About Archery Park Nelson
Archery Park is dedicated to the sport of traditional archery. It is based at the Cable Bay Adventure Park and has a fully equipped target range and a 3D field archery course following a 3km course through stunning native bush.
Archery Park gets consistently rated 5* by its guests, locally and from all over the whole world.
Beginners rave about their first experience of traditional archery and experienced archers love the setup and passion put into the 3D field archery range.
Markus, the owner, guide and coach of Archery Park, has 18 years of experience in traditional archery and is a certified New Zealand Field Archery Coach (NZFAA). He has coached hundreds of archers and has a great talent to teach anyone the basics of archery.
Markus came 2nd in the 2018 3D Bowhunter Nationals and holds the current New Zealand record for highest score on a 20 * 3D archery field course with a historic bow.
He is a member of the International Field Archery Association, New Zealand Field Archery Association, Traditional Archery Society and New Zealand Bowhunter Society.
More About Archery Park Nelson
About Archery Park Nelson
Our mission: To grow the sport of traditional archery in Nelson and New Zealand
Archery Park is an outdoor eco-adventure business that combines a visit to the most diverse and pristine native forest and a simulated archery hunting experience for dragons, trolls and lifelike game targets into an exciting experience for all ages.
We offer archery products and services for active people, families, archers, tourists and archery clubs.
Archery Park is setup as a social business. Our plan is to have the best field archery experience in New Zealand without requiring any government funding or grants by offering exceptional archery adventures and through the sale of archery equipment.
Archery Park offers
- Archery as an exciting and fun leisure sport for everyone
- High quality archery equipment in our Online Shop
- A place for experienced archers to train and enjoy their sport
- A new way to experience New Zealand nature
- A place for the community to have fun and an active outdoor time
- Professionally run archery training and coaching sessions
- A fun way to engage and form work teams
- Affordable and high quality archery equipment
- Affordable and great looking 3D and other archery targets
Archery Parks unique features
- A fully equipped 3D archery course mostly in pristine native forest
- High quality fantasy and other lifelike 3D archery targets
- A certified archery coach with 18 years of archery experience
- 7 day access for qualified archers to go on their own
- Meticulous planning for safety by design through following best practice guides
- A fully licensed cafe on the same location for refreshments after your adventure
Eco-friendly
Traditional archery is an environmental friendly sport. We re-use our ammunition, make a lot of things ourselves and can repair most broken kit. We print our flyers and brochures only on recycled paper. We love nature and the New Zealand wildlife, so we wanted to do our part for conservation from day one.
We’re certified Carbon Neutral and are on the path to becoming Carbon Negative. Read more about our CO2 efforts here.
Read all about our conservation efforts in our detailed blog post here.
The man behind Archery Park
Hi, I’m Markus and I discovered my passion for traditional archery many years ago in 2001. It all started with a bow-making course and with my self-made, wooden bow I quickly became a good shot.
I joined a nearby small archery club, with a small 3D archery course. We were only 10 people to start with, but quickly built it up to a big club and hosted several annual tournaments.
I met many other traditional archers from all over the world during various tournaments and I continuously built more bows and arrows and trained regularly.
I practice instinctive archery, where you focus on the target, willing the arrow into the spot you want to hit.
I scored 2nd place in my division in the 2018 NZFAA Bowhunter Nationals where I also took home highest scores shot so far in NZ with a historic bow on a 20 * 3D course on the first day of the tournament. A year before I scored 3rd place on a North Island tournament (read more here).
Also in 2018 I made a course to gain an officially archery coach certification by NZFAA, but I have been coaching people throughout my archery life.
When I was in my early twenties I always thought that if I would ever win lotto or become rich, then I would open a public 3D course and devote my life to 3D archery. Only in my very late 30s did I realise that the right approach to life was to just go ahead and live my dream - poor, but happy!
In the past I planned and hosted several 3D archery tournaments and designed 3D courses for traditional archery. In 2009 I was a team member of the Neubrunn 111, Germany’s biggest 3D archery tournament with 111 targets to be shot in 12 hours on a 12km trail. The tournament was part of a one-week archery camp, setup to meet other archers from all over the world.
I provided bow making courses during school holidays to small groups and ran several events for schools. In Nelson I ran a regular archery practice session on the Saxon Sports ground back in 2012. For various reasons I had to put that on hold. But the dream of building a 3D archery course in Nelson has never stopped.
Archery Park is the fulfillment of my dream. A place where people can enjoy the sport of traditional archery, a place where families can spend a day outside, a place where the mind is at ease with itself and reconnects with nature.
I’m a member of New Zealand Field Archery Association, the Traditional Archery Society and the New Zealand Bowhunter Society (although I don’t hunt I enjoy supporting them and their tournaments). I’m a certified NZFAA Community Archery Coach and I teach archery according to the International Field Archery Association standards. I was originally trained by Andreas Gaertner, the German Field Archery Champion, Indoor Champion and 3D Champion of 2008.
There is still a lot of work to do. Come and join me on my mission to turn Nelson into the first New Zealand “Archery Village”. I will provide all my passion and knowledge to this goal.
