Waikawa News October 2022
Kia ora e hoa mā,
Some of us were thinking it’s about time we had a community get together. Come and meet your neighbours on Saturday 12 November 2022 at the twin lakes, corner of Strathnaver Drive and Reay Mackay Grove. 4 pm to 6 pm. Make sure your neighbours know about the picnic too. Bring along some food to share and your own drinks, plus picnic supplies like plates, cups etc. Please take your rubbish away with you. Email news@wow-waikawa.nz if you plan to come along and how many so we can get an idea of who to expect. We’ve had a great response so far. If the weather turns bad we’ll postpone to Sat 19th of November.
This month Local Body Elections were the big news. Emma Clarke and Sam Ferguson have been confirmed as the elected members in our area for Horizons Regional Council. For Horowhenua District Council Bernie Wanden was re-elected as Mayor, and Rogan Boyle and Jonathon Procter have been elected as Waiopehu General Ward Councillors. Contact details:
- Bernie Wanden, Mayor, 027 291 5546, mayor@horowhenua.govt.nz
- Rogan Boyle, Councillor, Waiopehu Ward, 020 4109 6108, cr.rogan.boyle@horowhenua.govt.nz
- Jonathan Proctor, Councillor, Waiopehu Ward, 021 634 488, cr.jonathan.procter@horowhenua.govt.nz
Waikawa Beach was in the news twice. The good news: Waikawa Glen olive oil wins Best in Show 2022. When the blueberry farm near the top of Waikawa Beach Road opens again in December stop buy and buy some oil. (I can also recommend their ice creams).
The bad news:
Ngāti Wehi Wehi is an iwi in the Manakau and Waikawa area south of Levin and members are presenting evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal as part of the Porirua ki Manawatū Inquiry this week. The inquiry is part of the Ngāti Raukawa iwi confederation claim, which says thousands of hectares of land from Manawatū to Kāpiti was historically confiscated.
[Ropata Miratana] said there had been a lot of Māori land at Waikawa Beach but since 1900 it had disappeared.
Wehi Wehi had lost tribal knowledge, waterways had deteriorated, fishing has suffered and the iwi was driven from its land by the Crown, he said.
It behoves us to be mindful that in spite of these massive losses, the Miratana whānau still kindly allow us to cross their land to move between Manga Pirau Street and the beach.
Which brings me to a sentence I noticed recently in the Ōtaki Mail newspaper about The Otaki Community Board accepting a petition for a sea wall to protect the beach:
With “thousands of vehicle movements over it” the land had eroded over many years and had dropped down.
Such erosion can be aggravated by removing driftwood from the beach, and by bad weather such as tropical storms. In the coming year there’s a normal to elevated risk of a cyclone affecting Aotearoa New Zealand.
One way to help build and stabilise sand is by planting spinifex. About 35 volunteers turned out to help plant some 3,500 Spinifex and Pīngao plants along the Waikawa Beach frontage. That’s a roughly $10,000 investment. Plantings from previous years are thriving and it’s obvious how successful they are at growing our beach.
Talking of growing, here’s a handy word and sentence to keep in mind at this time of year:
māra: garden. E toro mai ana ngā tūī ki te māra. The tūī are visiting the garden.
Down by the water the Kuaka, Godwits, are starting to return from their Arctic adventures.
And further from the sea California Quail have been spotted making themselves at home.
The toilet block (located on a sacred spring — see above) continues to progress. Roofing seems complete, air vents have been added and the interior work is underway.
Be sure to look up at the night sky this month:
For those of you who are enjoying a view of the sky from the Southern Hemisphere, look towards the east in the early hours of the morning to spot the brightest star in the night sky, the star Sirius [which] lies 8.6 light-years away and has a diameter 1.7 times that of the Sun.
There are also a number of open star clusters for you to enjoy, including [the nearby] Caroline’s Cluster, NGC 2360, named after Caroline Herschel, the first woman in England to receive a salary as a scientist.
If you don’t live at Waikawa Beach, then perhaps one of the properties for sale would interest you? 4 Sand Dune Grove, 26 Manga Pirau Street and 664 Waikawa Beach Road all have something going, along with still available 22 Kristin Place, 501A Waikawa Beach Road (3 lifestyle properties), 13 Arthur Street and 17 Drake Street. Meanwhile 58 Manga Pirau Street and 8 Norna Grove have sold.
Links
- Waikawa Beach picnic
- Horizons Regional Council election results
- Horowhenua District Council election results
- Waikawa Glen olive oil wins Best in Show 2022
- The disappearing land at Waikawa Beach
- Vehicle traffic erodes a beach
- Normal-elevated risk of a cyclone in 2022-23 season
- Spinifex planting October 2022
- The Kuaka return
- California Quail
- Toilet block update 08 October 2022
- Toilet block progress to Saturday 01 October 2022
- Night sky highlights - October 2022
- For sale: 4 Sand Dune Grove
- For sale: 26 Manga Pirau Street
- For sale: 664 Waikawa Beach Road
- Sold: 58 Manga Pirau Street
- Kupu Māori
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Thanks everyone for the support. I’ve had a lot of great feedback recently on my newsletters. I really appreciate that.
Mā te wā,
Miraz Jordan
Wow Waikawa!:
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News: http://news.wow-waikawa.nz
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