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gmailjohn.bsky.social
@gmailjohn.bsky.social
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Council's recreation survey is now out for consultation - shape.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/raglan-sport....
Despite the title, it's not just a sports park survey. Tell them how much you ramble and that it'd be better with more walkways.
March 26, 2025 at 7:37 AM
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These kauri trees are now getting sizeable. We took a look at the bridge where the car fell off last week - https://www.facebook.com/reel/3230962637042260. Back into the Bush Park.
March 26, 2025 at 7:28 AM
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Some drove back, some walked back. Crossing Wainui Stream again. Wainui Stream.
March 26, 2025 at 7:27 AM
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Tamahine o Karawa is 730m high. Karioi summit is 756m. We ended with lunch in this garden. We walked almost 5km.
March 26, 2025 at 7:25 AM
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The Auckland Star (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19220512.2.74) said the Bryant home was on a 75 acre farm. This was once a trough in a paddock. From 1924 the Bryant Home got its water for drinking and power by a kilometre long aqueduct which went through this short tunnel and then across a viaduct, see picture at https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22827385. Most of the track has the former aqueduct to the right. Crossing Wainui Stream.
March 26, 2025 at 7:22 AM
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Climbing the Bryant Track. We climbed about 240m during the ramble. The north Waikato coast. The last kilometre. Boardwalk.
March 26, 2025 at 7:18 AM
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Onto the beach. Along Ngarunui Beach. Morning tea was at the start of the Bryant track. South end of Ngarunui Beach.
March 26, 2025 at 7:16 AM
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Manu Bay (Waikeri). Raglan. Down to the beach. Over the dunes.
March 26, 2025 at 7:14 AM
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We started on another bright morning from the Bush Park car park. If you'd like to help maintain the Bush Park, meet here at 9am tomorrow (Thu) morning. None of us tried it. Friends of Wainui started planting in the Bush Park in 1993. Karioi.
March 26, 2025 at 7:12 AM
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Are you satisfied with walking tracks and access to the beach? A Council plan, coming out soon, says we are (though the chart below seems to show otherwise). Did Sport Waikato ask you, or anyone you know?
The draft plan starts on page 19 of waikato.civicclerk.com.au/web/UserCont...
A chart showing satisfaction levels for Raglan recreation.
March 20, 2025 at 7:02 AM
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Assembling the potluck lunch. Starting to work out the rambles for the next 6 months. We walked almost 6km.
March 19, 2025 at 5:54 AM
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Progress with repairing Putoetoe walkway seems slow. Now a 3m shared path, but until 1915 there was a cliff here and in the 1920s the path ran beside the cliff - see https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220948283910503&set=g.215986449744313&type=1&theater&ifg=1. Under the Norfolk pines, planted about 1910.
March 19, 2025 at 5:53 AM
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We walked back on the other side of the airfield. The track across the airfoeld looks well trodden. The topsoil removed for the drainage works is being replaced. "He was a friend of the European" and died in 1866. In 1871 the government gave his land as an endowment for the Harbour Board, despite his son's objections - see https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18710324.2.19.
March 19, 2025 at 5:52 AM
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Pokohue or Pokehui Creek. Some ramblers were asking if the Wainui Stream once took a more direct route to the sea. The 1857 chart shows the creek on its present course - see https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Admiralty_Chart_No_2534_Whaingaroa_Harbour%2C_Published_1857.jpg. We noted how the dunes are building up again. Even a dog can't get into the pillbox now. Both pillboxes on th beach are 1942 'Type 22'. The dunes have built up to about the height of the pillbox.
March 19, 2025 at 5:50 AM
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District Council's draft Long Term Plan includes spending $17.6m on a 2-lane bridge in 2029. Are you likely to put in a submission about the Plan next month? Mangroves are starting to spread on this beach. Larger mangroves. Aerodrome Bridge opened in 1992. Before then, there was a wooden bridge. Raglan photos page had a picture of it at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3113653222022675&set=g.215986449744313&type=1&theater&ifg=1. The fence hasn't been repaired for several weeks now, but we didn't cross the airfield.
March 19, 2025 at 5:48 AM
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Kaitoke Walkway. Karioi and Rangitahi bridge. Wainui Rd bridge. Footbridge.
March 19, 2025 at 5:46 AM
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There was a very light drizzle falling as we set off past the old school. However, despite the forecast, we didn't get wet. Te Toki Way - another new street name. It marks the discovery of an old adze, or form of hoe, or spade, during recent construction. Karioi was clear and the drizzle had stopped. A well signposted walkway.
March 19, 2025 at 5:44 AM
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Work seems to be going well with repair of Putoetoe walkway. We split up when we reached Bow St. Some returned to James St, some stopped for lunch. We walked about 6km.
March 12, 2025 at 5:05 AM
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The tide had gone down just enough to get along the beach. Is this large hole related to the drainage work recently done at the campground? Might it swallow the pill box? This year is the centennary of having a footbridge. The formal opening was on 15 May 1926, but the bridge seems to have been used from December 1925 - see https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19251128.2.104.2 and https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19251208.2.129. The prohibited area for dogs is "Within the Raglan Kopua Camping Grounds, the domain, the playground and picnic area of the foreshore of Opotoru inlet from the footbridge to the boat ramp". So why is the sign on the other side of the path? Lucky dogs can't read!
March 12, 2025 at 5:03 AM
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Down to the beach. A solar panel powered CCTV camera? Still no rocks visible on the beach. Karoro, southern black backed gulls.
March 12, 2025 at 5:01 AM
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Looking into the harbour. Children have been building 'houses'. Harbour entrance. Morning tea - a regular event for Raglan Ramblers.
March 12, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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We climbed to 81m at the Trig Point, where the view was clearing. though still dark to the north. Council's plan for the pine forest says, "The 10 hectares of woodlots at the northern area of the reserve was planted for soil stabilisation and subsequently has provided a recreational setting for activities such as orienteering, horse riding or mountain biking. However, the woodlots are nearing full maturity for harvesting and will be progressively removed, avoiding, wherever possible, damage to recreational uses and archaeological sites. Successional planting of natives will replace exotic woodlots with suitable species that provide for land stabilisation. Ageing forestry trees that pose a risk to reserve visitors from falling trees or limbs will be removed. Likewise, wilding exotic trees that are not appropriate from an ecological or landscape perspective will be removed." The cycle track doesn't show much sign of recent bike use.
March 12, 2025 at 4:57 AM
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In September last year Waikato District Council decided that by last January it would reduce its carbon emissions by selling the cattle on Wainui Reserve (page 120 of https://waikato.civicclerk.com.au/web/UserControls/pdf/web/DocPDFWrapper.aspx?p=1&aoid=287&token=54b0ce41-784a-4978-929c-a351817f5ccb). It is now March and the cattle are still there. Council say that each animal produces almost 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. We got a misty view of Raglan. but as we looked down into the gully being considered for taking the treated outflow from the sewage works, we could see that, as forecast, the weather front was clearing.
March 12, 2025 at 4:55 AM
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The shower was just ending as we left the bus at Wainui Bush Park. The Bush Park was planted up by Friends of Wainui from 1993. There are still regular work mornings from 9am on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. We turned right. The bush either side of this old farm track has grown up since 1993.
March 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
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There were two rambles today. One left at 8am to cross the Maungatawhiri reserve. The other left at 9am and had time to pause to admire this well-known view from Bow St. The house in the background was built in 1893, when the Herald (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18930727.2.63) reported, "Mr. Rendell is having a large dwelling-house erected upon the hill above the township, from plans drawn by Mr. Sewell. Mr. A. White is the builder." There is an early photo of it at https://heritage.hamiltonlibraries.co.nz/objects/5139/rendle-home-raglan. Water seepage is producing white marks on the newly repainted water tower. The bus we were catching was still about 10 minutes away. How would you rate the bus stop? It has little shelter from the drizzle falling as we waited for the bus. This Transit app is helpful when using the bus - it's at https://www.busit.co.nz/travelling-with-us/transit-app/.
March 12, 2025 at 4:51 AM