New boardwalk aimed at getting youth outdoors

Blueskin Youth and Community Amenities Association members  Paul Clements, Wendy Harrex and Jack Monaghan (rear)  at a new boardwalk track built by the association at the Orokonui estuary. Photo: Peter McIntosh
Blueskin Youth and Community Amenities Association members Paul Clements, Wendy Harrex and Jack Monaghan (rear) at a new boardwalk track built by the association at the Orokonui estuary. Photo: Peter McIntosh

A group of Waitati residents hope a boardwalk on Department of Conservation scenic reserve land will coax young people away from computers and into nature.

The Blueskin Youth and Community Amenities Association has just completed construction of a $20,000 loop boardwalk connecting the northern end of the Orokonui estuary to Doctors Point Rd.

Association secretary Wendy Harrex said the walk would take most walkers about an hour to complete.

"The whole idea of the track around the estuary came out of consulting the group did in 2011 about how to make the area better for young people."

Association member Paul Clements said first on the list for many young people was a skate park, which the association helped to fund in 2011.

Construction of the track took much longer than the skate park because of the resource consent process involved in building on a scenic reserve, he said.

The track around the Orokonui estuary was now accessible from the boardwalk and the Doc car park in Orokonui Rd, Ms Harrex said.

However, a shortage of funds meant walkers might encounter problems navigating the track.

"Fundraising for track signage and interpretation panels is next on the list.

"Until those are in place, it is a matter of follow your nose."

The boardwalk would lead people through reinstated wetland and lowland forest vegetation that birds were likely to occupy.

Revegetation of the estuary was a major ongoing project and vegetation would develop around the boardwalk as more funds become available to buy plants, Ms Harrex said.

The track would be officially opened in autumn.

margot.taylor@odt.co.nz

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