Our Story
Our story goes back to the mid-sixties, when a young couple named Gordon and Thelma Crosby packed up their ’64 Holden Cruiser and headed north in search of new opportunities. They found themselves responding to an advert to lease what was then the Papamoa Holiday Camp.
They took on the lease and raised their four children in an idyllic Kiwi camping lifestyle. Back then there was only enough room for 16 camp sites and Papamoa was a largely untamed and undiscovered secret.
Fast forward to 1986 when handlebar moes and stubby shorts were in style, and Gordon and Thelma’s son Bruce Crosby and his wife Donna decided to buy the camp from his parents. Bruce was no stranger to Kiwi ingenuity and was a bit of a dab hand with tractors – creating the wonderful terraces and landscaping you see in the park today!
They too raised their tribe of kids on-site, and had the brilliant idea of extending Papamoa Beach Resort’s range of accommodation from just campsites through to cabins, units and luxury villas.
“People said we were crazy when we first built the Beachfront Villas,” said Bruce, “But the rest of the parks in New Zealand soon followed suit when they saw how much our guests loved them.”
And the rest is history! Bruce and Donna’s daughter Rebecca (Bex) got handed the reins for a while but has handed them back so she can settle down and start a family of her own.
Papamoa Beach Resort has proudly provided treasured memories for generations of holidaying families from across New Zealand (and the world) for more than 50 years.
We look forward to you becoming a part of our story!
