Jan and I were both fortunate to have parents who loved holidaying at the beach.

We always had a two-week summer holiday at a beach somewhere, whether it be in a family tent on one of my Dad’s mates' sections, later in a caravan, or in my grandparents bach at Lang's Beach or my other grandparents home at Paihia. When I was about 15 my parents bought a bach at Oakura Bay and we spent many happy summers holidaying and boating there. 

When my parents relocated from Northland to a farm in the King Country and sold their Oakura bach we carried on holidaying here in the camping ground at Pirutahi Bay, just over the hill from Oakura. Eventually we bought our own beach house at Oakura and have holidayed there regularly since 1999.

To help cover our costs we rented the beach house to families from around NZ and overseas. In 2004 we purchased another beach house at Opononi, just inside the Hokianga harbour entrance, and was rented out to families and groups for holidays year round until sold in 2015.

In 2002 the partner of a good friend of ours, Bev, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Murray and Bev stayed in our bach at Oakura as part of a “final tour” of Northland. This planted the seed of an idea that emerged years later.

In early 2007 I met with the Northland Cancer Society and North Haven Hospice management and offered to provide this service to 10 families per year. They were delighted. With their encouragement and practical support we began immediately (6 February 2007) with our first guests under the program. Over 50 families with a member suffering from this awful disease have had time relaxing together here under our Supporting Families Programme.

Since 2018 Doug has been a board member of the TimeOut Charity which provides up to week long holidays to the terminally ill throughout New Zealand. Use of our beach house is also donated to this charity.

Beach Escape Ltd is a small company owned by our family trust to market and manage our beach house holidays to other families.

We love sharing this magic place with fabulous people from the world over.

Regards,
Doug