News
Tukituki River Access public meeting Waipukurau
August 09, 2014
Hi Mike and Fenton. Nice to meet you guys from Hawkes Bay Regional Council in Waipukurau the other night. Certainly it was interesting to hear the different views and ideas for recreation uses of the Tukituki River and its surrounds. The pathway you are building is fantastic for the town and Nothing new I suppose in that most people had a point of view which was determined by their own activity whether it be an adjoining farmer running a business, the Council trying to provide a resource, the horse riders, walkers, cyclists, fisherman, 4wd people, Regional Council trying to allow access while preventing the area from possible flooding and not to forget the lady who had a photograph of a Tui bottle top she found left lying on the riverside.
The Regional Council is doing an excellent job of allowing access to the River. Most certainly there seemed to be few if any restrictions about where in the river people could drive, from Waipawa to Waipukurau and 50 Kilometres upstream past the access from SH50. I was expecting to hear some big lack of access issues but in fact the main problem seemed to be that the 4WD boys could no longer access the river from the end of their street, but may need to go to one of many other access points not quite so convenient. While I realise they had non road legal vehicles and might now need to build trailers, that problem is shared by all the rest of the 4WD community throughout the World.
As an overview of ourselves, the NZFWD Assn is experienced at managing access to public and private land in NZ. We have near 3000 members and are split into Northern, Central and Southern Zones in NZ, with Taupo to Wellington being Central Zone into which your area fits. Our Central Zone meets in Palmerston North for quarterly meetings. In Hawkes Bay we have two 4WD Clubs affiliated to the NZ4WD Assn.. Our main purpose is to obtain and retain access to lands for 4WD recreation use and provide assurances to the land owners that we will respect any rules. Thank you for talking with Brent Samson and myself. Brent is the Central Zone PRO and Max Wheatley is the Central Zone President. Max lives in Palmerston North. I will share details of your contacts with these people.
Going forward we have offered the Waipukurau 4WD boys ( BJ Moleta ) assistance to form a recognised and affiliated 4WD Club so that we can assist them with 4WDing access on the Tukituki River and more.
Other Access. Fenton you did mention a water collection area that you suggested may be available for 4WD recreation. I missed the name of the area.
Kind regards
Roger Seymour
Public Relations Officer
NZ Four Wheel Drive Assn
021424351
