Another milestone for walkway
A long-running project to create a walkway the length of Kerikeri’s Wairoa Stream, while also restoring the waterway’s natural environment, has taken another major step with the opening of a bridge.
A walking track from the bottom of Pa¯ Rd to the Cobham Rd bridge, via the long-hidden Wairere Falls, was opened in April 2017. Since then work has quietly continued to extend the track along the stream on the other, southern side of the Cobham Rd bridge, through Sammaree Reserve and around the back of Placemakers in Kerikeri’s industrial area.
The main obstacle facing Vision Kerikeri, the community group behind the trail project, was the need to build a sizeable bridge across the stream.
A sturdy footbridge has now been completed, thanks to members of the Kerikeri Rotary Club, who also built the other bridges along the walkway.
The extended track emerges on Campbell Lane, off Shepherd Rd. Walkers can then loop around Shepherd Rd and back to the Cobham Rd bridge if they don’t want to walk back the same way.
Rotary named the new structure the Rod Brown Bridge, in honour of the former Vision Kerikeri chairman, who remains the driving force behind the Wairoa Stream Track.
While the bridge can be used, it has yet to be signed off or officially opened. It is limited to five people at a time.
For more information about the Wairoa Stream Track, or other walkways in Kerikeri, go to www.kerikeriwalks.kiwi
Constructing the track through Sammaree Reserve involved removing vast quantities of weeds and rubbish. The stream had been used as an illegal dump for decades.