GORDON LIGHTFOOT | Culture
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Holidaymakers in a lower north island camping ground feared for their safety this Waitangi weekend, as gangs of overly confident children patrolled roads on their bikes.
The scene unfolded at Foxton Beach Holiday Park, where first time campers quickly realised they were not the dominant group on site. That role had already been filled by what seemed to be hundreds of children aged somewhere between six and twelve, all riding bikes, all yelling, and all appearing to know each other extremely well.
“They were everywhere,” said one shaken camper from Palmerston North. “You’d open your car door and suddenly there were three kids circling you, ringing bells and laughing. Not at you. Just generally.”
Witnesses say the children moved in loose packs, doing laps around the campground with a confidence normally reserved for locals who have been coming there every summer since birth.
“They clearly know the layout,” said another camper. “They know all the shortcuts and take all the blind corners. This is their territory.”
The intimidation, campers say, came not from aggression but from sheer happiness and volume.
“They’re so loud,” said a man staying in a cabin near the ablution block. “Just laughing, shouting, yelling out names like ‘Ollie’ and ‘Maddie’. It’s unsettling. They don’t seem to fear anything.”
Parents of the children appeared relaxed about the situation, often seen sitting back drinking while their offspring enforced their rule.
“Oh yeah, they all know each other,” said one mother, watching a group speed past. “We’ve been coming here for years. They basically run the place.”
Newcomers quickly learned to adapt.
“We just stayed in our tent after dark,” said a Wellington couple. “They’re even louder and more unpredictable at night.”
By Sunday morning the gangs began to thin out, bikes slowly being loaded onto roof racks and trailers.
Campers reported a strange calm settling over the park.
“It feels like they’ve left,” said one man, looking around nervously. “But I still feel like they’re watching.”
Foxton Beach Holiday Park declined to comment, saying only that “it’s always busy on long weekends.”
More to come.
