{"id":590163,"date":"2026-09-04T17:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T17:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590163\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T17:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T17:20:17","slug":"sand-safaris-in-liquidation-as-linked-ruapehu-transport-firm-enters-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590163\/","title":{"rendered":"Sand Safaris in liquidation as linked Ruapehu transport firm enters administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The liquidation follows the appointment of administrators to Ruapehu Mountain Transport Ltd (RMT) on August 21.<\/p>\n

A notice published in the New Zealand Herald said administrators Benjamin Francis and Garry Whimp of Blacklock Rose Limited were appointed by a resolution of the company\u2019s directors, and a first meeting of creditors was scheduled for September 2.<\/p>\n

Companies Office records list the two companies as having the same sole director, Garth Petricevich, of Kaitaia.<\/p>\n

Images online promoting RMT, which provides shuttle services to Mt Ruapehu ski fields and alpine attractions, show vehicles carrying Dune Rider and Sand Safaris branding. <\/p>\n

In 2023, Sand Safaris was sentenced after the death of South Korean tourist Jin Chang Oh<\/a> at Te Paki Sand Dunes in 2019. The company was ordered to pay more than $183,000 in reparation to Oh\u2019s family and fined $200,000, while WorkSafe was awarded $23,000 in costs.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether those amounts were paid before the company entered liquidation.<\/p>\n

According to Stuff, WorkSafe had not received the $23,000 in costs awarded by the court.<\/p>\n

The Northern Advocate sought comment from Petricevich on the liquidation, the relationship between the two companies and the ownership of assets associated with the Ruapehu operation.<\/p>\n

A person who answered the phone at RMT confirmed receipt of the newspaper\u2019s inquiries but did not address the questions raised.<\/p>\n

KPMG director and joint liquidator Kristal Pihama said the Sand Safaris liquidation was still at an early stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still very early in the liquidation process and are not yet in a position to comment on the specific matters you\u2019ve raised,\u201d Pihama said.<\/p>\n

She said the liquidators\u2019 first report was expected within the next few weeks and would address a number of the topics raised by the Northern Advocate.<\/p>\n

Blacklock Rose was approached for comment but did not respond before publication.<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, much of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The liquidation follows the appointment of administrators to Ruapehu Mountain Transport Ltd (RMT) on August 21. A notice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2438,806,60783,7972,4057,138,1656,49476,34464,28167,1138,2219,16569,78,296,7055,2739,42782,111,139,42781,24926,69,1071,51972,162797,2751,196,112,7567,102],"class_list":["post-590163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-administration","tag-as","tag-associated","tag-beach","tag-behind","tag-business","tag-company","tag-dune","tag-entered","tag-enters","tag-firm","tag-gone","tag-iconic","tag-in","tag-into","tag-linked","tag-liquidation","tag-mile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-ninety","tag-northlands","tag-nz","tag-rider","tag-ruapehu","tag-safaris","tag-sand","tag-tours","tag-transport","tag-voluntary","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590163","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=590163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}