WAIKAWA BEACH RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATION
DECEMBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
Festive greetings to you all
A very happy and safe summer holiday season to you all! Surely by the time the holidays start the weather will be a bit more settled. Sunshine for more than a day at a time would be a bonus.
Please drive carefully around the village and beach & be aware of wandering children and animals. Dogs must be on a lead around residential areas and may be off lead but in control on the beach.
Wind has blown sand around and made the driveway down to the river at the corner of James & Manga Pirau Streets a tad roller coaster-ish in places. Some vehicles have had to be towed out already so please take care if planning to drive on the beach. Beach speed limit is 30 kph.
If you are thinking of entering in the golf tournaments please pre register to avoid disappointment. The organizers have to book tee times for these events and if you haven’t registered you may find there is no room in the field for you.
Mea Culpa – I mistakenly copied Ngaire’s flyer from last year so some of the Ambrose details in the last newsletter were wrong. Details for this Ambrose this year are below:
Ambrose Golf Event
Young and Old Friends and Family Golfers and Non-Golfers: $16 per player — Discounts for Levin Club Members and players under 16 years
Please report between 9.15 – 9.30am First Tee off 10am
Prize Giving will follow at the Clubhouse
Drinks, toasted sandwiches, chips & other cabinet food will be available to purchase
For enquiries and to register please contact Ngaire Hunter on 3626007 or 021 1321208
Recycling
The manned recycling truck will be in the car park at the toilet block from December 20th each Saturday morning from 9am – 11.30. They accept glass and plastic (1–7) bottles & jars, aluminium & steel cans, paper & cardboard. Please tie paper in bundles or place in supermarket bags. Please do not drop off recycling materials there at any other times. Dates and time will be in the Horowhenua Chronicle.
Annual subs
Annual subs are due. These subs cover things like fun days, the hard rubbish collection, defibrillator, maintenance at the reserve and the entrance to the beach settlement. We also donate annually to the PN helicopter rescue. The fee of $25 can be paid with a cheque sent to:
E White
PO Box 30309
LOWER HUTT 5040
or you can pay over the internet to our account: 03 0667 0268929 000
Please remember to put your beach address and name so we know who has paid.
Family Fun Days
Our family fun days this summer are as follows
| AGM | Sat 27 Dec 3pm | Hank Edwards Reserve |
| BOAT DAY | Sun 28 Dec 2.30pm | Back up Monday 29th |
| GOLF | Tue 30 Dec 10am | Otaki Golf Club — 18 holes |
| FUN DAY | Thu 1 Jan 3pm | Hank Edwards Reserve |
| AMBROSE | Fri 2 Jan 10am | Prizegiving at Levin Golf Club following the event |
| BOWLS | Sun 11 Jan 2.30pm | Manakau Bowling Club |
| SANDSCULPTURE | Sun 18 Jan | Judging at 4pm |
| BEACH CLEANUP | Sun 18 Jan |
A black swan having an early morning swim.
A black swan having an early morning swim — the other one flew off before I could get the camera out of my pocket. When he reached the little waves he surfed in then paddled out again a number of times.
I discovered Waikawa Beach about 11 years ago. My friend and I would bring our boogie boards and spend the day on the water stopping only for lunch. One Friday about 8 years ago we were riding some big waves when we noticed there was a group of swans south of us. They were surfing. At first we thought they were caught unawares but they would ride the waves standing up with their wings out then paddle back out to catch the next wave. Half the swans flew away after 10 minutes but the rest of them stayed and had a blast surfing for around half an hour. Being Australian birds it’s no wonder they like to surf.
We have had a rabbit population explosion — little baby ones hopping all over the place. They seem to spend their time digging ankle breaking holes in the berms. There are large family groups at the south end of Manga Pirau and the east end of James Street. Rabbit pie anyone?
Wendy & Peter are busy putting up Christmas lights around their house. Plans are to have their light show up & running by 13th December and it will run until 10th January. The light show can be viewed on the corner of James & Sarah Streets and is well worth a look.
Please think about your neighbours & their pets if you plan to let off fireworks. I arrived home at 11pm last NY eve to find my elderly, deaf dog cowering in the laundry. Next door they were letting off things that sounded like bombs and each one shook my entire house. A cat ran away in fright a couple of years ago and has never been seen again.
So I wish you all a wonderful and safe & happy holiday season. See you at the AGM and fun days. Thanks again to the contributors to this newsletter.
Julie Stichbury