Although the vehicle entrance to the beach is cut off for the moment you can still get to the beach and river on foot. Note: the Horowhenua District Council maps below do not accurately show the current location of the river.
Options
1. Cross the footbridge to go into the privately owned land, then beside the dunes or through the dunes to head towards Kuku or get to the sea. Note: the private land owners have generously given permission for the public to use that area. Please treat it with extra respect.
2. Access the river bank from Drake Street, between numbers 24 and 26 — the walkway is shown as a thick black line on the map below. The green areas are public land. Or go in from beside the footbridge.
Following recent news that Levin (Taitoko) isn’t an official name I wondered about Waikawa Beach. It turns out our name isn’t official either:
Waikawa Beach
This name is not official — this feature does not have an official name
Current Status: Recorded
Feature Type: Locality
Feature Description: Feature shown on: NZMS260 S25 Pt R25 Edition 2 1995
Māori Name: Yes
Waikawa Beach is not an official name, but it is recorded.
To find out more about official and recorded names I consulted the Help pages:
Place names tell us where we are. They are important signposts of modern, historical and cultural influences and values of the people that gave them. …
Official names are assigned, altered, approved, discontinued, adopted, concurred with or validated by the [New Zealand Geographic Board] or other legislation, such as Treaty of Waitangi settlements, and are listed in the New Zealand Gazetteer. …
Recorded names are names that have appeared in at least two publicly available authoritative publications or databases. They are unofficial because they have not been assigned, altered, discontinued, approved, adopted, concurred with or validated by the NZGB. Many of the place names recorded on official maps and charts are outside the NZGB’s jurisdiction, such as homesteads, roads, streets, tracks and lighthouses. Other recorded names, like Wellington, were in common use before the creation of the NZGB, so they haven’t been dealt with by the NZGB to become official names.
Steel in the Waikawa Beach footbridge provides a touch of home for a local couple originally from Teesside.
How many times have you walked across the footbridge at the estuary? Have you ever noticed that the wooden frame rests on sturdy steel girders? I hadn’t known that until I spotted this article the other day:
Julie Gordon and her husband, Brett on the bridge at Waikawa Beach, New Zealand. Photo supplied.
Teesside ex-pat’s welcome reminder of home
A HOMESICK ex-pat got a welcome reminder of home when she spotted Teesside steel on the other side of the world.
Julie Gordon, who moved to New Zealand in 2003, was thrilled to discover a bridge constructed using Dorman Long &Co steel girders close to her holiday home at Waikawa Beach.
She said: “I’ve always had pictures of the Transporter Bridge up in the house as reminders of my home town.
“Waikawa Beach is gorgeous but I never guessed I’d find a real link to Middlesbrough there — 12,500 miles away. So you can imagine our surprise and delight when we saw that the little bridge there is made with steel from Dorman and Long in Middlesbrough.”
Dorman Long and Co steel. A view from under the footbridge. Photo by Miraz Jordan. Dorman Long and Co steel on the footbridge. Photo by Miraz Jordan. Dorman Long and Co steel on the footbridge. Photo by Miraz Jordan.
So what’s our connection with Auckland’s Harbour Bridge [opened 1959]? It’s in the steel:
Metal production started on Teesside in the 1840s following the discovery of iron ore in the Cleveland Hills. …
In 1876, 28-year-old metal worker Arthur Dorman launched a partnership with Albert De Lande Long making iron bars and angles for ships. …
The company was responsible for the harbour bridges in Sydney and Auckland …
