The short version
I am Murray Dalton. I ran Maitai Valley Motor Camp with my family for close to thirty years -- from the mid-1980s until we closed the gates in 2018. The camp is gone but the knowledge stayed. This site is where it lives now.
Why this site exists
Every summer for three decades, visitors arrived at the camp office with the same questions. Where should we swim? Which walk is good for kids? Where can we get fish and chips? Is there a campsite near Abel Tasman that is not booked out? I answered those questions thousands of times, and the answers got better each year because I was out there doing the same things -- walking the tracks, swimming the rivers, checking which campsites had upgraded their ablution blocks.
When the camp closed, the questions kept coming. People found the old website, emailed asking for advice, rang the number that no longer worked. Rather than let the knowledge sit in my head, I started writing it down properly. What began as a few pages of campsite tips has grown into a guide covering motor camps, day walks, swimming holes, fishing spots, and practical travel information for the Nelson, Tasman, and Marlborough regions.
What you can expect
Everything on this site is written from experience. I do not review a campsite I have not stayed at or recommend a walk I have not done. If the ablution block at a holiday park is terrible, I will say so. If a walk is marketed as easy but actually involves a knee-destroying scramble, you will read about it here before you discover it the hard way.
This is not a tourism brochure and it is not a booking platform. I do not take advertising from the campsites I review, I do not accept free stays, and I have no commercial relationship with any business mentioned on this site. The opinions are mine and they are honest.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or a swimming hole I have missed? Email murray@maitaivalleymotorcamp.co.nz.