The McKee Memorial Reserve opens the gate to campers again this Friday October 19^th.  It has taken a mammoth effort after the effects of ex-Tropical Cyclone Fehi in February this year to get it back to a habitable state. Storms of this magnitude have not ravished the Reserve since 1954-55 when similar events killed many of the shrubs and trees.

Council staff and contractors alongside of Friends of the Reserve have had to move tones of logs and rubble thrown up by the sea. They have created new drainage pathways and upgraded the sewerage reticulation. Trees killed by the salt-water inundation have been removed and the children’s playground has been put back together.

It was an honour to be able to do a final walk around and inspection ahead of the opening with Fred McKee whose family donated much of the land that makes up the reserve the today. It is an area rich in history from the Maori that frequented the coastline in pre-European times, to the horse drawn cable car that was used by early European settlers to transport goods from the beach up the bluffs.

The McKee Reserve is the only area of significant coastal native bush left between the Able Tasman National Park and Nelson and is home to an array of native birds. The bird life has recovered significantly with the efforts put in by long serving caretaker Ken Todd trapping pests in the area.

While Ken has not been at the reserve quite as long as the giant Lancewood tree (150 – 200 years old) he and his partner Jan Wellington have been the resident caretakers for almost 22 years. Waking up to a beachfront view like they have it is easy to see why they have not been keen to relinquish their job. However, they have decided it is time to pack up and see more of the world, and we thank them for the many years of hard work and wish them well for the future.

This does mean that Tasman District Council are currently advertising for a new caretaker. If you are at all interested I would get a CV in quick because this is one job that won’t need to be advertised twice!

It is fantastic to see that the Council has made the effort to reopen the McKee Memorial Reserve as a camping ground in response to pleas from the community. The budget price camp ground ($6 a night) has been a favourite for many locals with many having generational ties to their favourite spot!

According to Ken the patronage is about 60/40 split between locals and guests from further afield. Even young foreign tourists return home and send their parents back to Ruby Bay to stay at McKee. Ken assures me that when the parents show up and ask him if he remembers their children who stayed some years earlier he always responds “yes of course, they looked a lot like you … only younger!” Not a bad memory given that Ken collects $130,000 worth of $6 fees a year!

If you are planning to stay at the McKee Memorial Reserve this summer it will pay to book in early as the camp site is still a work in progress and the storm damage has reduced the number of sites available. Down from the previous 250 people a night to 150 for the opening, staff will be monitoring the reserve to see what capacity can be comfortably accommodated in the future.

Download a copy of the Fred McKee brochure and learn more fascinating facts about the reserve