Waikawa News March 2022
Kia ora e hoa mā,
this month has been marked by properties popping up for sale, even while those already on the market just don't seem to be moving.
Properties
Currently for sale: 10 Arthur Street, 13 Arthur Street, 17 Drake Street, 159 Emma Drive, 40 Manga Pirau Street, 58 Manga Pirau Street, 44 Sarah Street, 75 Strathnaver Drive, 501A Waikawa Beach Road (3 lifestyle properties), 686 Waikawa Beach Road.
Toilet Block rebuild
The other major event this month is the demolition of parts of the Hank Edwards Reserve toilet block ready for rebuilding. After two days of work most of the men's block has been demolished — leaving the pump room for the moment, and the women's block has lost its roof and been hollowed out. Also, new concrete ramps will be installed so most of the existing concrete on the ground is being removed.
The project costs in the region of $354,000. Note: that averages out to about $7,000 per year for the potential 50 year lifespan of the building.
See Toilet block demo Day Two.
Parched
Although the year started with rain, rain, rain (almost 310 mm this calendar year), we're now in a dry patch. In the almost 4 weeks since 21 February 2022 we've had less than 1 mm rain.
The new bay by the river
It's really interesting walking between the river and the Waiorongomai Stream at the moment. The river mouth has completely changed shape and seems to be forming a new bay roughly where the north track off Reay Mackay Grove exits to the beach. We need a drone photo as it's really hard to see from ground level just what's going on.
Ngā manu: the birds; Birds galore
[Caveat: I'm no bird expert and I may have wrongly misidentified birds mentioned below. If you know better, please do correct me.]
It's peak bird season, I guess. Along with our usual Variable oystercatchers near the river, there has been a presumably visiting flock of what I think are South Island pied oystercatchers near the Waiorongomai Stream.
Also, if you look very carefully, you can see two kinds of Dotterels closer to the river. See Little Dots The Dotterels for more on them.
Then there are the Terns. A flock of Tara, White-fronted terns hangs out at the river mouth, but then I spotted two Taranui, Caspian terns at Waiorongomai Stream. The Caspian terns are a bit bigger and have orange beaks.
And as for the cryptic and elusive Bitterns — one was spotted by the North Trackoff Reay Mackay Grove and then I read an article called Drones Help Find Cryptic Bitterns. That was in a different part of the country, but it's a cool use of technology to help birds.
The dark sky this month
Venus is rising brightly in the morning sky, with Mars, mercury and Saturn nearby. They all might look like they're hanging out together, but while Venus is a pretty near neighbour at 96 million Km, Saturn is a whopping 1600 million km away. Check out The Evening Sky in March 2022 for more information.
A last quick note: until this month I was also writing the WBRA Newsletter and there has been some overlap. From now on I anticipate a much greater divergence.
If you know of Waikawa Beach things that would interest others or if you have comments on this newsletter or the website please let me know at news@wow-waikawa.nz. If you want to suggest others subscribe to the newsletter please send them to: http://news.wow-waikawa.nz/about-waikawa-news.html.
Mā te wā,
Miraz Jordan, Waikawa News