Offroad-Express

A few of you may have noticed that there is some work going on down at the Waimak at the moment. Well from what I hear They are going to only allow the main entrance from the north side to go as far as the boat ramp and will be fencing the road off making access to further upstream made via another road further up.


From what I understand land owners around where the new entrance is going to be aren't very happy as Boy racers, thieves and idiots will be able to perform their stupidness around houses rather than an abandoned sawmill.

Wonder if it is worth us petitioning to the council to stop this happening as it doesn't appear to have any benefits moving the entrance plus will make us have to travel further to access the river.

Any ideas guys?

I noticed the road works too.

Ive looked on the net & cant find anything to proove or disproove what you have "heard".

I wouldnt get too excited until what you have "heard" can be comfirmed.
Maybe others can have a search too & maybe have more luck than me

I was told they had a meeting in Clarkville this week to discuss it, had i known earlier would have let people know.

Was oly told about it today

Just looking at the works there, its a bit extravagant for just putting a fence up! Looks to me that they are making large carparks, I was wondering if there was a big jet sprint coming up??

they normally have the jet sprints further up the river near the motor bike area. i think it does look a bit over the top for a fence as well :scratch:

i thought maybe they were putting in proper roads as such to stop the big mud pit there every winter?

I had a closer look the other day.
Looks like they are making the jetboat car park bigger & moving the trucks away from them.Probably to make it safer for the jetboaters.

Was told the other week you will only be able to get up to boat ramp going to be fenced off after that

If you want to get to bike track and 4x4 area you will have to go in off tram road

Because they are a few householders peed off that everone will be going past there houses

dont know how true this is

Kev

I wonder if that road is a paper road???

Here are all the plans for the Waimak upgrades.....

http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Our+Environment ... d+Reserves

Looks like 4wd access is a no no

Yep...looks like no vehicle past the jetboat area in weekends from the old bridge entrance.....damn nice of them to consult with us..the rate payers & users of the area.

Did anyone know this was happening?

Was anyone given a chance to have input into this ????

What do we do now?

Its a pity lynching isnt legal !!!!

You bet me to it tallsam. I heard that they had a meeting last week (heard after meeting had been helf) with the land owners around where the new entrance is going to be.

Pic attached for those wanting to know. I think we should maybe think about a petition!!

http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Our+Environment ... +Reserves/

Hmm coming back to this maybe we should get a petition rolling or email or MP Clayton who seems to get things done.



claytoncosgrovekaiapoi@xtra.co.nz

If you look at this link:

http://www.ecan.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/83 ... ghres1.pdf

It seems to show that the orange line goes over the sealed road. The legend states that the orange is a shared cycle/pedestrian track. It doesn't say that it is going to be fenced off, as the sealed and gravel roads are clearly marked on the map, with entry points being the current point beside the overbridge, and further down the river (Tram Rd??)

I will try and give ECan a call tomorrow and see if they can clarify anything for me.

Follow this link...you can clearly see where there are 2 gates.
1 at the entrance to the complete area & another on the new road.
It clearly states "Gravel Truck access gate...closed during weekends."

http://www.ecan.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/DF7A3DFC-8325-47F6-A1AE-179731E4FB49/0/kaiapoiIslowres3.jpg

There is no mention when the gate to the whole area will be locked.

They will probably lock it at 7pm like they do on the south side or when Ready mix close for the day.

Anyway instead or discussing how its going to be blocked shouldn't we bo working out how we can stop it as there are alot of good tracks around around the jetboat ramp as alot of you wil know.

Disco-Blue wrote:They will probably lock it at 7pm like they do on the south side of when Ready mix close for the day.

It says on the map...."Closed during weekends"

The time we generally go for a drive.

I often just go there with the kids & park up by the river have a picnic lunch & throw rocks in the river...not even driving on the tracks.

We have to protest this NOW !!!!

tallsam66 wrote:

Disco-Blue wrote:They will probably lock it at 7pm like they do on the south side of when Ready mix close for the day.

It says on the map...."Closed during weekends"

The time we generally go for a drive.

I often just go there with the kids & park up by the river have a picnic lunch & throw rocks in the river...not even driving on the tracks.

We have to protest this NOW !!!!

I agree we have to protest this, i would recommend that all who want to keep the access the way it is contact the Local MP as well as Enviroment canterbury who are in charge of the river and it surroundings and get them to listen to us. More people use the Waimak to go for a drive with mates or familys than people do to go walking of cycling.

Should ash them for a rock park that ya have to crawl over to get access, that would stop the w#$#$rs dumping cars

Nothing has been mentioned at any club meetings that I have been to and if anyone knew about this before hand Im shore it would have come up.

It has been known for sometime and I have heard it discussed at the CLROC meetings in the past. They are limiting access to the north bank and south bank, I can understand why as the flood protection banks are getting too damaged by irresponsible drivers. They are setting up a dedicated 4wd palyground on the southbank with access from Weedon-Ross rd. I personally don't have a problem with it. To tell you the truth I don't think that seeing 4wd's "playing" in full view of the public ( some of whom do not understand why we do our sport) is a good look. I am quite happy with the restrcitions as we can now build a dedicated track system in a dedicated area. If they were to take this from us then there would be a uproar.
Al

The writing has been on the wall for a while now, the rangers have been stopping anyone messing around on the stop banks. I guess as long as we have somewhere to go it doesnt really matter how you get there

The problem that I see is Weedons-Ross Road is ages away from the current north bank entarance and will lead to 4WD owners who are unexperienced going elsewhere ie smaller rivers and causing more destruction that they would be at the Waimak. Also with the amount of 4WD owners that use the Waimak they are more likely to be caught when they are driving somewhere they shouldn't be.

albundy wrote:It has been known for sometime and I have heard it discussed at the CLROC meetings in the past. They are limiting access to the north bank and south bank, I can understand why as the flood protection banks are getting too damaged by irresponsible drivers. They are setting up a dedicated 4wd palyground on the southbank with access from Weedon-Ross rd. I personally don't have a problem with it. To tell you the truth I don't think that seeing 4wd's "playing" in full view of the public ( some of whom do not understand why we do our sport) is a good look. I am quite happy with the restrcitions as we can now build a dedicated track system in a dedicated area. If they were to take this from us then there would be a uproar.
Al

I'm with you on this Al. An actual 4wd park seems the best option for us all. So we might have to travel a bit further. If the place is good enough then travel is worth it. Whats 1/2 an hour for a good day out!!

I had heard of this plan a while ago also and I also think it is a good idea, separating the 4x4's from fishing, walking, cycling, Jetboats, gravel collection and motorbikes into their own area where we can show how we can manage it is good, it is easier for us to travel that little bit further and also it separates the damage done by the motor bikes etc in the area from the 4wd's.

Also the CLROC went to the council and said why are you not including 4wd as a recreation, and it is now classed as a recreation. Maybe one day we will get a rock crawling park (like a scate park) but the problem then would be OSH and liabiliry issues for rollovers, and you do need to ask the council too.

For now we should respect what our council is trying in this area and ask for alternative areas to be opened up to replace what we are loosing.

4x4boy wrote: Whats 1/2 an hour for a good day out!!

about an extra hour if ya towing an old rusty landcruiser in the 'goldmember'!!!

in all actuality though, i like the north side of the mak, as i do the south too. i like to be able to have the choice of where to wheel and have a bit of variance with a days wheeling.

seems a pity we seem to be losing access to all manor of places.....?

I'm a little bummed as I live 5mins from Nth bank area, I don't go there more than a couple of times a year so don't bleet
Dedicated area for us to live will be great

On a side note, had some clown in a White Subaru sedan, with a loud exhaust, doing donuts in the Brooklands lagoon reserve last night, obviously drove in via the horse track, he buggered off when I turned on the floodlights, If you visit this web site, READ;
next time you go in there your access from the area will be blocked, the Park ranger will be contacted, and you will recieve a fine, or arrest for willful damage, with any luck

See it's not just the bigger 4x4's that do the damage to sensative areas

A 4WD play area will be good provided its not a half assed attempt when they build it and would also need to be open 24hrs as there are a few of us here who do night trips at the Mak.

Just dont want to see us loosing something and gain nothing or less than we have. Not everybody lives on a farm where they can just have a play in the back paddock.

I think a dedicated 4wd area is great but this small trade off is not worth losing access via the current entrance. This is only a small step away from them saying...we have reviewed this area & have decided to lock it off completely.

There is no reason for them to lock the area off in the weekends....if there are a few hoons being hoons...then the police need to get off there arse & police the area.If stolen cars are being dumped & burnt out there....then again the police need to do there jobs.With there being only one entrance it shouldnt be too hard to catch them & if it was a serious problem the police would be doing something about it...but as usual they arent.

Just because a small minority are being irrisponsible there is no justification in stopping all people using the current entrance.

We have to stand up for our rights or we will loose them all !!!!!

we have the same probs with hoons f88kwits burning out wreaks here so us 4x4ers drag the wreaks into areas where they can easily be removed from to help and the council and doc greatly appreciate the help we give so in that respect we earn there respect and keeps acces to certian areas open to us

then the police need to get off there arse & police the area.If stolen cars are being dumped & burnt out there....then again the police need to do there jobs.With there being only one entrance it shouldnt be too hard to catch them & if it was a serious problem the police would be doing something about it...but as usual they arent.

Myself, elmo, and disco-blue, have came across police out there at night, i belive they are doing there job as ive seen them there more than once. Also there is about 3 entrys, along the north bank from the road.. and yes there are FU(K wits out there, came across a rolled surf, driver and passengers pissed, doing donuts and flopped. I reckon its fair enough to limit the acsess there. I read quite a while back in the north canterbury news that ECAN/POLICE bring out on average 36 cars a month that have been dummped