December 18, 2022

Waikawa Newsletter December 2022

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

as the days and weeks rush towards the end of the year it’s hard to believe that Thursday brings us the Summer Solstice and after that we lose a little more daylight every day.

Given these long hours of summer daylight it’s a bit harder to notice that we have some of the best Dark Skies you can get. Because the air’s warmer in summer the stars are generally better viewed in winter when everything looks crisper. But if you are out late (New Year’s Eve, anyone?) remember to look up and enjoy.

Something I’ve noticed recently is we seem right now to be at Peak Bird — watch out for the ‘nests’ and baby birds on the beach, and everywhere else. I’ve seen a few tiny eggs that must have blown out of nests in the trees nearby. The days are filled with birdsong and whirring wings.

Stephen Betts kindly sent these photos of eggs on the beach among the new dunes south of the river.

While a few dedicated volunteers were planting spinifex along the Miratana frontage in early December, beach visitor Corne Ferreira took amazing photos of three incredibly tiny Pied Stilt chicks that were nearby. It’s a wonder any of these baby birds survive what with motorbikes roaring up and down the beach, cars and tractors, dogs, pedestrians and high tides.

(Baby Pied Stilt, photo by Corne Ferreira and used with permission. )

We suspect the Tuturiwhatu, Banded dotterel and also Tuturiwhatu, New Zealand dotterel are breeding in the same area too. Even adult dotterels are extremely hard to see!

A Ruddy Turnstone joined the Big List of Waikawa Beach Birds recently. It was spotted down by the Waiorongomai Stream.

Further north though, just south of the river and where the spinifex is planted each year, the dunes are growing. Stephen Betts created some excellent Beach Comparison Photos from the North Track, late 2022 where you can really see the change from flat, featureless sand to a dune area.

Go inland a little, into the dunes and you may come across the invasive pest plant Acacia longifolia, more commonly called Sydney golden wattle. Last year Horowhenua District Council removed some from around the village. The problem with the acacias is they take over and push out native species. Now Horizons Regional Council have been granted permission to release the bud-galling wasp to help control them. The wasp lays its eggs in flower buds, which then produce growths that prevent seed production.

Go even further inland, no, even further…, and you’ll come across the new Tsunami Safe Zone marking on the road just by the intersection of Waikawa Beach Road and Takapu Road. Apparently the old line, about 1 Km closer to the village, was painted in the wrong place. Plus, up by Takapu Road there’s more space for people to congregate while still allowing emergency vehicles through.

Keep on going and of course you’ll soon come to SH1 where new speed limits have been put in place between Ōtaki and Levin. It’s now officially 80 Kph all the way to Levin.

What’s more the new Pekapeka to Ōtaki Expressway is about to open (no firm date yet, but rumours say before Christmas) and Waka Kotahi have a page you can refer to for where the traffic problems will be over the holiday period. The new Expressway and the speed limit changes muddy the picture though. Read more at Traffic jams, speed limits and a new Expressway.

The TL;DR (too long, don’t read) summary is: try to do your travelling overnight, between around 5 pm and 8 am if you’d like to avoid queues and jams.

(It was so good to see the bike stand by the footbridge being well used.)

Recycling continues as usual. Next scheduled recycling collections are Monday 19 December 2022 and Monday 02 January 2023. It’s good to keep putting out your recycling for kerbside collection, but if you need space for extra then I believe HDC will be installing a Recycling Station at Hank Edwards Reserve.

That station creates a lot of noise and disturbance for nearby residents and visitors so please use it only between 9 am and 5 pm.

The best strategy of course is the good old reduce the amount of stuff that needs to be thrown away or recycled.

And while you’re at Hank Edwards Reserve check out the now officially opened new wharepaku toilet block (or as the Council call it ‘amenity block’). A couple of lights are still needed and the soap dispensers haven’t yet been installed, but it’s roughly a million times better than the old facility. The two wharepaku are open during daylight hours.

Hank Edwards Reserve is also where the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association will be holding most of its Summer Activities, including the AGM.

Did you know that Horowhenua property values have gone up by 52% since 2019? That’s quite a rise.

(Bonus photo of a Kuaka Godwit — with a view like this available for free who wouldn’t want to live here?)

The property market is still slow around here though. 4 Sand Dune Grove has sold, but these are still on the market: 42 Sarah Street, 16 James Street, 22 Kristin Place, 501A Waikawa Beach Road (3 lifestyle properties). Unknown: 13 Arthur Street and 17 Drake Street.

One property at Waikawa Beach has resumed its old tradition of amazing mārama kirihimete (Christmas lights). I haven’t seen them lit up yet, but thanks to Wendy and Peter Clark of James Street for bringing this joy to our community. Keep your eyes open and you may spot some other properties helping to light us up too.

The lights we don’t want are from fires on the beach. Local Steve Bailey cleaned up a mess of dangerous broken and melted bottles from a fire near the South Track off Reay Mackay Grove. if you’re hosting visitors please remind them that fires on the beach are illegal.

And as for fireworks — local pet and horse owners always have to deal with calming their animals when fireworks go off nearby. Again, please ask visitors to take their fireworks home again. Maybe instead of sending fireworks up into the dark sky just look at the incredible view Nature gives us for free. $0 for millions of lights — that’s definitely more bang for your buck.

Enjoy the sand, sun, sea, birds, sky — all free! How amazing is that!

Kia pai tō wā whakatā! - Have a great holiday!

[Have you tried the ice creams at Waikawa Blueberries? Yum!)

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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.

Me te aroha,

Miraz Jordan

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