Sand shift closes beach
Wellington city’s Freyberg Beach and Oriental Bay have been closed yesterday and today for sand to be moved from the former to the latter.
Twice a year Wellington City Council closes the beaches to move excess sand, which is continually redistributed as the wind and the tide move it from one end of the beach to the other.
The shift is also a chance to reshape and tidy the sand along the shore.
Contractors used three trucks and diggers to move sand from the western end of the beach to the eastern end yesterday.
There is less sand to move this year – about 600m3 compared to an average of 1900m3 – with the council saying wetter weather and fewer strong winds reduced the amount of sand that had shifted.
There will be signs up during the work and council staff will be available to provide information and ensure safety.
Both beaches will be ready for the first round of this year’s Splash and Dash race tomorrow.
Oriental Bay is an artificial beach and its sand needs to be topped up every 10 to 12 years.
It was enlarged in 2004 using 22,000 tonnes of sand shipped in from Golden Bay in Nelson, and its most recent sand top-up of 1000m3 came from a Dunedin quarry in 2015.