\u201cWe would like to exchange TV for Kiwi … we have a high incidence of people seeing kiwi in our park, our peninsula has probably one of the largest number of kiwi,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Set among native bush, the park is one of the few places in New Zealand where visitors can see kiwi in the wild, with the native bird often heard by guests or spotted around the edges of the park after dark. <\/p>\n
Weka can be seen wandering freely by day and up to 55 other species of bird call the park home.<\/p>\n
Guests at the Russell-Orongo Bay Holiday Park can see weka wandering freely.<\/p>\n
Maddren said the move was about helping people reconnect and recharge and joked that it might even give the country\u2019s population a small boost. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day our country has a declining population. So, the least we can do is remove TVs from our bedrooms so that we can hopefully help increase the population.\u201d <\/p>\n
Park owner Tori Burns said they wanted to create an experience that\u2019s truly about making memories as nature intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guests tell us the most memorable moments of hearing kiwi calls and if they are lucky enough \u2013 seeing kiwi at night, watching stars by the fire pit, or seeing their kids exploring the bush \u2013 not sitting in front of a screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside its kiwi encounters, the park offers a saltwater swimming pool, wood-fired pizza oven, firepit for marshmallow toasting, and there is a boardwalk through mangroves just across the road. <\/p>\n
Guests can enjoy stargazing under minimal lighting, explore nearby Russell township, or take part in classic screen-free activities from the park\u2019s \u2018Switch off & Explore\u2019 guide.<\/p>\n
The change reflects growing interest in digital detox holidays and eco-conscious travel, in New Zealand and internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud to be one of the first holiday parks in the country to take this step,\u201d says Burns. <\/p>\n
\u201cBy removing TVs, we\u2019re giving guests a real reason to switch off, slow down, and reconnect \u2013 with each other, and with nature,\u201d Burns said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe would like to exchange TV for Kiwi … we have a high incidence of people seeing kiwi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[62925,1561,32131,1550,4975,71,1668,5275,25631,5838,189,2683,2061,111,43,139,1067,69,8143,43296,46987,5196,97019,1361,61,437,102],"class_list":["post-143815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accommodation","tag-bay","tag-bold","tag-centre","tag-free","tag-from","tag-front","tag-goes","tag-guests","tag-help","tag-holiday","tag-move","tag-nature","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-park","tag-puts","tag-reconnect","tag-removed","tag-russellorongo","tag-that","tag-to","tag-tv","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}