Waimakariri Water Walk -Mid September 2010

Waimakariri Wai/Water Walk – From the Alps to the Ocean
Sunday 19 to Sunday 26 September 2010
            Our Water Our Vote – Too Precious to Lose !

The Waimakariri Wai/Water journey celebrates one of Canterbury’s great braided rivers, the Waimakariri.   It is a call to action to protect the Waimakariri as a source of Christchurch’s drinking water, as habitat for indigenous plants and wildlife and a focus for recreation.   The river is central to the Coast to Coast multi sport adventure race, for tramping, fishing, picnicking, boating, and closer to its mouth for yachting, water skiing and white-baiting.

To celebrate the importance of all Canterbury’s natural waters a diverse group of 10-12 committed individuals will journey the length of the Waimakariri River from its source to the sea in September.  Their spring time journey will start in the river’s headwaters, high in Arthur’s Pass National Park where snow melt from the mountains of the Southern Alps nourishes the river. Over the next seven –eight days they will mainly walk but also raft, kayak, cycle, and boat the river to near its mouth at Brooklands Lagoon.  

Along the way they will be joined by rafters, kayakers, jet boaters and other river users. They will visit several local schools, share stories with local residents and learn more of the many ways in which people appreciate and enjoy the Waimakariri.

While focusing on the Waimakariri, the journey will highlight the need to cherish and respect all of Canterbury’s rivers, lakes, aquifers and lowland streams.   Proposed think big irrigation schemes, more dairying and intensive land use across thousands of hectares and in areas never before contemplated such as the Mackenzie Basin risks serious depletion of our rivers, pushing nitrate levels in groundwater well above health standards for drinking water, and further pollution and harm to lowland streams.

If you care about the wellbeing of our waterways, who controls and uses their water, and Cantabrians being denied the right to vote in regional council elections until at least 2013 then please join us in the Christchurch section of the Waimakariri Wai/Water Walk from the sea to the city.

The Christchurch section of the Waimakariri Wai/Water Walk is on Sunday 26 September.   It will start at the New Brighton pier and follow the Avon River to gather in Victoria Square.

The event is being organised by Our Water Our Vote a group of Canterbury citizens committed to the restoration of regional democracy and the protection of the region’s rivers, lakes, aquifers, and streams.   See www.ourwaterourvote.org.nz  

DRAFT timetable:

Day 1. Sunday 19 September - Upper Waimakariri valley to Klondyke Corner (small group of fit trampers).  Camp the night at Klondyke Corner.  (Trampers walk up river day before).  

Day 2.  Monday - Walk from Klondyke corner to Mt White Bridge.  Kayakers set off from Mt White Bridge to Gorge – overnight camp at Deans’s bach partway down the Gorge.

Day 3.  Tuesday - Kayakers arrive Waimakariri Gorge Bridge – Public gathering and camp overnight. (Walkers could start at Springfield on Day 3 or at Gorge on Day 4).

Day 4.  Wednesday - Walk from Gorge to Courtenay Domain via river track (approx. 20km) overnight camp near domain.   Kayakers and jetboaters continue down river optional.

Day 5.   Thursday - Walk from Courtenay to Miners Stop Bank, McLeans Island via river tracks (approx. 20km). Camp.

Day 6.    Friday Walk/bike  McLeans Island to mouth (route tbc)
Kayakers kayak from Crossbank Pylons to Old Main North Rd bridge.

Day 7 – Saturday Spare day

Day 8.  Sunday 26 September – Walk from McLeans Island via McLeans Island Rd, Russley Rd, Memorial Ave, Hagley Park to join the public walk in Hagley Park.

Day 8 Sunday 26 September: Public walk starts at Brighton Pier and mostly follows the Avon River into Hagley Park and along Avon River to Victoria Square (approx. 12 kms)

3.00pm Sunday – Gathering at Victoria Square

For more information please contact:
Rosalie Snoyink ph 03 3182632 rsnoyink@xtra.co.nz
Eugenie Sage ph 021 1553937 or 03 329 3177  e.sage@paradise.net.nz
Janette Kear ph 352 5782 kayaks@xtra.co.nz