Edgewater - Te Anau
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Clint and Jill Tauri have built their enterprise into one with multi tentacles, which now involves their three adult children in various roles. A holiday park, a motel, a backpackers hostel, a fleet of tourism vehicles and a 20 metre small ship cruising Doubtful Sound, the Tauri family have embraced tourism and hospitality in the south.
Clint Tauri's parents moved to Fiordland from Wellington 49 years ago when he was five years old. His parents managed the Cascade Lodge, which was deep in Fiordland Forest, approximately halfway between Te Anau and Milford Sound. After three years Clint's parents moved to Te Anau to manage the Te Anau Motor Camp which was then managed through the government-owned AA camping ground system.
From 1978 Clint and Jill were managing the business, subsequently purchasing both it and the land. The couple's core business has always been the Lakeview Holiday Park.
The Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park is situated on the southern shore of Lake Te Anau, a 10 minute walk from Te Anau town centre and an excellent base for exploring Fiordland National Park, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, and the great walks. It offers a wide selection of motel units, cabins, lodges and spacious powered and unpowered sites, all opposite Lake Te Anau and with stunning views of the Kepler mountains.
In 1985 Clint and Jill started a transport company, taking tourists up to the Kepler Track. People were requesting transportation there so the Tauris purchased a minibus for the purpose, operating free of charge at first before realising a commercial opportunity was beckoning and Tracknet was formed.
Today, Tracknet carries people between Te Anau, Milford Sound, Invercargill and Queenstown, stopping at all the great walking tracks along the way – the Kepler, Hollyford, Routeburn and the Milford Sound tracks. That first minibus has grown into a fleet of 18 vehicles, ranging from vans to 45 seater buses.
Edgewater Motel was purchased in 2005. Close to the lake, this property offers a variety of accommodation options for travellers and was awarded with the AA Supreme Host of the Year for 2009.
In 2007 the family bought the Te Anau Lakefront Backpackers, a budget accommodation hostel next door to the motel. Along with a business partner, they own an overnight cruise boat on Doubtful Sound that takes around 11 passengers and have concessions and licences for guided walks in the national park.
The family operates every aspect of their company personally along with a dedicated team of staff and managers. Employee numbers range from 20 in the off-season to 75 in the summer, both full time and casual staff.
The Tauri's adult children, Danica, Nepia and Felicity have all graduated from University, done some overseas travel and returned to work in the enterprise. Jill Tauri is originally from Australia but got no further than Te Anau after meeting Clint when beginning a round the world trip in her younger days.
You might think that the Tauri family has enough on their hands but there are always more plans.
They are developing 10 new units at the holiday park which will have superb views of the lake and are due to open By September 2011 in time for the Rugby World Cup. From October 1 they will resume overnight cruises on Doubtful Sound with a brand new 20 metre boat with five cabins, each with a private ensuite. Called the MV Southern Secret, it has considerably better facilities than the family could offer tourists in the past.
Mixing with so many interesting people from New Zealand and overseas in some of the best scenery in the world is a lifestyle the five members of the Tauri family should find rewarding – and they do.
They all agree they are in a privileged position to be able to host people from around the world, and New Zealand, and show them around their unique back yard. "Obviously it has its stressful moments but on the whole it is great fun and we really enjoy it," said Jill Tauri.
Said Clint Tauri: "We get a good mix of guests with many of them coming to the holiday park year after year. Often their grandparents used to come here and it's pretty special to have a link with families through the generations. Others return from overseas time and time again and remark how much it's all changed – for the better we hope, while still embracing the ideal unique Fiordland feel."
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