‘Best’ swimming hole loses rope swing
A tree carrying two rope swings at a beloved swimming hole has been uprooted, angering neighbours who say the swings were ‘‘part of summer’’ for their children.
The willow tree and its rope swings were pulled from the bank of the Waihopai River, about 60 kilometres southwest of Blenheim, last Wednesday.
Waihopai Valley mother-ofthree Summer Weir said she was ‘‘gutted’’ when she saw chunks of the willow tree floating down the river on Thursday morning, upstream from the Waihopai Dam.
‘‘We were like, ‘wow’, the whole riverbank has been pushed over,’’ Weir said.
The tree hosted two rope swings, one for the younger children and one for the teenagers, so they could leap into a deep swimming hole, which was no longer there as the whole riverbank was moved, Weir said.
‘‘I’m so angry, I can’t believe anyone would do that. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth to us locals. Craiglochart [downstream] has a reputation as the best place to swim. Well, this one is better but nobody knows that except the locals.
‘‘We all meet up there to cool down in the river and there’s a big deep swimming hole. All our neighbours have kids the same age and they love the rope swings, it’s a part of summer for them.’’
Her neighbour Emma Barnett said she was very interested to find out who was responsible.
‘‘Generations of Waihopai kids have hung rope swings from that tree and many of us have had hours of fun in that hole under the shade of that tree. [I’m] really disappointed.’’
The Marlborough District Council had been clearing trees, logs and flood debris from the lower Waihopai River last year as part of flood protection projects.
But a council spokeswoman said the council did not know anything about the willow tree being removed.
The riverbank in question bordered land owned by Trustpower, near the Waihopai Dam.
‘‘I think it’s very clear who pointed the finger to do this,’’ Weir said.
‘‘I suppose they’re clearing things out of the river. I don’t know why they needed to do this right now, at the start of the summer holidays.
‘‘It’s the only tree that was touched. It’s not near any powerlines and it wasn’t unsafe.’’
Trustpower upper South Island regional leader John de Bono confirmed the company removed the tree.
‘‘This tree was removed as it was severely undermined by the flow of the river.
‘‘There was a high chance that it would collapse into the river, most likely during high river flows,’’ he said.
‘‘This creates a safety issue for the power station in terms of it getting caught in our intake or spanning the spillway and causing a blockage.’’
The tree was on land owned by Trustpower, he said.
The company accepted it should have consulted the community before the tree was taken out, de Bono said.
‘‘The digger [was] already onsite to carry out some recommissioning work, so the opportunity was used to remove the tree that was being undermined by the water.’’
Trustpower was disappointed to learn the tree was a local swing spot, he said.
‘‘[We] hope that there is another place that locals can enjoy the summer, in a safe environment.’’
Weir and her neighbours had penned a petition to the council, calling for those responsible to be held to account. ‘‘It was our local gem, a beautiful swimming spot on those scorching summer days,’’ Weir wrote.