Paraparaumu Beach is different to Waikanae Beach and needs artificial features to enhance visitor appeal. There was a small amount of water today in this pond which has been in the news, but we don’t know if this is the remnant of water from the ‘English summer’ that lasted until about 2 weeks ago.  What is the council doing to solve this debacle?

“The treaty is a partnership between Māori and the Crown, which requires the partners to act toward each other ‘reasonably and with the utmost good faith.’4” Treaty Principles – from the Waitangi Tribunal In September last year a protest was staged by both Te Awahou (Foxton) tangata whenua and other local Foxton residents regarding the […]

via The Horowhenua District Council has broken its agreement with Foxton’s tangata whenua – another PROTEST on March 1st (Wednesday) — Rangitikei Enviromental Health Watch

At 100 km/h, MacKays to Peka Peka should take 10 minutes, 45 seconds, a minute more than this electronic music-style song from 1974: Autobahn by Kraftwerk.

Lyrics are few if you want to sing along. 🙂

Wir fahren auf der Autobahn

Vor uns liegt ein weites Tal
Die Sonne scheint mit Glitzerstrahl

Die Fahrbahn ist ein graues Band
Weisse Streifen, grüner Rand

Jetzt schalten wir ja das Radio an
Aus dem Lautsprecher klingt es dann:

[We are driving on the Autobahn

In front of us lies a wide valley
The sun shines with glittering rays

The driving path is a grey band
White stripes, green edge

Now we switch the radio on
From the speaker it sounds:]

The Otaihanga Boating Club venue provides a nice view of the Waikanae River and the Weggery Drive area.

About half of the 60 or so who attended last night seemed to be visitors so it must have been regarded a success.  After the barby, cakes and cookies there was a slide show of members’ photos, mostly from last year’s field trips, followed by questions on the program for the year.

Competition displays are called salons (not saloons 🙂 ) and the judges are pretty experienced.  Members can use Photoshop on their entries provided the image capture is their own.

The programme brochure is shown.

Individual membership is only $50 a year.

The Nga Manu bird sanctuary is signposted for the Te Moana Road exit on the ‘Ewy’ in both directions, although having taken that exit, visitors then need to turn east up Te Moana for a short distance, then do a left into Park Avenue, then another left into Ngarara Road and follow it about 3 km until a sign points out Nga Manu on the right. As that road has been widened and is currently being sealed, we’ll cover it separately soon.

Continuing up Ngarara you come to the T junction, the left branch of which remains Ngarara, while the right branch is Smithfield — but that is now truncated by the ‘Ewy’.

the first feature of interest on Ngarara Rd past the park is the Crematorium, fittingly, across the road from the Parkwood business’s retirement village. 🙂

the end of Smithfield Road; below is the Streetview of how it was when it continued east

the cycle path and the Ewy

On the Otaihanga side this evening.

You’ll notice the new sharing buttons added if you want to reblog our posts onto your Facebook page or other social media.  Our own Facebook page has been there for a while, but we haven’t given it much attention till now.

Although we have strong misgivings about Facebook for the reasons mentioned earlier, and that it’s highly cluttered rather than clean and simple like this blog, it’s a case of “if you can’t beat it, join it.”

There are some pics on the Facebook page which aren’t on here (and a lot vice-versa).

something of tourist interest maybe, like Nevada State Route 375

Technically it stays as State Highway One until the central government hands it over to the KCDC; but at that point it needs a name.

It can’t be called Kapiti Road as that already exists in Paraparaumu, and “Kapiti Highway” or “Kapiti Main Road” could be seen as confusing.

Maybe “Main Trunk Road”, as it accompanies that most of the way.

Whatever, we fervently hope that Ratepayers will be given the chance to participate in a democratic manner.

No, not a surge in investor interest following the Expressway opening, this piece about a find on Waikanae Beach was the reason.

Rules changes will see a nationally-coordinated approach to dropping 1080 poison in conservation areas, Environment Minister Nick Smith has announced.

The new regulations, approved under the Resource Management Act, would see a uniform set of rules applied for the use of the controversial poison.

The proposal went out for public consultation with 70 per cent of submissions favouring the change. The new national regulations come into effect on April 1.

Smith made the announcement while visiting the Tiritiri Matangi Sanctuary in the Hauraki Gulf as part of National’s annual Bluegreens Forum.

He acknowledged there was opposition to the use of 1080, but said the benefits outweighed the risks.

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