Since the Findlay’s took over the Punakaiki Beach Camp 6 years ago, Dion has been talking about making a coffee cart. With the opening of the Paparoa Track he decided it’s the right time!

With Paparoa Track Transport leaving the Beach Camp at 8am every morning to the start of the new track it seemed obvious to get hikers and bikers their pre-start coffee fix.

Short interview with chief barista Dion

Dion already runs Get Native stand up paddle board tours and finds the coffee cart to be a great supplementary business. He even offers a free coffee to his paddle board customers. Dion’s Paddle Board tours depart the Punakaiki Beach Camp office daily at 10.30am.

After “jumping through the hoops” Dion opened Local Energy Coffee in November, he has throughly enjoyed working the coffee machine and always has plenty of advice on the area for campsite guests.

Dion makes coffees for everyone, fluffies for the little ones, hot chocolates for non coffee drinkers and short blacks for the hard core drinkers!

You can find Local Energy all summer long in front of the Punakaiki Beach Camp facilities. Dion provides free music with his coffees, usually a reggae, kiwi and chilled out vibe, setting the scene for the day of adventures ahead.

Guests have been very happy with the service so far, with one guests saying She “likes to start the day with fancy coffee while on holiday, and only steps from her campsite is a real treat!”. “The coffee cart adds to the chill vibe the Findlay’s try to bring to the campsite.”