Borland Lodge Trust In Good Hands

Former Southland Mayor Gary Tong has become the new chair of the Borland Lodge Adventure and Education Trust.

Gary has a long association with the adventure camp having managed it after leaving his job as a police officer in 1984.

He was also involved in the huge $1.4 million redevelopment of the lodge in the early 2000s, and now wants to make sure that people remember to support it.

“Borland Lodge is theirs.   The people own it, but without bums on beds we might lose it,” he said.

Heavily reliant on grants and running “on the smell of an oily rag,” past trustees have purchased trees that they cut down and managed to sell to raise more money.

The redevelopment involved huts from the 1970s being taken away and replaced with new accommodation.

Originally the Pig Creek Hostel providing accommodation for the power project workers, the buildings were left behind to become a valuable resource for community groups.

The new facilities were opened in March 2007 and can now accommodate up to 150 people.

Both Deep Cove and Borland Lodge has offered adventure education for school camps for more than 50 years, and shared staff.

Nowadays Borland Lodge was also used for weddings, birthdays, artists retreats and team building exercises by companies.

The trust still has some forestry reserves that have been donated, and which can be used for future development, he said.

In 2020 the trust managed to raise almost $50,000 after the Covid-19 pandemic, to recover from when numbers dropped off and Borland Lodge lost income.