MiCAMP TAUPO HISTORY

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In 1959 investigations began to find a suitable site for a Christian Youth Camp in Taupo to service the Every Girls and Boys Rally Camps. A meeting of interested parties took place in Taupo and three sites were looked at. The first site was at 5 Mile Bay which was too expensive, the second was at Hatepe but there were issues with the route of the new highway and the third was at 100 Rawhira Road which is the site that was finally chosen. In 1965 LA Laidlaw and H Forlong paid £252 for the camp site and Mission Bay Youth Camp was established. Several men of God had a vision for the camp and initiated the development of the site. Some of these men were Frank Stewart, Houlton Forlong, Bob Mossop and Rod McCracken. Many varieties of vegetables were given by market gardeners in the Waimarino which was a blessing for the camp.   The original development of the site from scrub land was done by David Berry with his Cat D2 and Laurence Forlong with his TD six and a Fordson Major tractor. Seven cabins, a dining hall, a commercial kitchen and toilets were initially built and since then six motels, an eighth cabin, a conference centre consisting of five lodges and an auditorium and several activities have been added to the site. People were getting Mission Bay Youth Camp confused with the Mission Bay Area in Auckland so in 1988 the camp was renamed Lake Taupo Christian Camp (LTCC). The Camp has provided facilities for many people to enjoy including Schools, Churches, Youth groups, the Health and Disability sector, Training institutions, Business groups, Family reunions, Weddings, Youth Leadership groups and Kids Camps. In 2007 LTCC took over Ruapehu Christian Camp (RCC) and in 2012 LTCC merged with Lake Whakamaru Christian Camp (LWCC). The Board decided to re-brand to MiCamp Trust in July 2013 to make it easier to administer the three camp sites.
In 2015 We celebrated 50 years of Camping at the Taupo site with a weekend of commemorations.