Walk and meeting Newton Reserve, Sunday 5 July 1pm

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This week we have an event that combines a coastal walk with a public meeting about proposed changes to the walkway between Little Oneroa and Newton Road. You may be aware that the Friends of Newton Reserve, in partnership with Auckland City, have been working on weed control and forest restoration in the Newton Reserve valley. Some great progress has been made here and we will have a look at this area with representatives of the Friends. This year there is SLIPS funding available to implement some improvements to the coastal walkway that connects Little Oneroa with Newton Road and local consultants Ivan Kitson and Jan Ramp have drawn up proposals for these improvements. Anyone who interested in this area is invited to come and walk through the area with us and attend a brief meeting afterwards where the proposals and options will be discussed in detail. The walk will start at 1.30pm at the Little Oneroa carpark and will take approx 1.5 hrs. Then we will wander over to the Old Blackpool School Hall and look at the proposals (approx 3pm). This is an opportunity for neighbours, anyone with an interest in walkways on the island and the general public to have input in the development of a great coastal route close to Oneroa.

Te Toki Reserve

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Te Toki Reserve is showing the result of a joint effort by Auckland City, Forest & Bird and the fledgling 'Friends Okahuiti' volunteer group. Over the last few years, extensive weed control has taken place and new tracks have been built. Its time to come and have a look at what has been achieved here, and re-discover beautiful Te Toki Reserve and its wider environment. The Okahuiti stream and wetland system is the largest and most complete in the western end of the island. From bush-clad valleys along Crescent Road and Wilma Road, all the way down to the mangroves and marshland around the Causeway, this is a fascinating area, right in the middle of where most of us live. And its all becoming more accessible; Te Toki Reserve is developing into a key link between the Causeway and Palm Beach. Our guide Tony King-Turner will show you what has been achieved here and what the vision is for the future.

Te Atawhai Whenua, 14 June 2009 3pm

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Today, when you travel from Matiatia to Oneroa, it’s hard to believe that only 16 years ago the flourishing bush on the south side of the road did not exist. Then, the slip-prone hillside had been farmed for many years and was covered in thin grass. It was the late Don Chapple’s vision that saw that hillside transformed: from the time of the first plantings in 1993 until his death in 2005, he dedicated his life to that task.

Don named the 17-hectare reserve ‘Te Atawhai Whenua’ meaning ‘a kindness to the land’ because above all, he wanted to show that it was never too late, that the land could always be healed. Although Don was the main architect of the project, he was assisted over the years by many others who cleared weeds, raised, planted and tended seedlings and who continue his work today.

The walk on Sunday 14 June will be a loop through the reserve and the adjacent wetland, just to enjoy and admire the trees and what has been achieved. The walk will take up to an hour and a half along formed tracks.

Note that while every care is taken, these walks are at your own risk. All welcome.
Meet at 3 pm at the southern end of Matiatia Bay, beside the bridge into the reserve. For more detail contact Jan Ramp 372 8992 or Janet Hunt 372 2450.

Te Haahi Goodwin Reserve, 7 June, 1.30pm

Meet at the Ostend (Belgium Street carpark) at 1pm to carpool to the old pioneer cemetry along Orapiu Road. We will take a 2 hour walk through this remote 35 ha Forest & Bird reserve. There are no formed tracks in this reserve, just routes, so good footwear and a reasonable level of fitness are required. We will see the site of the first school on Waiheke, a mostly weed-free regenerating forest with stunning mosses and fungi on the forest floor, some lovely groves of kauri, nikau and other more rare trees, and a kauri slide close to Orapiu Road.


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