infra red beam, and wear a special helmet rigged with lights and ‘bells.’ Eight to 20 players stalk each other in a special arena - two acres of eucalypt trees with about 120 hideouts scattered around it (‘hide if you can, or be on attack’).
이번엔 레이저 게임을 새로 선보였습니다. 서바이벌 게임과 클레이 버드 슈팅까지.
 The gun fires virtual machine gun rounds and can also launch hand grenades, a lot of fun for both young and old. When you’re hit, a signal sets off lights in the helmet, and some ‘bells and whistles,’ says Richard, “So at night-time you look like a walking fire engine.”
Richard Brown argues that unlike paint ball, laser tag is relatively inexpensive on a family budget at $10 a head for half an hour - and it doesn’t hurt. It’s suitable for everything from the eight year old’s birthday party to a corporate outing. “At the end of the day what we’re trying to achieve out here both with the laser tag and the laser clay birds is family-economical fun.”
The clay bird shooting, also priced at $10 per person, is a new twist on a very traditional sport. Players are issued with shotguns that look and feel exactly like the real thing. The guns do go ‘bang,’ but without the recoil of real shotgun firing a live round, which makes the activity family-friendly.
레이저총에 맞으면 헬멧에 불이 들어오고, 소리가 나온다.
페인트볼보다 저렴하고(1인당 $10), 안전해서 8살 어린이 생일파티부터 성인들 회사 파티까지.
클레이 버드 슈팅도 1인당 $10 .
Each gun is programmed so that hits – with an infra-red beam - are recorded on an electronic scoreboard with speakers. When you hit the clay it will “shatter,” but the clays are picked up and used again. Up to five players (minimum three) compete not only against themselves, but against their mates as well.
The virtual clay bird shooting can also be used by serious shooters in training for the Olympics or other competition, Richard points out, because with noise controls, getting the necessary consents to fire live rounds close to cities is becoming a lot more difficult. The ‘bang’ produced by the guns can be turned up or down.
 It’s a game that’s completely transportable as well, with an indoor system which can be taken to a customer’s home. The claybird system can be run in a room only five metres square, using sensors mounted on the wall. Out of doors, you can play “urban games,” as long as there is enough room for the clay birds to land on.
Laser tag and laser clay bird shooting tend to appeal to two different types of person, says Richard, for weight reasons you need to be a little older to hold the shotgun, while anyone who can carry the 2 kg laser tag gun can play. Game on is already pulling customers at the weekends in particular, says Richard, drawn to “affordable family fun.”
When Travel was an Elegant Affair... (클래식 마차를 타고 마운트 망가누이 구경)
Horse and cart rides are all set to trot at Mount Maunganui from the beginning of October, in a retro experience sure to charm young and old. Omokoroa-based Chris and Zara Cumming, the owners of Horses Inc, are launching the rides after two years of planning including intensive training for the horses – rescued from becoming dog tucker at the meatworks. The horses were rescued, rehabilitated and trained and are now like the couple’s children, says Chris.
마운트 망가누이 해변에서 잘 조련된 말이 끄는 클래식 마차를 타보세요~
120년이 된 마차 등 2개의 다른 마차가 2가지 코스를 순회하면서 멋진 경치를 즐길 수 있습니다.
1. 마운트 Drury Park 출발, 마운트 해수온천장을 순회하며 다시 Drury Park로 돌아옵니다. 1인당 $5. (8인승)
2. 마운트 다운타운 메인 오피스 앞 출발, 대여료 $80 (성인4명 + 어린이 2명, 30분)
The company will offer horse and carriage rides in two different carriages. A blue and white eight-seater called Agatha is 120 years old, and “real heritage value” says Chris, “she used to belong to the Tauranga Museum collection.”
This carriage will trot a circuit from Drury Park along the beachfront, around past the hot pools, and along Maunganui – and back to Drury Park.
At just $5 a head, the aim is to cover the full spectrum of the market, from those who are “hard-pressed,” to the well-to-do, Chris says. A second carriage named Doris which carries four adults and two children – built in the U.S. at a cost of $35,000 (another $5,000 for the harness gear!) – will be used for half hour rides departing from the front of the Mainstreet offices in downtown Mount Maunganui. The $80 hireage reflects the longer ride, and the need to recover some of the investment in this Visavis Convertible Carriage – to give its proper name.
Chris Cumming says the horse and cart rides appeal to an “unbelievably” large demographic, which covers ‘men and transport,’ women who dream of a princess in a carriage, and kids love the rides as well. And of course, it is “green transport.”
The horse and cart rides, if the Cummings have their way, will play their part in helping to save a “dying art.” And keeping the art alive will allow a lot of ex- trotting and pacer horses to be saved from a pet food fate.
Further Information: Chris Cumming tel 577 1754 or 021 584 220
웰컴베이 산속의 멋진 산악 자전거 코스 - 섬머힐 (전망만으로 한번 가보실만~)
- 9홀 퍼블릭 골프코스도 있습니다.
Summerhill: Sweet Mountain Biking – 20 Minutes from Tauranga
 Serious mountain-biking can be a bit of a back-of-beyond affair - pumping through twisty, dark little bush trails with sunlight in short supply. That’s one reason why Summerhill Farm, sitting high in the Welcome Bay hills with awesome views out to sea, is such a pleasurable off-road experience. Pick your day and you’ll receive hefty doses of sun and blue skies, not to mention rolling through lush green pasture, a dairy cow’s nirvana.
“Two wheeled therapy” is how one mountain biker describes Summerhill in the visitor’s book. It’s a nice description for the ‘on top of the world’ feeling of a property that sites at an altitude of 250 metres above sea level – with a mix of open pasture, mature exotic trees, and the remains of some native bush. Over 20 kilometres of mountain biking and walking tracks wind through 500 acres of bush, forest and pasture land that the farm’s owners, the Blackleys, generously opened up free of charge.
 The working farm’s recreational area covers 130 hectares, with the Papamoa Hills Cultural Heritage Park forming one of its boundaries. The ‘recreational farm’ is run by former outdoor instructor Karl Young who’s described it as a ‘people’s park.’ Entry’s free but visitors are asked to drop a gold coin donation in the box, to help with the cost of maintaining the network of trails.
The farm has its share of fairly technical single track through pine forest, but thanks to those rolling green farm lands crossed by livestock tracks of smooth clay, novices can have as much fun here as far more experienced riders.
 Summerhill Farm Park is easy and quick to access - less than half an hour’s drive from Tauranga (10 minutes from Te Puke). Head out of town on 15th Ave and follow the signs to Welcome Bay. The farm is 11 kms south-west of Tauranga, off Welcome Bay Road, and a pleasant 3 km drive up Reid’s Road through farm land and forest.
찾아가는 길: 웰컴베이에서 웰컴베이 로드를 따라 파파모아쪽으로 가시다 거의 끝나가는 길 오른쪽으로 Reid Road 가 나오면 그길로 접어들어산위로 쭈욱 올라가시면 됩니다. 골프장은 산악자전거코스를 지나 산 꼭대기까지 올라가시면 됩니다.
Swing into the car park and look for the khaki-green hut that marks the start of the trails – and home in on the wall map with a guide to the rides and walks. It’s pretty essential reading as the farm has yet to provide hand-out maps for visitors (it’d be hard to get lost though). A grassy knoll nearby provides some perfect picnic areas and panoramic views out to sea. There’s also a delightfully incongruous Mongolian ger which can hired for barbecues, etc.
 Most of the mountain-biking is cross country style, providing challenges for riders of all levels. The tracks follow livestock trails, farm and forestry tracks, and they’re well marked with different coloured arrows and ‘recycled’ roadside markers. The red-marked SRAM Track is most popular mountain biking trail, with five kilometres of rolling, tight single track, a grade 3 ride of around 25 minutes. There are also dirt jumps, wooden ramps and platforms for the more adventurous. But a cautious novice could happily avoid all this, and puddle around the farm areas with its soft grass to cushion a fall.
One rider told us he comes up every weekend and prefers it “over Rotorua any day” because it is close to Tauranga with “very well designed and maintained” tracks. Mountain bike guru Jonathan Kennet sums it up as : “expansive views, specimen forests, Mongolian gers and great single track.”
Walkers can follow tracks like the Historic Pa Sites Link for a 3 km hike through rolling hills and pasture to the remains of the Maori fortifications in the Papamoa Hills. The walk takes 45 minutes through rolling hills and pasture, returning through forest.
Remember it’s a working farm so close gates, don’t annoy the stock, and leave your dog at home. And if this beguiling place grabs you, become A Friend of Summerhill for only $25 and help keep maintain a superb recreation area open.
More information: Karl Young 542 1838 , Email: info@summerhillfarm.co.nz, www.summerhillfarm.co.nz
* 파파모아 Top 10 홀리데이 파크 - 캐러밴 사이트 오픈!
Remember those Caravan Holidays at the Beach?
 Ah, the nostalgia...hands up baby boomers who remember those idyllic holidays by the sea in Kiwi campgrounds? For the first time in almost a decade, Papamoa Beach Top 10 Holiday Resort is making new caravan sites – known as 'Weekender sites' – available for holidaymakers wanting to leave their caravans on-site. Eight extra sites are available under a 12-month arrangement from October 1. Given the popularity of the Mt Maunganui-Papamoa coastal strip, they’re likely to be snapped up quickly.
The resort's Rebecca Crosby, says Weekender sites have traditionally been occupied by the same family members for 10 to 20 years or, in some cases, 30 years or more. “The sites get handed down within families,” she says. “It's a great way in these tough economic times for families or couples to have the nearest thing to a beach holiday home or bach without the big financial outlay.” Rebecca says the Weekender sites offer all the advantages of a bach and are designed for people to come and enjoy some time away from home.
 “As the only beachfront resort complex in Papamoa, we provide everything needed for a fantastic Kiwi beach holiday. Besides the usual summer attractions of sun, surf and sand, the kids can amuse themselves in our adventure playground and leave Mum and Dad or the grandparents in peace to read the weekend papers and breath in the fresh air all year-round.
“The Weekender sites seem to appeal most to families and to older couples. Our holidaymakers come from far and wide, but a lot are from rural communities in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato. They seem to enjoy beach life.”
Non-sea view Weekender sites cost $4410 per annum from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010. So popular are the Weekender sites, only two new ones with sea views are available - costing $5950 per annum.
Terms include exclusive use of the site for holiday purposes for up to six family members staying for up to 100 nights. They automatically have full use of the resort's facilities during their period of stay. Additional nights can be arranged and extra people accommodated within the 12-month period at a reasonable price.
Papamoa Beach Top 10 has been owned by the Crosby family for more than 40 years. They know what holidaymakers are looking for and believe the Weekender sites on offer will prove a hit.
 Papamoa Beach Top 10 has impressive facilities in line with its name. These include covered barbecue area and private spa pool, petanque and mini tennis court, wireless Internet and car wash as well as immaculately presented amenity blocks to rival the best in New Zealand.
Papamoa Beach Top 10 welcomes enquiries about its Weekender caravan sites. Further information is available on the resort's website at www.papamoabeach.co.nz
Free Camping Clamp Down
Heading for the Coromandel and thought you’d save with a bit of ‘roadside’ camping? Think again. Thames Coromandel District Council is clamping down on the practice. A bylaw which is now in force sets a fine of $40 for anyone not camping in a campground or holiday park. The council says problems associated with freedom camping - public drinking, waste disposal, and disorder - were increasing. |