Have heard that DOC are stopping vehicles accessing both the top of Muriwai beach and the lagoon over the last 4 or 5 weeks... possibly under the guise of fire risk but the whisper is there is intent to place a total ban on vehicles in these areas... has any one heard whats going on or know who to follow this up with to make sure we retain access to some great sailing / kiting spots
Chris

doc dont own the top , it the army site. The lagoon is a different story. Still fisherman going up there as far as i know.

ct - see pm i have sent you on this website

Ian... no message from you re the above post.. I pm'd a reply but not sure if it even got through?... sorry been away for a week
Chris

from what i know they only close the access road as a precatuion in extreame fire hazard times, now is one of those times.

Pray for rain!

Rain looks possible here at Muriwai this afternoon...looking out the window...

I'll try to send it up the peninsula if we get lucky!

We didn't get lucky...poo, no access still

were you stopped heading up the beach or through the forest gates?... and any idea why you are being stopped ... is it forestry because of fire risk still or DOC for some other reason?

I'm not quite sure of the legal status of the road (ie is it private or public) but Hancock Forest Management who manage the Woodhill Forest have a gate they lock occasionally...this prevents land access off south head road...

This time the stated reason is fire risk (and it was so last year and on several other occasions as well)....

u can check the access status at 0800RECRE8.

We are getting rain at Muriwai now, Sunday pm, not a lot, doubt if it'll open the road.....

Hoping.....

I not sure fire's the issue. The DOC guys are looking after nesting shore birds and they have been trying to keep us away from their nesting and feeding areas. Don't want us to be blamed for sending something to extinction!!!!

The road through the forest is controlled by Hancock forest Management......they say the reason for the closure is

fire risk over dry months...
(there is some justification for that I guess, its their crop and its still real dry!)

or safety when they're harvesting and trucks are hurtling everywhere...


DOC has a very small presence there (you'd never know unless you met them) and they are trying to protect nesting terns over a particular period...

none of us kite where the terns are.....I believe;
though no one has ever said where the danger areas are or fenced them off!

Doc doesn't appear to have a say in the road being closed but I'm sure they wouldn't object to public access being restricted during the breeding/nesting/rearing period when the birds are at risk.

My observations over 25 years of going there to sailboard/kite is that the real danger to the birds comes from dirtbikes and 4wd off road vehicles hurtling around on the sandflats and dunes.

Sail and Kite boarders are NOT the issue...



there are TONS of munted, bombed, SAS'd sand dunes that are regularly rearranged by the wind and storms; bikes and 4wds can hoon around to their heart's content so long as they don't wreck the vegetation and nice stands of trees on the lagoon as far as I'm concerned.

If there are No Go areas for bird nesting, it would be pretty simple to fence them off for the season wouldn't it?

The Moose Meet doesn't do any damage......

But on the lagoon its a different story....people seem to be nutty!

on several occasions I've had bikes ride over lines as I'm rigging...

and we have kids under 5 on 4wd bikes driving through the parking/rigging area without a clue about road safety or other road users.

It is a surprise that no one has been seriously injured and its just lack of brains that is the issue...I mean you have to have a small brain to visit such a great area and then smash your bottles on the foreshore don't you?

Yep, people do it!