Kiwi Bach Culture

A bach - crib, in the southern South Island - is a holiday house, and the word carries a specific idea: small, cheap, frequently built by the owner out of whatever came to hand, unlined, with mismatched furniture, a boat trailer beside it and a spare key under a rock. From the 1950s to the 1980s ordinary families could afford one at a beach an hour or two from home, and a great deal of what New Zealanders describe as their childhood happens in them. Two things have changed that. Coastal land values rose to the point where the classic small bach is now worth more as a site than as a house, and many have been replaced by large architectural holiday homes; and the same rise pushed ownership out of reach for most families, so renting has replaced owning. Some genuine baches survive as DOC and council rentals - basic, remote and cheap - which is now the most reliable way to experience the original version.

What you actually see

• The original form - small, unlined, self-built, cheap.
• The replacement - large architectural holiday homes on the same sites.
• The DOC and council baches - basic, remote and still affordable.
• The place it holds - the setting of most New Zealand childhood summers.

When to go

December to February is the season, and it is when everything books out - rentals at popular beaches are reserved months or a year ahead. February is warm and less frantic than January.

Honest expectations

The classic cheap bach is largely gone from the coast; what is rented now is mostly modern holiday housing at modern prices. DOC and council baches are genuinely basic - long-drop toilets, no power in some cases - and book out immediately.

Nearby

Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty, Northland and the Canterbury and Otago lakes are the classic bach country.