Interviewee: David Thomas (Dave) Moss

Date of Interview: 7 July 2006

Interviewer and abstractor: Morag Forrester

Sony Counter: Sony TCM 939

Tape 1 Side A

006: States he is DAVID THOMAS MOSS and that he was born on 27 MARCH 1949 in CLYDE HOSPITAL.

018: Replies that his FATHER was REX THOMAS MOSS while his paternal GRANDFATHER was THOMAS MACHIN MOSS, adding that it was about 1910 when his GRANDFATHER immigrated to NEW ZEALAND from STOKE-ON-TRENT in ENGLAND.

036: Explains that THOMAS MOSS first came to NEW ZEALAND to recruit servicemen for the BRITISH army but decided to stay and settled in DUNEDIN.

041: Says THOMAS MOSS worked as a SHEET-METAL WORKER for the NZ RAILWAYS at the HILLSIDE depot in DUNEDIN.

050: Mentions that his FATHER, REX, was a PAINTER/DECORATOR after gaining qualifications in the trade at DUNEDIN but worked through CENTRAL OTAGO in the early 1950s, mainly for NZ RAILWAYS.

063: States his MOTHER was JANET CAMPBELL who came to NEW ZEALAND with her PARENTS as a five-year-old from DUNDEE, SCOTLAND

092: Replies that his MOTHER worked as a SHOP ASSISTANT in DUNEDIN before moving with her family to ALEXANDRA.

101: Of his siblings, says he has two BROTHERS (REX and ROBERT) and one SISTER (SUSAN) – all younger than him.

108: Recalls that the family moved from ALEXANDRA to (ANDERSONS BAY) DUNEDIN in 1956, a year the SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY TEAM, (SPRINGBOKS) played in the city.

116: Says he enjoyed living as a child in ALEXANDRA where he spent much of his time with his (maternal) GRANDMOTHER. Adds that they lived on a small 50-acre block of land.

124: Whereas nowadays, he says, people would make good money from growing grapes on land of that size, his PARENTS found it hard to scratch a living from running a few poultry and growing tomatoes.

129: Has fond memories of ALEXANDRA PRIMARY SCHOOL where he began his education. It had quite a large school roll and in those days, he says “it was very much the old schoolmarm-type-of-thing”.

145: In DUNEDIN, he attended ANDERSONS BAY PRIMARY SCHOOL which he enjoyed at first. Considers that many of the teachers were WWII veterans who had been trained in the profession on their return to NEW ZEALAND and as a result may not have been specifically suited to the vocation. He then went on to TAHUNA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL.

161: States that he left school as soon as he could adding that he did not enjoy his later years in education at TAIERI HIGH SCHOOL after a short stint at BAYFIELD HIGH SCHOOL. “I was probably one of the first pupils asked to leave.”

180: Explains that the dismissal was in response to his being involved in a fist-fight with the head prefect in a city street.

191: “I loathed secondary school. Myself and teachers or the administration didn’t walk down the same line….I left when I was fifteen and I don’t regret any of it.”

204: Goes on to say that he grew up in a dysfunctional family and that for much of the time he and his FATHER lived apart from his siblings and MOTHER and explains this further.

236: Tape stopped and restarted.

239: Recalls his school years were also spent doing odd jobs. From the age of eight, he says, he mowed lawns, delivered newspapers - both morning and evening editions and did the “chemist run” (delivered prescription medicines for the local pharmacist).

246: Says he earned about 7shillings and 6pence a week for each paper round.

260: During his later schooling, he says, he lived with his (alcoholic) FATHER so he had to learn how to cook, clean and look after both of them from an early age.

271: Recalls the precise day he left school for good and the sense of freedom it meant for him. “I don’t think I’ve ever had my leaving certificate to this day.”

280: Considers himself fortunate to have been able to see his CHILDREN go through the education system and achieve academic and job success.

282: Unable to pursue his preferred occupation as a PANELBEATER’S apprentice due to suffering eczema, he says his first job on leaving school was at J&J ARTHUR’S MENSWEAR shop in DUNEDIN.

287: After a couple of years he went to work for the CARPET IMPORT COMPANY of CHRISTCHURCH which had a branch in DUNEDIN.

297: At the first shop, he remembers being paid 3pounds 17shillings and 10pence a week, adding that his MOTHER kept his first pay packet as a memento.

305: Mentions that he had left home not long after leaving school and went to live with his MOTHER for a spell before moving into the parental home of a girlfriend. Later on, he says, he lived in flats (rented apartments).

314: Socially, he carried on with the sporting activities he’d practised at school (rugby and cricket) but says he also went to dances in the DUNEDIN TOWN HALL and later to HARRY STRANGS in SOUTH DUNEDIN.

317: The music, he recalls, was live dance band style playing jazz, rock-n-roll etc.

322: Remembers the BEATLES performing in DUNEDIN in 1968.

327: Considers that although the 1960s social revolution was sweeping across the UK and the US it had much less impact in DUNEDIN, adding that it probably emerged about ten years later.

337: Referring back to the period when he lived with his girlfriend’s parents as a seventeen-year-old, he comments that they became like second parents to him. “I have a huge amount of respect for them.”

353: Replies that he didn’t have to undertake COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING although many of his friends did. He explains that youths were balloted by virtue of their date of birth, that it was not mandatory for all.

361: Recalls that his first visit to TE ANAU was on a NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS bus provided by his employer – the NEW ZEALAND TOURIST and PUBLICITY BUREAU.

366: As an aside, he says he was escaping gambling debts from a bookmaking scam he had got involved with in DUNEDIN. Needing to earn more in order to repay his debts, he got a job with the TOURIST HOTEL CORPORATION (THC) at MILFORD SOUND.

371: At TE ANAU, he continues, he was put up at MATAI LODGE owned at that time by SANDY BROWN and his wife, MARY.

377: It was SEPTEMBER 1969, he says, and the bus to MILFORD SOUND was “one of the old ROADMASTERS” with a plastic see-through roof.

382: “I remember going up the UPPER HOLLYFORD VALLEY towards the HOMER TUNNEL with the snow all around…and I have never ever forgotten that wonderful sight. That was me for FIORDLAND.”

391: Describes the MILFORD HOTEL as an old-style government-run hotel. Adds that although tourism had been around for about 100 years by then, he says it was still in its infancy.

397: The building, he recalls, was probably quite grand for its time. Says it had been re-built from the original which was destroyed by fire about fifteen years before. The service, he says, was billed as first-class but “it most certainly wasn’t” even though the staff made an effort.

405: Replies that he was first employed as a STEWARD and then became a NIGHT PORTER. Adds that most hotel guests booked into the hotel from overseas.

Tape 1 Side A stops

Tape 1 Side B starts

006: Continues talking about his job in the MILFORD HOTEL saying he can’t remember what he was earning as a STEWARD, but adds that it included full board in staff quarters so he did not have living expenses. Says that as with all such work, MILFORD SOUND was “booze, baccy, debauchery”.

014: The staff quarters which provided single rooms, he goes on, were at the back of the HOTEL. When he became a NIGHT PORTER, he says, he was given his own self-contained flat.

024: Calculates that during the peak season (from NOVEMBER to MARCH) there were about 60 staff, which included the crews of the THC-run launches, while the HOTEL took about 40 overnight guests and provided lunches for all the coach bus day-trippers on the SOUND.

043: “It was not uncommon to do (lunches for) 10/11 coaches.” The buses, he says, carried a maximum of 32 people each and usually their passenger numbers were in the 20s. Person recorded: Dave Moss

055: Affirms that there were two communities living in MILFORD SOUND – the fishermen and the HOTEL staff.

057: “They mixed well, despite what history says, after all there are a lot of people of 18 to 20 years old…around SOUTHLAND that owe their whole lives to those escapades.”

064: Recalls that because of the employment market at the time, the THC operated a travel-expenses-paid scheme to recruit staff (mainly women) from AUSTRALIA which “was also a big draw-card for the fishermen”.

080: The management at the time, he says, which consisted of ARCH and MYRTLE WITHINGTON, tried to impose rules such as not allowing visitor-access to the staff quarters.

081: Replies that he worked at the HOTEL for about a year during which time he visited TE ANAU twice and went to the RIVERTON RACES once.

113: Referring back to that first view of TE ANAU in 1969, he reflects that the FIORDLAND TRAVEL (REAL JOURNEYS) office was a much smaller version of its present building.

118: Also recalls that the town centre street, which had initially been called MILFORD ROAD, had one grocery store (FOUR SQUARE), a couple of other shops and the THC-TE ANAU HOTEL which was run by GERRY HENREICHTS.

153: Mentions the restaurant (PETE’S PLACE) run by PETER SUJEMANOVIC which was on the same site as the present LUXMORE HOTEL complex.

157: Explains that he did not get to know TE ANAU townsfolk until 1971 when he took a job at CASCADE CREEK (HOSTEL & MOTELS) upon his return to NEW ZEALAND from the CHATHAM ISLANDS where he’d worked as trawlerman in the CRAYFISHING industry.

163: Expands on this segment saying that having watched the FISHERMEN at MILFORD SOUND, he thought he could adapt to that lifestyle. Says he spent about five months on the trawler, CENTURION and that he “loved the life of…for me, the CHATHAMS was just paradise”.

171: However, family matters brought him back to DUNEDIN where he attended the weddings of his two BROTHERS.

179: Having taken up hotel work again in both DUNEDIN and ROXBURGH, he moved to CASCADE CREEK in 1971 which at that time was owned by BERT and NOELA ANDERSON.

187: The ANDERSONS, he says had previously been farmers in KENNINGTON and adds that BERT was the son of BILL ANDERSON after whom the ANDERSON TRAIL on the MILFORD TRACK was named and who was also the author of MILFORD TRAILS – a book about the TRACK.

196: CASCADE CREEK, he continues, has an interesting past. It evolved, he says, when the MILFORD ROAD was just a bullock track. It had also been owned, he adds, by different government agencies.

202: First, he says, it was owned by the TOURIST HOTEL and HEALTH RESORTS (aka the government TOURIST BUREAU). Later it came under the administration of the MINISTRY of WORKS.

207: Next, he says, it was owned by the NZ AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (AA) adding that GEORGE BURNBY managed it for a while, and that somewhere along the line the government’s TOURISM BUREAU had another go.

212: Recalls that the AA built a wonderful wooden lodge at the front of the premises, which replaced the old “sacking-type” buildings. It provided cafeteria facilities for passing traffic on the MILFORD ROAD. Being on NATIONAL PARK land, the business operated under a concession.

217: Other managers he mentions include COLIN TAURI (of the LAKEVIEW CAMPING GROUND in TE ANAU) and BILL RUSSELL.

221: “It would’ve been a very hard place to make a dollar,” he says despite the fact that it was the only place between TE ANAU and MILFORD SOUND to stop for refreshments and toilets.

230: In the late 1960s and 1970s, he remembers, the total journey time between the two was almost four hours because it was a gravel road. It was not until the 1990s that the entire 100km route was sealed.

245: Mentions his first wife, GLORIA, and he went to work at CASCADE CREEK the year before they got married in 1972. Says he met her in DUNEDIN on his return from the CHATHAMS.

256: Laughs at comparing his collection of things in 2006 compared with the few possessions they had on arrival at CASCADE in 1971, including a “GLORY BOX” (a trousseau-type of collection that young women traditionally put together in preparation for their intended marriage).

262: Explains that GLORIA did the cooking and he did the other maintenance and administrative tasks at CASCADE which had its own (diesel-powered) generator.

268: Adds that there were quite a number of buildings on the property. They included part of the single-men’s quarters from the construction site of the WEST ARM power project at DOUBTFUL SOUND.

270: There were about twenty huts, he says, which included former MINISTRY of WORKS road builders’ huts, a large building which may have been one of the first roadcamp cookhouses and several sheds.

280: Replies that the site was an open clearing and became even more open when he, BURT ANDERSON and another worker, RAY KELLY, chopped down a number of trees that were dangerously close to some of the buildings (remembering that this was on NATIONAL PARK land and they had done so without first seeking permission).

289: Mentions that RAY KELLY was a genial, short man with a speech impediment who had worked on the MILFORD TRACK (when packhorses were still allowed on it) along with SANDY BROWN and BILL ANDERSON. He adds that KELLY worked at JOHNSTON’S HOSTEL in MILFORD SOUND before moving to CASCADE CREEK. Adds that KELLY completed his working life at WALTER PEAK (STATION) near QUEENSTOWN.

316: Wages at CASCADE, he recalls, amounted to about $50/week for a married couple. “The ANDERSONS were very frugal.”

320: Comments that during the peak tourist season, the business fared quite well, catering for a lot of passing trade and providing accommodation over long weekends and holidays. “There was a lack of accommodation in TE ANAU in those days and everything overflowed to CASCADE on the way to MILFORD.”

324: The café trade, he remembers, was also very lucrative. “It would be nothing for us to handle up to 18 to 20 coaches in the morning.”

344: Admits that during the off-season and in winter, it was a cold place to live with rain and snow at times. However, both he and GLORIA, he says, enjoyed “living in paradise” surrounded by the mountains.

352: Their closest neighbour, he says, was MURRAY GUNN (at the HOLLYFORD CAMP about 30kms) to the north and the BROWNS (at WESNEY CREEK) and the road gangs at KNOBS FLAT (about 10kms south of CASCADE).

356: Names some of the roadworkers as SHORTY LIGHT, DARCY HAGGETT, COLIN BROWN and another with the surname of WOODS.

361: Mentions that the early 70s (and into the 1980s) was the era of the “helicopter wars” [At that time, deer and venison recovery in the FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK grew in tandem with the prices fetched in the open market. Initially, only one company, ALPINE HELICOPTERS LTD, was granted a concession to hunt deer but increasingly more “poaching” went on with individual pilots undertaking their own deer shooting and live capture activities. As competition grew so did the number of fatal accidents involving helicopters in the PARK and eventually the authorities opened up the permit system to more than one operator.]

369: Of some of the operators, he names JIM MANCONI, NELSON THOMSON, and JOHN BARKER (who now owns RAINBOW DOWNS BACKPACKERS).

380: Although he was not involved in SEARCH & RESCUE efforts, he says he and GLORIA provided a backup service of food and shelter.

383: Comments that the MILFORD ROAD had its own set of problems because “people did crazy things in the bush”. As an example he refers to an incident when he found two young women at the door early one morning after they had walked the ROUTEBURN TRACK in the dark with only light clothing and shoes.

393: In another incident, he helped two fishermen who had lost control of their vehicles on the highway.

396: Notes the fact that in all the years that the MILFORD ROAD remained unsealed there had been only one traffic accident fatality and that, he adds, was a motorcyclist. “Until the road was sealed, vehicles didn’t go fast enough to actually cause death….once it was sealed, there are numerous people who have been killed since.”

Tape 1 Side B ends

Tape 2 Side A starts

006: States that while they were at CASCADE CREEK, he did not have much to do with people from TE ANAU apart from local tradesmen and suppliers. Of the latter, he names TERRY O’LOUGHLIN.

030: Mentions that twin BOYS (CRAIG and JASON) arrived on 19 OCTOBER 1974, a year before they moved to the TE ANAU DOWNS HOTEL ROADHOUSE.

038: Talks about the previous owner, ARTHUR PARKER, describing him as a moustachioed, elderly, ex-SERGEANT-MAJOR of the BRITISH ARMY.

043: Provides further details saying PARKER was one of the partners in the PARKER & KEANS home furnishing agents at DUNEDIN. Adds that PARKER eventually married an office girl whose name was JENNY.

061: It was PARKER, he says, that secured the first licence to build and operate the ROADHOUSE (in 1964) either as a concession or a permit - it was issued on a five-year lease.

064: Some of the buildings, he says, were transported. For example, part of what is now called GRUMPY’S BACKPACKERS came from the salvaged remains of the original TE ANAU HOTEL which had to be rebuilt after a fire in OCTOBER 1965.

080: Mentions that other parts of that original building were moved to the site of the LUXMORE HOTEL in TE ANAU and have only this year (2006) been returned to the original site as staff quarters for the TE ANAU HOTEL & VILLAS (formerly the THC-hotel).

087: The lounge and kitchen area in GRUMPY’S, he continues, was the original dining room at the ROXBURGH HYDRO built during the era of the ROXBURGH DAM construction in the 1950s.

092: The glass doors at the front, he adds, came from the 4ZB RADIO STATION in STUART ST., DUNEDIN.

098: All of it, he says, was assembled by PARKER with some of the pieces holding it together “probably from banana boxes”.

102: States that he moved to the ROADHOUSE on the offer of “lease to buy” because PARKER had been unable to sell the business.

114: Recalls the price they agreed was $150,000 on a three-year lease plus the stock, valued as being worth between $4000 and $6000. Adds that he leased it for three years at the end of which time he had to buy the property outright.

131: Remembers the date the family moved in – 16 OCTOBER 1975. Two days later, he says, his first coach tour arrived - PASADENA TOURS from ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, run by JACK and RENE MANNING. It was later to become known as KIRRA TOURS which, he says, is now ranked third in NEW ZEALAND for coach tour operators. He later added that even after thirty-one years, the same company still stops over at TE ANAU DOWNS.

141: Since that day, he adds, he has maintained business links with the same company which in 2006 runs about six coach loads of passengers to the HOTEL every week.

159: Referring back to the PARKERS, he says JENNY was killed in a road traffic accident not far from the HOTEL as she was heading to an evening out in TE ANAU. ARTHUR PARKER, he adds, remarried and now in his nineties lives in MT MANGANUI.

182: Mentions that the accident also involved a farm worker employed by the neighbouring TE ANAU DOWNS STATION and replies that its owners, the CHARTRES family, have been good neighbours in the sense that they and he have little association.

185: Does make reference to a conflict arising between the two parties over the naming rights for the HOTEL/MOTEL in the 1970s. Nowadays, he says, it is less of an issue because his three-in-one businesses have different names.

223: Discusses the nearby TE ANAU DOWNS wharf, which since the formation of the MILFORD TRACK, has been the departure point for walkers embarking on the three-day hike. From there, the trampers are taken by boat to the beginning of the track. The launch service is operated by REAL JOURNEYS which is granted a concession to do so from the DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATON (DOC).

229: Says his business has been unable to forge any operational links with either DOC or REAL JOURNEYS (formerly FIORDLAND TRAVEL) so gets nothing out of the potential proximity of the thousands of people who use the wharf each year.

250: In recent years, he says, since creating GRUMPYS BACKPACKERS, he has been able to market to the independent traveller group.

253: However, he states that he has never been able to penetrate the MILFORD TRACK GUIDED WALKS private operation which he considers a disadvantage for both sides. Explains this by saying that his HOTEL would have been an ideal location for clients with MTGW (and its predecessor, the THC) to stay overnight before they began, and on return from, the three-day walk.

257: Comments that QUEENSTOWN “gets first crack at everything”, referring to the increasing push by QUEENSTOWN-based operators into FIORDLAND at the expense of the TE ANAU-based ones.

261: The land area on which the property stands, he says, is about eleven acres for which the business pays a concession fee based on percentage of turnover (to DOC). Adds that he has been able to extend the renewal period of the lease from the initial five to thirty years.

270: Replies that he did try to freehold the land in the early 1980s (involving DOC’s predecessor, the DEPARTMENT OF LANDS & SURVEY). Says a land survey was carried out but following an internal investigation of L&S and subsequent staff changes, the matter was shelved.

285: Affirms that in 1975, what is now GRUMPY’S BACKPACKERS was on site, as was part of the main HOTEL BUILDING. But the grounds, he says, were not developed and consisted of grass, gorse, broom and manuka.

294: Says he and GLORIA, with help from some local contractors, set out the grounds as they are now with a mix of natives and imported species of flora and shrubs.

301: Mentions that the HOTEL building was built in 1972 but part of it (about 20 rooms) was destroyed by fire in 1974. He points to the fire escape stairs at the back of the building, saying that they too were part of the original structure.

311: Goes on to say that a rebuild was carried out in 1977 with the design of the rooms focused on the coach tour market and admits that it now has an institutional-style appearance.

320: In the 1970s, he says, the independent traveller was few and far between so he had to target the coach tours.

324: In 1985, he continues, he built the self-contained MOTEL units (about 20) with which he felt able to offer something of quality, one that surpassed the coach market.

333: It was the 1990s, he says, that he segmented the business three ways in order to diversity his market.

340: Refers to a marketing initiative he introduced in the late 1970s which involved an “all-inclusive” stay aimed at the independent traveller. The package was a combined price for accommodation and meals.

351: Mentions taking part in a television advertisement he ran two years in a row in the 1980s for a bed-and-breakfast deal at the HOTEL at $25 per person, sharing a room. “It was a huge success.”

361: “We took in some $140,000-worth of direct business from that.”

378: Adds that over the years, the business has run different marketing initiatives, some of which were successful, others disastrous.

382: Emphatically replies that it has not been an easy business to run. He explains this further saying that when he started out in 1975, he thought visitors would see the HOTEL as an “undiscovered bus stop” on the road to MILFORD SOUND.

392: Considers that for a long time he was quite misguided in that view. Says 95% of his customers who had arrived by coach had not known where they were going and that they would be so far out of town. Says when they got to the HOTEL, 90% did not want to be out of town.

397: As a result, he continues, it was a difficult business to market. And while it was not difficult to attract staff, it was hard retaining good staff through the season.

405: Many, however, have become personal friends, he says. He names SANDRA JOHNSTON, MANDY NEWELL, LYN MATHESON, MARY WILSON, CHAPPY O’SULLIVAN and NOELINE HOLLAND.

Tape 2 Side A stops

Tape 2 Side B starts

007: Recalls that the average wage for HOTEL staff was $2.50/hr with board and lodging supplied.

019: Mentions coming across his first invoice book at the HOTEL which shows that the first TOURS he offered included DINNER, BED& BREAKFAST at $12.50 per person. Also recorded was the price of petrol which in 1975 was 22 cents/litre.

036: Affirms that most of his visitors are from the international market, saying that for many years 93% of his total business came from overseas, the other 7% was made up of “the odd boatie” and roadworkers on the MILFORD HIGHWAY.

044: He has tried to attract domestic visitors: “I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars I threw at the NEW ZEALAND market over the years.” It is only recently, he says, that this market has begun to change mainly because TE ANAU was a destination for holidaymakers and crib owners.

060: Saying that, the HOTEL has just held its 17th ANNUAL FISHING COMPETITION operated by the INVERCARGILL ROUNDTABLE. Says it started with eight guys turning up for a boozy weekend on the $25 package.

070: States that some of those who have turned up each year include fishermen from that original group.

082: Adds that there are now several FISHING COMPETITIONS held at the HOTEL during the early winter months, which shows a shift in the NZ market.

118: One of the significant changes he has witnessed is the growth in the INDEPENDENT MARKET, known in the business as FIT (FREE INDEPENENT TRAVELLER). But the COACH MARKET, he says, is still going strong.

141: As to future trends, he considers that the biggest global shift is in EVENT TOURISM, citing the attractions surrounding religious festivals and places. Similarly, world sporting events such as the WORLD CUPS in soccer, rugby and cricket are increasingly popular.

150: Special interest groups around the world, he suggests, were creating a vast TOURISM MARKET. And he argues that TE ANAU would derive benefits from that as visitors perhaps descended on AUCKLAND or AUSTRALIA for an event and expanded their visit to include other parts of the country or region.

182: Between 1975 when he first started and 2006, he says the annual number of visitors to the facility has increased from an average of 5000 to 16,000 in a season that lasts from end-OCTOBER to mid-APRIL.

200: Referring to how his family life co-existed in more than thirty years of involvement in the HOTEL industry, he again mentions his SONS, CRAIG and JASON as well as DAUGHTER, MELISSA, who was born on 27 AUGUST 1977.

216: Considers that the CHILDREN were lucky to grow up at TE ANAU DOWNS in their earlier years and then when he and GLORIA separated, he says, the three moved to the town with their MOTHER.

226: As a result, he continues, they were able to tap into all the benefits TE ANAU offered teenagers during the school term while at other times, they could return to their earlier environment.

233: “I could not have wished for a better place or a better industry to be involved in than to have brought up my CHILDREN here at TE ANAU DOWNS (HOTEL).”

236: Apportions the pressure of the hospitality industry as being a factor in his marriage break-up but states the main reason was his dependence on alcohol, which as a member of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, he has been dealing with successfully for about eighteen years.

255: Replies that his SONS are in AUCKLAND – JASON works as a lawyer for a large banking corporation while CRAIG, who is married to RACHEL, is a marketing manager for a retirement village. MELISSA, he adds, is currently in LONDON working as a health professional.

265: Affirms that he has remarried, to SUE SHERIFF, and that they first met on an international flight while he was on a return trip from a marketing initiative in THAILAND.

277: Says she was from KEIGHLEY in WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, and that they wed on 28 MAY 1994. He also admits it was a difficult transition for her to leave her home town and live as an HOTELIER’S WIFE at TE ANAU DOWNS, although nowadays, he says, “she just loves it”.

286: The most difficult aspect for her, he continues, was leaving behind her CHILDREN (two SONS and a DAUGHTER) and GRANDCHILDREN.

299: On his links with TE ANAU-based groups and organisations, he says he forged a business partnership with VERNON FORD by setting up the original BURGER BUS, in the late-1970s, on the lakefront.

314: Says they operated that for about three years and then set up the POP-IN TEAROOMS on the site of MRS BAKER’S HOTEL. The latter establishment was the first boarding house to be built in TE ANAU. It was owned by MRS SYLVIA BAKER, a daughter of ERNIE and EDNA GOVAN who were proprietors of the TE ANAU HOTEL during the 1920s/30s. As well as running the BOARDING HOUSE, MRS BAKER ran a small store and petrol station. It was situated on the same lakefront corner.

316: As an aside, he mentions that MRS BAKER’S original building stands at the back of his property where it was transported in the late 1970s and used as the HOTEL staff quarters. For the last ten years, however, it has been relegated to being used as a workshop and junk room.

320: Goes on to say that when the lakefront corner site was developed (by BRYAN HUTCHINS’ company, TE ANAU DEVELOPMENTS), they moved the POP-IN CAFÉ to that complex from where it continues to operate under different ownership.

329: Mentions that he and FORD also took on the PEARL HARBOUR TEAROOMS underneath the FIORDLAND TRAVEL DEPOT at MANAPOURI. All the provisions were prepared early in the morning in TE ANAU and driven across and set out by one of his staff, IAN YOUNG.

336: Their next enterprise, he says, was the LITTLE GOLF & BIKE HIRE which is still operating under different ownership in TE ANAU. Adds that the partnership ended when FORD moved to ALEXANDRA.

341: He next linked up, he says, with PETER WISE and they set up the VILLAGE INN & HOTEL in TE ANAU in 1987. But, he admits, it was a disaster for the partnership because it was the wrong time economically in NEW ZEALAND due to the global financial market crash.

347: “For the partnership it was a disastrous outcome but very positive for the township…the town needed a new HOTEL at that time, they got it and it’s gone on through different ownership to be very successful.”

350: Remembers how that $3.1 million-enterprise put the TE ANAU DOWNS HOTEL business into receivership for almost two years.

363: Adds that it took him nearly twelve years to completely overcome the financial hardship the enterprise cost his business. But at the same time, he says, it taught him many lessons.

366: Recalls that the years 1987/88 were harsh times for NEW ZEALAND as a whole with communities suffering badly as a result of the economic downturn.

394: Mentions his involvement with the NEW ZEALAND MOTEL ASSOCIATION and that he was branch CHAIRMAN between 1977 and 1987.

399: Says he was also branch CHAIRMAN of the NATIONAL TRAVEL ASSOCIATION in the late 1970s and early 1980s and in 1985 the committee opted to become instead FIORDLAND PROMOTIONS for which he was first CHAIRMAN.

404: Another group he took part in was the TE ANAU COMMUNITY BOARD, which he says was first named the COMMUNITY COUNCIL as part of the WALLACE COUNTY COUNCIL (predecessor of the SOUTHLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL).

410: Other committee members, he recalls, were CHRIS CARRAN, IRENE BARNES, BILL NEILSEN, BRUCE BROWN, DIANE RIDLEY, FRANA CARDNO and BRIAN WATTS.

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Tape 3 Side A starts

010: Continuing the discussion about organisations he was involved with, he says that in 1975 he joined BEST WESTERN, NEW ZEALAND while it was still operating under its previous title of the NZ MOTEL FEDERATION (NZMF). In 1984, he was elected as VICE-CHAIRMAN of the BOARD of NZMF, appointed CHAIRMAN in 1987 and held that position for eight years.

022: Overall, he says, he was on the NZMF committee for eighteen years. Adds that he served on an executive committee of BEST WESTERN INTERNATIONAL – one of seven selected from 72 countries. As a result, he says, he was able to travel the world.

048: Considers that on a global scale, NEW ZEALAND offers the best facilities in terms of MOTEL units.

066: Referring back to TE ANAU DOWNS HOTEL, he confirms that the lease has been sold to a WANAKA-based development company (INFINITY) which through its RIVERSTONE HOLDINGS is promoting the construction of a MONORAIL from LAKE WAKATIPU to the wharf at TE ANAU DOWNS.

076: If that proposal were given the go ahead, he says, it would open up TOURISM in the area. Long-term, he suggests, the project has some advantages without seriously affecting the core FIORDLAND environment.

089: Admits that initially it would “hurt” the smaller businesses such as tearooms and souvenir shops but beyond that, he argues, it would promote the area. Person recorded: Dave Moss

093: Should the proposal be rejected, he says, there would be an opportunity to bulldoze “all these DAVE MOSS buildings” and replace them with a lodge-style resort.

106: Referring to historical proposals for a township to be sited at TE ANAU DOWNS, he says it was a matter raised by the OTAGO SURVEYOR (JOHN TURNBULL) THOMSON in the 1800s who was sent by the authorities in ENGLAND to survey the possibility of a town development alongside the lake. THOMSON, he says, reportedly lost his bearings slightly and measured from the wrong mountain peaks so the town ended up where it now stands.

120: Negates the possibility of a township ever being developed at TE ANAU DOWNS unless another highway were to be built as the only route into or out of it is SH94.

130: In addition, he says, TE ANAU township has plenty of room for expansion because of the open spaces surrounding it.

144: His decision to sell up, he says, was well planned in advance which has also meant standing down from his involvement in other organisations.

154: Having sold the business, he has moved to GERALDINE in SOUTH CANTERBURY where he bought and runs a small MOTORPARK at ORARI BRIDGE.

170: Winding up the discussion, he refers to some of the people he has met over the years, including POP ANDREWS (a MINISTRY of WORKS roads supervisor who died in an avalanche accident near the HOMER TUNNEL in the 1970s), RED JENNINGS, DARCY HAGGART, the BROWN family (of WESNEY CREEK) and the CAMPBELL family (WILSON & VERNA). WILSON CAMPBELL, a former MAYOR of GORE, went into partnership with LAWSON BURROWS to form the FIORDLAND TRAVEL COMPANY which was later bought and restructured by LES HUTCHINS and family. In the mid-1960s, WILSON & VERNA built the FIORDLAND HOTEL on LUXMORE DRIVE, TE ANAU and later CAMPBELLS AUTOLODGE on the lakefront.

Interview ends

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