The Bridge to Te Wairere Waterfall

This project was started in 2015 by Vision Kerikeri and Kerikeri Rotary with the goal of creating public access from Pa Road bridge to the foot of the long hidden, inaccessible Wairoa Stream waterfall named Te Wairere (photo to right).

The distance to Te Wairere is about 2 km and progress was initially rapid. Completion of Stage 1 requires a 12 metre span bridge and there has been a delay to simplify the design and reduce its cost.

Rotary has now made remarkable progress. With the kind permission of the new land owner at 71 Hone Heke Road, 350 bags of concrete were moved onto the site in one afternoon on Thursday 12th January with 4 wheel drive vehicles and the KK Rugby Club in training shifted half the bags of concrete to the other stream bank with ease. Rotary started construction on January 16th. And in just one hard working day had two poles in the ground on each side despite difficult rocky soil. There will now be a pause of a few weeks while the steel beams are measured and prepared.

Completion is expected by about April if all goes well. $10,000 has been donated by a benefactor Mr Michael Sidey from Wanaka and $5,000 from FNDC. Rotary will fund residual costs (if any).

Stage 2 is to link the waterfall to the public walkway and wildlife corridor, the second community project on Wairoa Stream, at the Orchard Estate boundary, to give public access for about 3.5 km.

Friends of Wairoa Stream are building the 600 metre link track. The 200 metre section around Te Wairere has proved challenging as there is a vertical rise of about 70 feet up a steep bank and across the top of a cliff face to reach the top of the waterfall. The way had been masked by impenetrable jasmine, which concealed the terrain making it inaccessible. This was not solved until after extensive spraying by Doug Foster of NRC

Photos of Rotary work on bridge site