German family takes on Ohakune motor camp

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 603, 12 September 1995, Page 11

German family takes on Ohakune motor camp

After six years of running the Ohakune Motor camp Noel and Sue Shepherd are going on a month-long holiday around the North Island and Uwe and Kordula Kroll from Germany have taken up the lease of the motor camp. Noel says the past six years at the camp have been really great. After the family' s extended holiday staying in motor camps they will return to Ohakune and Noel says they have plans for setting up a small business. Noel stresses that the motor camp lease has been sold, but not the land, which still belongs to the community through the districtcouncil. He said he is pleased to hand over the camp plus improvements he and Sue have made in the past six years. Further developments to the camp are planned by Uwe and Kordula who intend building a new home and office at the

motor camp and turning the existing house into lodge-style accommodation. The Krolls have two children and Kordula says they decided to buy a motor camp because she and her husband Uwe thought the lifestyle would be ideal for bringing the children up. "We can work and all be together each day," she says. It was the lifestyle plus the attraction of the Ruapehu region, which is similar to their home town near the Black Forest in Germany, which proved irresistible to the Krolls. And how has the first week been? "It was big decision to move to New Zealand and take up this lease, but so far it has been very exciting and everyone staying has been very friendly," said Kordula. "The family will feel really settled in when they' ve unpacked their furniture from Germany which arrives on Monday from Germany."