Woodhill Diary

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Tuesday 26 December 2006

Who is responsible for the maintenance of the walking track to and through the DOC Reserve?

I drove back from Auckland mid-afternoon today and on a notion I popped in to Woodhill to see what progress has been made by Carter Holt Harvey, or by Bike Parks Ltd, in restoring access to the walking track through the DOC reserves at Woodhill.

None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

All the WALKING TRACKS CLOSED DUE TO HARVESTING OPERATIONS signs are still in place, over three months following cessation of harvesting, some three months after I was assured by the CHH recreation officer that management of walking tracks had been contracted out to Bikeparks New Zealand.

Bikeparks New Zealand, incidentally have not replied to my email, sent to their advertised email address, requesting information about walking track development and making a number of recommendations. (info@bikepark.co.nz)

The old walking track parking area is still fenced off with a TOW AWAY ZONE sign making the point quite clear. The kilometre of road between the new Bike Parks parking area and the old de facto walking tracks parking area, is just as narrow and dangerous for pedestrians as it was three months ago:

I pulled the van hard over to the side of the road for a couple of minutes to get a photo. About seven cars passed in that time. This was about 3.30pm. Nothing in this for walkers.

The possible alternative route to the DOC Reserve, beginning just across the road from the new carpark, is also clearly signposted:

If you ignore it, and nearly four months after cessation of harvesting operations, that seems reasonable, you are faced with about 150 m of crashing your way through uneven ground covered in pampas grass and scrub to the left of the rope course, and then about 800m picking your way across cutover forest, about 600m of Quadbike track, then 500 m or so of gravel road before reaching the DOC reserve. (I was assured in September by the CHH recreation officer that I could safely do this, and I was told a follow up crew would be there in about a fortnight to reopen full access.)

That's about 4km (2km at each end) total of gratuitous and ugly walking tacked on to the DOC reserve walk, which is actually worth a visit, but scarcely on those terms and certainly not as regularly as once was.

I'll keep you posted