A $10 million holiday park at St Helens has opens its doors.
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The NRMA St Helens Waterfront Holiday Park overlooks beautiful Georges Bay and officially opened for guests on October 29.
Holiday park manager Ryan Penderghast said it was the first NRMA park in Australia to be both independently owned and independently managed.
“This is actually a test-run for them in this particular arrangement,” he said.
“It’s something a little different, but it gives us the confidence that if the company is willing to step into some unknown territory that we must be on the right track with what we’re looking to offer.”
The holiday park features 26 cabins and 45 powered camping sites.
The cabins were built and designed in Tasmania.
“When you stay in these cabins, you’ll see everything is unique,” Mr Penderghast said.
“It’s currently the newest holiday park in Australia.
“The cabins range from studio cabins, then we have two-bedroom cabins, and then we have some accessibility cabins as well.”
However, Mr Penderghast said the campsites had the best view.
“They’re nightly rates, the cheapest of all options,” he said.
The park also boasts a restaurant and function centre.
Mr Penderghast said they put a call-out to the St Helens community to find a name for the restaurant.
The name Parkside was chosen for the former name of St Helens Point Road, and because the site used to be home to the Parkside Caravan Park.
“It was about trying to retain that history,” he said.
Mr Penderghast said the Parkside Bar and Kitchen was created in order to provide visitors and residents a place for meeting and socialising.
The space was split into three areas – casual cafe style dining, traditional restaurant dining, and a bar-style area.
“We wanted to be able to offer something that’s open from early morning to later in the evening,” he said.
The restaurant seated about 120 people inside and 80 in an area outside overlooking Georges Bay.
He said the menu had something to suit all tastes.
“We’ve got pub classics, restaurant-type meals, and a selection of homemade pizzas,” he said.
A providore will also open soon.
“We look to have Tassie wines, spirits, and beers,” he said.
He said they would also work with Tasmania Food Co and East Coast businesses to have products such as Tasmanian honey, cheese, milk, and bread.
The park also had camp kitchens and bathrooms, alongside a playground and recreation room to keep kids occupied.
Mr Penderghast said the holiday park was some much-needed infrastructure for that part of St Helens.
“For people who live on this side of Georges Bay, on the Stieglitz and Akaroa side, there’s just not a whole lot here,” he said.
“A lot of the locals are really happy to have some kind of infrastructure over on this side of the bay.
“It’s not like it takes 30 minutes to drive into town, but it’s just the convenience of being able to pop down here, maybe grab some milk or bread.”
He said bookings had been very solid, especially for the Christmas period.
“It’s funny the amount of people who say they used to holiday here when they were kids when it was the Parkside Caravan Park,” he said.
Mr Penderghast said the owners, Growth Developments’ Jason Sheriff and Wim Van Der Pols, had been working on the park for more than three years.
“We’ve been able to employ a lot of locals as well – the vast majority of staff, about 95 per cent. We’ve got about 30 locals working with us here,” he said.
“It’s a good financial injection into the town.
“It’s something new for the town of St Helens, which we’re happy we can offer.”
- More information can be found on its Facebook page or the NRMA Parks and Resorts website.