The View From Opoutere

It’s that time of year when rats’ thoughts turn to warm, cosy places to nest – that means your garage or, even worse, your house!

Predator Free Opoutere has a backyard rat trapping program that is providing traps to Opoutere Ratepayers & Residents members. The Whangamata Community Board has kindly donated funding for materials that volunteers have made into rat traps – these are safe for pets and perfect for backyard trapping.

Our last lot of traps disappeared very quickly so don’t muck around – if you would like a rat trap for your property see Victoria or Daniel at 305 Opoutere Road and we can set you up with the tunnel, a trap and some delicious lure to tempt your neighbourhood rats to their doom.

While we are talking rats – would you like to get involved with our other trapping activities? We have 40 traps in the beach reserve that are regularly checked, cleaned and baited with non-toxic lures like peanut butter and eggs. If you like the occasional walk in the forest and don’t mind an expired pest then email the team at opouteretrapping1@gmail.com. You can do as little or as much as you can manage and we will provide training and all the safety gear required to do the job (we don’t use any poisons and our traps are all NAWAC approved and humane). We would love to expand our team and welcome some new trappers into our mammalian correction unit!

The birds will love you for it.

Your firm but fair local fire chief, Jo Adams, has his eye on Opoutere and Ohui this Easter weekend. There has not been enough sustained rainfall to relieve the dry conditions in the beach reserve forest. The risk of a catastrophic fire is still very real, even though the days are getting cooler and other areas are lifting their fire bans. There is a detailed fire evacuation notice in the Waiponga Reserve carpark – take the time to read and understand it.

There will be regular beach patrols undertaken this weekend – keep your eyes peeled for the Onemana Rural Fire Force trucks as they travel through the village. Don’t hesitate to call 111 immediately if you see any fires on the beach or near the forest – then call Jo on 027 4493034. The Onemana volunteer fire fighters (all fully trained first responders) live locally and know the area well – they will be there in minutes.

Be safe and have a wonderful Easter weekend.

There’s a few interesting things happening in the neighbourhood – Thames Coromandel District Council’s Shoreline Management Plan needs community input, Waikato Regional Council is reviewing the Waikato Regional Coastal Plan and the rejuvenated Opoutere Hall Society is soon having its AGM.

There’s even a chance to have your say on a bus service proposal!

TCDC Shoreline Management Plan online community meetings

From TCDC:

“Our online meetings to update an initial group of our communities on our Shoreline Management Plans are underway.

These are important meetings to discuss how we propose managing the hazards from climate change and sea level rise in these areas. It is also to share specific plans for each of these stretches of coastline that have been developed over the three year SMP project. 

In some communities, we are discussing maintaining or improving the existing defences.

In others we have done a feasibility study on building new structures.

The proposed strategy in some of our communities is to retreat from the area in the future. 

It is very important that you understand what is being discussed in your area.

Links to online meeting recordings that have occurred so far.

Watch the recording of our Te Puru meeting – Tuesday 5 April.

Watch the Tararu meeting – Wednesday 6 April

Watch the Tairua meeting – Thursday 7 April

Whangamatā (south)Tuesday 12 April at 7pm   Click to join Whangamatā meeting 

Once you have attended a meeting or reviewed the adaptation pathways, you can provide your feedback by clicking on this link and using our feedback tool. 

Or you can email us at ourcoast@ tcdc.govt.nz”

Waikato Regional Coastal Plan

Getting it right for our coasts | Kia tika ai mō te takutai

Waikato Regional Council has been reviewing its Regional Coastal Plan with input from iwi, coastal residents and users, industry and other key stakeholders on the issues and gaps they’ve identified with the current plan.

The feedback focused on important issues like how we balance social, cultural and economic values with environmental requirements, how we can guard against the loss of public access, protect indigenous biodiversity and the historic heritage along our coasts, how we will respond to the impacts of climate change, and manage things like coastal erosion and coastal inundation.

We’ve used this feedback, along with statutory requirements, to inform our approach to sustainably manage our region’s coastal marine area which we’re now ready to test with you to make sure we’re on the right track.

This is your chance to have your say on key policy within the coastal plan. The feedback you share will help shape a full draft of the coastal plan which we anticipate will be notified for public submission in late 2022.

Feedback is being sought by the end of April 2022: https://yourvoicematters.waikatoregion.govt.nz/coastal-plan-review

This is a great opportunity for Opoutere to communicate to WRC our values and concerns – think about how the estuary has silted up, for example. This is a chance to draw attention to such problems.

The Opoutere Hall Society AGM

The hall has a “steering committee” that is getting ready for its first AGM on the 17th April where the official committee will be elected. Please see below for their inaugural report that includes the email list of the executive if you have any queries for them.

Coromandel/Hauraki Bus Service Survey

This is from Denis Tegg, Thames Coromandel constituent member on Waikato Regional Council:

“Waikato Regional Council has proposals for new public transport bus services in Thames-Coromandel and Hauraki and is seeking public feedback.  These include return connections between Coromandel town and east coast towns to Thames and from Waihi Beach-Waihi-Paeroa-Ngatea to Thames.  There would also be a new service from Thames through Te Aroha to Hamilton (hospital).  

The regional council is also asking for comment on a proposal to take over rating for public transport from district councils. 

It would be great if you could provide feedback and maybe some group you belong to could participate also.  Feedback ends on 30 April. 

A quick feedback questionnaire is online here – 

https://yourvoicematters.waikatoregion.govt.nz/20222023-annual-plan/survey_tools/2022-2023-annual-plan-consultation

More information is here – https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/council/policy-and-plans/long-term-council-community-plan-annual-plan-and-annual-report/ltp-amendment/ “

From Thames Coromandel District Council:

Preparing for Cyclone Cody

“Ex-Tropical Cyclone Cody is due to bring gale force winds, huge seas, and heavy rainfall between Sunday night through to next Tuesday.

Our Council’s Emergency Management Team is advising everyone to plan and be in a safe place by late afternoon on Sunday with supplies for last for 24 hours, including provisions if power is out for some time.

Campervans and motorhomes need to move away from the coast for the next two days and park up at two safe locations; the Mercury Bay Sports Park in Whitianga, or the Shoppers carpark next to Goldfields Mall in Thames.

Beach access to Cathedrel Cove may be restricted due to increased swell from the approaching cyclone. Rangers will make desicions on access on a day-by-day basis. 

“Travelling during the storm will likely be hazardous. Err on the side of caution and be in a safe place by Sunday evening” says Garry Towler, our Emergency Management Manager.

Updates will be posted here as they come to light, and will also be shared on our Council Facebook page, and sent to our e-newsletter subscribers as they come to light. Be sure to like or follow our Facebook page to receive notifications or sign up to our e-newsletter database to remain up to date. “

Onemana Rural Fire Force contact details:

Now is a good time to put this number in your phone:

027 449 3034

Jo Adams and his crew are fully-trained first responders and can attend any type of emergency. Call the above number after dialling 111 and the crew, several of whom live in Opoutere/Ohui, can be with you very quickly.

At this time of year the forest and surrounding areas are tinder dry and the threat of fire is top of everyone’s mind. Any sign or smell of fire – call 111 then call the Onemana crew.

Water/beach emergencies have increased this summer – please keep an eye on other people in the surf, many visitors may not be familiar with the changeable beach conditions and can easily get into trouble. Opoutere/Ohui does not have a surf patrol, the nearest patrolled beaches are Onemana and Whangamata.

Stay safe, everyone.

What a year it has been – these months and months of bach-owners being away from our beloved Opoutere left the beach and the village unusually quiet – especially on the beach where nesting birds got on with hatching their eggs in relative peace and tranquility. It will be wonderful to see familiar faces over the summer – if you’re using a mask don’t forget to flick the eyebrows up in a friendly greeting!

Summer Information

TCDC COVID Requirements – please visit the TCDC website for up to date details on how to stay safe in the district this summer.

Fire Ban – a total fire ban applies in the Coromandel from late December to early February each year. This is particularly important in Opoutere/Ohui as the beach reserve forest is dry and has many dead trees that pose a catastrophic fire risk.

Opoutere is very lucky to have an active local volunteer fire force based in Onemana. We appreciate that they give up many hours of their own time and would willingly put themselves in dangerous situations to keep us all safe. Give a thumbs up to the yellow trucks patrolling through the village and along the beach over the summer.

Please keep your eyes open and don’t hesitate to dial 111 if you see fire. Explore permits and rules here: checkitsalright.nz and stay safe over summer.

Dotterel Watch – stop by the bus shelter to add your name to the roster for the busy holiday period. It’s a lovely opportunity to spend a couple of hours minding the low-tide feeding grounds on the spit, spotting baby dotterels is a bonus.

Dogs on the beach – Unlike the summer changes in rules for dogs on other local beaches please note that Opoutere’s dog control rules are the same year-round – dogs on lead on the beach north of the campground entrance (yellow benches), dogs banned on the beach south of the campground entrance and on the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge (spit area), dogs on lead on the path from Waiponga Reserve carpark to the campground, dogs off-lead in the forest. Take a minute to familiarise yourself with the map in the Waiponga Reserve carpark. From TCDC:

“The most important rule to remember is that dogs must be on lead unless specified otherwise. So, when in doubt, put your dog on a lead.” 

ORRA AGM – 9.30am Sunday 2nd January 2022, Opoutere School.

As the Coromandel has entered the traffic light framework at orange, the ORRA Committee has agreed that we can proceed with the AGM at this stage. It will be held in the Opoutere School senior classroom (not the hall as previously notified) on 2 January 2022, for fully vaccinated attendees only who will be required to scan-in using the school’s QR code, and to show their My Vaccine Pass.

We will also ask for masks to be worn; there will be no organised socialising after the AGM,
and the meeting itself will run to a strict timetable.

Should the Coromandel Traffic Lights Protection Framework turn Red before 2 January 2022
the ORRA AGM will be postponed – possibly to Easter.

Regatta Postponed To Easter – out of an abundance of caution, due to the COVID situation, the decision has been made to postpone the annual regatta to Easter.

Summer Rubbish and Recycling Schedule – the summer collection schedule begins on Monday 27 December 2021 and ends Saturday 12 February 2022.

For all the details please follow this link to the TCDC website.

Support Swappa Pottle – A New Compost Initiative

Check out the Whangamata Resource Recovery Trust Compost 2 Go Project. Fill a pottle with plant and kitchen scraps this summer…don’t add to the landfill. Phone 027 286 5709 for your Swappa Pottle!

Local Music Events – just along the main road towards Whangamata there’s going to be three outdoor events held at popular venue Joe’s Farm. Coro-Events are holding Sundown (02 January), DanceFarm (08 January) and Kickdown (20-23 January).

Support Local Business – share the love!

Grab a copy of the Whangamatā News for local news and details of many local tradespeople and service providers. It’s a terrific publication full of interesting articles and useful information – online copies can be found here or on Facebook @Whanganews

Hear the options and have your say

From TCDC:

We are now at a new stage in our major Shoreline Management Plan project. The project aims to ensure we have thriving and resilient communities and coastlines as our climate changes.  
We will shortly need public input on the options for protecting and managing our coastline in response to our changing climate. 

What is happening?  

We have four Coastal Panels working to reduce our coastal flooding and erosion risks.  

This important work will recommend a range of sustainable measures so we can adapt to the impacts of coastal hazards in each of our geographic areas on the Coromandel.    

We have identified the erosion and inundation risks to your specific area of coastline. You can explore these on our interactive Risk Assessment Summary tool at tcdc.govt.nz/smp 

The coastal panels are now at the “what should we be doing” stage of the project. 

The options being considered range from soft solutions, such as dune restoration and wetland regeneration, to hard solutions, such as stop banks and rock walls or retreat. 

There will be public meetings from 23 October to help our communities understand which options may be the right ones for each stretch of coastline, and to listen to public views on these.  

At the meetings we will explain the erosion and inundation risks to your specific area of coastline. 

What can you do?  

Familiarise yourself with our SMP Project tcdc.govt.nz/smp and understand our coastal hazards.
   

Attend the public meeting in your area. 

Welcome to Level 4 Lockdown 2021 – hopefully everyone is safely at home while the Coromandel waits to see how this Delta outbreak plays out.

If you need a Covid test check this link: https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/waikato/whangamata/ and call the Whangamata Medical Centre.

To book a vaccination follow this link: https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/gps-accident-urgent-medical-care/gp/whangamata-medical-centre/

While the Coromandel is in Level 4 Lockdown your local first responder teams are still at the ready to help their community deal with any emergencies that may occur. Jo Adams, chief of the Onemana Rural Fire team, has carefully restructured his teams to protect them from possible exposure to Covid19 and to ensure the team always has people available to help. The community can support these important volunteers by not doing anything that adds risk to their day – Jo wants people to be careful around the house (and the shed) to minimise the callouts to first responders. He worries about ladders, power tools, outdoor fires/braziers etc. Basically – don’t do anything stupid and to quote Jo from an earlier interview “Be bloody careful”.

We isolate now, so when we come back together, no-one is missing.

ORRA’s 2021 AGM and 60th Anniversary
Saturday January 2nd 2021, 9.30am at Opoutere School

ORRA was founded in 1961, making 2021 our 60th Anniversary. Incredible when you think about it. It’s rare for a community group to have such a long and proud history and record of achievements.

So it’s our pleasure to invite you to the 2021 60th Anniversary AGM at 9.30am, SaturdayJanuary 2 at the Opoutere School hall. It will be very special and we will be taking a moment to celebrate the past and look forward to the future (of course, everyone’s welcome!). There’ll be a morning tea and even some bubbles and orange juice as a small celebration.

As the years go by the battle to keep Opoutere’s unique and unspoiled nature has become more important than ever. Please feel free to invite any friends and family who aren’t members yet and who would like to come along and perhaps become involved in our ongoing projects to preserve and restore this special place.

And we’d also like to thank you for all your support during this past year, and the many years before it, and look forward to seeing you at this special AGM.

Feel free to contact us at chair@orra.org.nz if you have any questions.

Dotterel Watch Roster

The dotterels/tuturiwhatu are happily nesting along the length of the beach, and are safely contained by the perimeter fence on the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of the estuary. However, the holiday season brings with it lots of visitors who may not understand the precious space that these birds need to feed their chicks and themselves.

Please help these hard-working little families to have a successful breeding season by signing up to do a dotterel watch session out on the spit. The roster is up on the bus shelter notice board and there are official t-shirts available to wear while you do your duty. Look inside the bus shelter for a red bag containing t-shirts, hats, and useful information and stickers to take out with you. The stickers are great to give to kids.

Base yourself on the inside of the spit next to the big DOC detour sign and divert people over the boardwalk through the dunes to the ocean beach. This allows the dotterels undisturbed access to good feeding at low tide.

Take a book, sunscreen, bug repellant and a pair of binoculars if you have them. If you have any questions feel free to call Dave Burbage (ph 027 495 7734), a local DOC volunteer who has been hard at work in the Wildlife Refuge. Dave works alongside our official DOC dotterel ranger, Stewart, maintaining the fencing, protecting the chicks from predators and educating people about the birds.

The World Famous Opoutere Regatta

No doubt you’ve all been training madly, anticipating the fierce competition that we’ve all come to expect from our neighbours and friends at the Opoutere Regatta in Bruce’s Bay. There’ll be bucket races for the smallest athletes and the usual swimming and kayaking races for the rest of us.

This year the regatta will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd January with the traditional prizegiving and bbq in the Michael King Reserve in the early evening. Keep your eyes peeled for posters around the village with all the details.

Fire Danger

Please have a good look at the evacuation plan that is pinned up on the bus shelter and on a large sign by the beach access carpark. Every summer brings the risk of a catastrophic fire in the beach reserve forest and it is important to know how to stay safe in such an event. You may have also received one in your letterbox (mine got squashed but it’s still good!) pin it up where your household can see it.

Stay safe, drive carefully and we will see you on the beach.

Meri Kirihimete, Season’s Greetings, Manuia le Kirisimasi, Joyeux Noël, Fröhliche Weihnachten!

How has your lockdown been?

New Zealand moved into Covid 19 Alert Level 2 on Wednesday 13 May and is likely to remain so over Queen’s Birthday weekend.

Daily life is reclaiming its familiar rhythms – rubbish collections are almost back to normal (see note on recycling below) and local businesses are welcoming back their long-lost clients – albeit under the latest Covid 19 Alert Level 2 restrictions. Help these businesses to recover from the lockdown by shopping locally when you can.

It’s a good time to acknowledge the essential workers in the community who did their jobs under the most challenging conditions – our elderly were looked after, supermarket shelves were stocked, the Whangamata medical centre operated as normal as well as running a CBAC (Community Based Assessment Centre) for Covid19 testing and first responder services busily rostered their teams under social distancing rules and helped out in the community where needed.

Easter and Anzac Day passed with just the locked-down locals here to mark the occasions, it has been very strange to see so many empty houses, day after day, week after week. It will be great to see familiar faces returning to Opoutere and Ohui over Queen’s Birthday weekend. By then more rain will have fallen and your water tanks will be topped up in time for the long weekend. (All rain dances appreciated.)

A little note on recycling

While all paper, cardboard and tins can be put in your recycling bin and glass in the smaller bins TCDC are restricting the plastic they are accepting. From TCDC:

“Most hard plastics have a number on the bottom in a triangle made of arrows. The number refers to the type of plastic. Typical examples of plastics 1 and 2 are milk bottles, drink bottles, food jars, personal cosmetics.

The best way to be sure of the plastic type is to LOOK FOR THE NUMBER. If the number is not 1 or 2, or if there is no number, put it in your general rubbish.

The recycle.co.nz website has good information on identifying recyclable plastics.”

 

Attention bird nerds!

Thanks to the work of a dedicated team of DOC rangers and community volunteers the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge on the harbour spit has had a successful breeding season this summer. The spit refuge has provided a safe breeding site for many species of sea and shore birds since 1967 when it was gazetted under the Wildlife Act 1953 as a wildlife refuge.

Home to the northern NZ dotterel (the NNZD is now classified as “At Risk – recovering”) the spit also accommodates variable oystercatchers, Caspian terns, wrybills, pied stilts and southern black-backed and red-billed gulls, among others.

In the 2019/2020 breeding season DOC officers Frouk and Stewart were ably assisted by Dave Burbage, a local volunteer. They were a familiar sight all along the beach and particularly on the spit – they shared information with the public, monitored nests, checked predator traps and erected protective fencing around the spit area. Over the busy Christmas and New Year period rostered volunteers from the community protected the nesting birds from human and dog disturbance by watching the entrance to the spit at low tide.

Dogs on the beach are banned year round south of the main beach entrance (look for those yellow benches) all the way to the estuary mouth. Please obey the signs and keep this area a peaceful and safe place for the birds.

This is the only shoreline wildlife refuge on the whole Coromandel Peninsula. Let’s take care of it and the birds that call it home.

Visit this website’s page on The Birds of Opoutere which includes an in-depth report on Opoutere’s birdlife authored by Dr John Dowding (ecologist and bird expert).

Some great breeding results for the dotterels

During the 2019/2020 breeding season the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge had 13 nesting pairs and successfully fledged 16 chicks.

“From 46 sites throughout the Coromandel Peninsula, 227 breeding pairs were monitored this season. 213 chicks fledged giving a productivity value of 0.94 (Productivity = Fledgling numbers divided by Pair numbers). Productivity is considered effective if the value of 0.5 or higher is achieved for at least 3 consecutive years (Dowding & Davis, cited in Bryant, 2013). 

2014/2015 through to 2019/2020 seasons have exceeded the necessary 0.5 rate. 2017/2018 was only just below the effective productivity value with 0.49 due largely to the major storm that occurred in January 2018.”

For results for all the monitored beaches around the Coromandel have a look at Results 2020. 

Tāne’s Tree Trust in Opoutere

There’s an exciting new program focused on adaptive management of coastal forestry buffers being trialled in the Opoutere dunes in conjunction with the Department of Conservation and local iwi, with support from the community.

Tāne’s Tree Trust’s vision is to see the majority of New Zealand landowners successfully planting and sustainably managing indigenous trees. For details on this specific project visit their website.

Selected sites in the coastal forest reserve have been identified for low-impact trial plantings of several species of native seedlings. The knowledge gained will help to improve biodiversity in the ecosystems around coastal forestry blocks.

Some planting has already taken place at Ohui where members of the community stepped up with gumboots and spades to get several circular plots planted out. A recent visit by the trust’s scientists showed surprisingly good survival rates over the very dry summer (titoki planted in sand were doing very well).

Further planting will take place during 2020 at two small sites in the beach reserve forest – TTT are keen for members of the community to come along and help out with the planting. They do mention that the plants may end up looking a bit ratty and sad – don’t be alarmed, this is all part of the test!

 

Noho Ora Mai!