Responsible Tourism and Environmental Commitments

We welcome you to Jacksons Retreat and hope you enjoy your holiday experience with us in our unique West Coast covered campervan holiday park and camping ground.

We believe in protecting the beautiful environment of Jacksons, West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand, and want to ensure that your children and grandchildren can visit and enjoy our patch now and in the future.

With more people than ever looking for green holidays, sustainable travel and responsible environmental tourism options, Jacksons Retreat has developed an environmental plan to help protect New Zealand’s unique environment, and we welcome your support for this initiative when you holiday at Jacksons Retreat.

Most of our guests want to help make Jacksons Retreat Holiday Park as environmentally sustainable as possible, and so we invite you to become involved in this plan while enjoying our hospitality, service and activities, by undertaking several small actions. Many of our own efforts you will not see, but some you may notice.

Since our arrival in 2005 we have planted over 3,500 natives (the land was previously in pasture for fattening cattle), and we continue to carry out the planting; we have created Jacksons Retreat with integrity and respect for the land and its natural resources. Our buildings are purpose-built using “for life” materials, recycled woods and sustainable materials, impacting less on the environment.

Environmental Practices

Below is a summary of some of the environmental practices that Jacksons Retreat have implemented:

• Low-flush toilet options
• Shower systems that use less water
• Toilet paper and hand towels made from recycled materials
• Heat transfer pump from lounge log fire into bathrooms
• Growing organic vegetables and buying organic as much as is possible
• Buying environmentally friendly biodegradable cleaning products or creating our own
• Using recycled timber in our office and the bathroom amenity blocks
• Kitchen benches made with untreated timber from sustainable resources
• Donating unwanted or unclaimed items to a local charities
• Reusing scrap paper from the photocopier and using both sides for printing
• Sensor and day-night sensor lighting at sites and in the amenities complex

We also use energy-efficient light bulbs throughout our office and residence; we also use solar-powered lights around the park grounds. We always try to reduce waste, e.g. food scraps from the kitchen are composted for growing our vegetables, and we recycle plastic containers for use in the garden and tunnel house.

We buy our products and use tradespeople from local sources, which supports employment in our area and reduces the distance our goods and services travel to reach us.

We support local rural schools and preschools, guides and fundraising. We pay a $5.00+gst concession per person from our Jacksons Explorer Scenic Jet Tours to the Department of Conservation, which goes towards looking after our beautiful region. The Scenic Jet also avoids places such as Blue Duck (Whio) nesting areas, and passengers are not allowed to walk on relics/artefacts or remove anything from the Taramakau riverbed such as Greenstone (Pounamu).

The Retreat has a unique fresh water supply system: 300 metres up the mountain range, water is piped down, filtered and stored in a tank. This system has Health Department approval and the water is lovely to drink.

We have built our own specially designed sewerage system using the slope of the site, ensuring that there is no run-off from our property to streams that feed the mighty Taramakau River running to the Tasman Sea.

What Can You Do?

We invite our guests to help protect the New Zealand environment when you stay at Jacksons Retreat.

We offer recycling options located in the big yellow Mastagard unit by the creek; you can help us by sorting your recyclables into the appropriate bins. You can also place your food scraps in the bin provided in the kitchen, to go into our compost bin.

Please ask the staff, or Donna and Bevan (your hosts), for native Hebe seeds to spread throughout the Ngarimu rainforest walking track - this will help rejuvenate the lower forest floor, feeding native birds, insects and wildlife, and striving for continued native planting in this area, reducing carbon emissions.

We also pledge to apply the following environmentally responsible principles across all aspects of our business:

• Avoid polluting land, air and water
• Avoid depleting natural, non-renewable resources
• Avoid destroying habitats and places of historical and cultural significance

To commit to our legal requirements, our business complies with all relevant environmental legislation and with other requirements.

Thank you for taking the time to read our Environmental Commitment Policy.

Environmentally Responsible Holiday Accommodation

Come and stay at Jacksons Retreat Campervan Holiday Park and enjoy a relaxing green holiday in beautiful natural surroundings. Find out more about our environmentally responsible accommodation.

 

"Enjoy an environmentally responsible green holiday at Jacksons Retreat, West Coast, New Zealand."

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Phone/fax: +64 3 738 0474 Email: info@jacksonsretreat.co.nz Location and contact details

Jacksons Retreat Campervan Holiday Park State Highway 73 Jacksons Greymouth