More than 39,000 pledges have been made towards a public campaign to buy a beachfront property in the Abel Tasman National Park, and give it back to New Zealand.
The stretch of land that people have been pledging towards. Photo: Wilson's Abel Tasman.
The online campaign that began as a pipe dream on 22 January reached its $2 million benchmark on Friday and pledges closed at 3pm today.
Organiser Duane Major said that the team behind the plan was hugely grateful for the support.
"I just want to say thank you so much, I just want to say thank you and especially to those families that actually dug deep to pledge towards this, we just want to say thank you so much, I think win or lose it's been something special."
Mr Major said a lawyer and real estate professional were now helping with the tender documents, which would be lodged by tomorrow's 4pm deadline.
Meanwhile, an iwi leader said the government should be buying the Awaroa beach in Abel Tasman National Park and returning it to the whanau who originally owned it.
A trustee of the local iwi Ngati Tama, Fred Te Miha, said a lot of the land in the park was confiscated from Maori families under the National Parks Act.
He said the government should be buying the land back and returning it to the whanau who originally lost it through confiscation.
