The Little River Rail Trail

Piece of trail coming up to Kaitua Quarry beside Lake Waihora

If you are at a loose end one day over the holidays, and you have a mountain bike- then a great holiday activity is to ride some, or all, of the Little River Rail Trail.

Stilts near the Rail Trail

Whilst a new section of the trail opened just  before Christmas, this post will focus on a popular section of the trail which runs 22km from Motukarara to Little River.  It is a gravel pathway that follows the old railway line between those two places, passing lakes Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) and Wairewa (Lake Forsyth).   Drive or bike to Motukarara and turn right at the big corner a few hundred meters before the Gebbies Pass Turnoff at the Blue Duck Cafe. Soon after you have turned off you will find the entrance to the rail trail at the old Motukarara Railway Station, signposted with DOC signs.  You'll be pleased to know that the cycle way is significantly shorter than the road between Motukarara and Birdlings Flat because it cuts off many of the big corners in the road.


After a few kilometres, you reach the edge of Te Waihora/ Lake Ellesmere, one of New Zealand’s most important wetland systems.  It is a brackish, shallow lagoon, covering around 20,000 hectares, with an average depth of 1.4m.  It is New Zealand’s fifth largest lake and is internationally significant for the large amount of wildlife found there.

A royal spoonbill gathering

 A wide range of birds, fish, insects and eels are found in the lake, which was considered the foodbasket of the South Island by Ngai Tahu.  Birds that we noticed as we biked past include black swans, grey ducks, pied stilts, oystercatchers, royal spoonbills, blue herons, and possibly a white heron (certainly I've seen one of these on other rides on the cycleway).  In fact 167 different species of bird have been recorded on this Lake!  You can find out more about the Lake at the Waihora Ellesmere Trust website.

The Kaituna Quarry makes a nice stop for a drink and then it's on towards the beach at Birdlings Flat.  If you want to see the sea, then you will have to take a side trip for perhaps a kilometre along a quiet stretch of road to check it out.  It makes a great spot for a family picnic, particularly if you don't want to go any further. 

Birdlings Flat beach

 For those with a bit more go, it is about another 10km up the valley to Little River, following for much of it along the edge of Wairewa/ Lake Forsyth. This lake also has many eels in it and at some times of the year, you can see eel traps in the gravel at the lake's outlet at Birdlings Flat dug by local Maori fishers.

Track alongside Wairewa/ Lake Forsyth

Little River is a great place to stop for a coffee or some lunch at one of the local cafes before you turn around and bike home again.

What do you think is unique or interesting about Halswell?

Lake in Quarry Park

Halswell is a growing area and sometimes I'm left with the feeling that it is a bit of a 'nothing' place, even though I grew up here and I returned here a few years ago.   But is it a nothing place?

When I look around the first thing that I think makes Halswell interesting is the Quarry Park.  I also really like and value the Kennedys Bush Track up to the Summit Road and that connects with the Quarry via a few different routes.

Many people I've spoken to about this tell me that the Quarry is something that they regard as unique to Halswell and something that makes it a special place.

Over the last few years I have spent some time wandering around Halswell and thinking about the question of what is interesting here.  One of the the things that I've noticed is how "watery" the place is.

Westlake

Halswell is the place where the Heathcote arises (and runs out to the Estuary) and it is also the place where the Halswell River arises (and runs out to Lake Ellesmere).  Nottingham Stream starts near Westlake and runs through the Westlake and Oaklands areas before heading down behind Junction Rd and Halswell Road before emerging again at Muir Park.

There are lakes and retention ponds all over the place when you start looking.  There are the new retention ponds being built in Sparks Rd. and around Awatea Road in Wigram.  There is a Lake in the Quarry (that also acts as a retention pond).  There are lakes in Curletts Reserve out the back of Aidanfield.  There is a Lake in our Domain out near the Model Railway, and there are retention ponds on either side of Halswell Road around Aidanfield.  There is Westlake in Westlake park which is pretty big.  Even though Christchurch has 100s of named waterways (yes, really.  Hundreds!), how many other parts of Christchurch have so many lakes and retention ponds around the place?

But this is just me thinking this.  What are the things that YOU think make Halswell interesting and unique?

Would you like to see Farmer’s/ Craft market in Halswell?

Would you like to see a regular farmer’s market in Halswell?

A few attempts have been made to get a Halswell Market off the ground.  So far none have succeeded.  Why?  A number of reasons, probably.

1) Halswell faces some issues in having State Highway 75 running through the middle of it, and you can't run  markets on or near this without being required to have traffic management (which costs thousands of dollars every time).  

2) there is quite a bit of time and money involved in getting consent to run a market from the CCC.  They have to be convinced that there is adequate parking and that the market will not represent a nuisance to the neighbours, wherever it is held.

3) it is not easy and is even more expensive to get consent to run a market on publically owned land.  

As you can see there is quite a bit of work in sorting out these issues and on top of that getting consent as easily as possible is likely to cost in the region of $4000-$5000, so, if we are going to have a go at this, we really want to know if the market will fly and what sort of interest there is amongst Halswell residents.  Of course our funders will want to know this too.  

So, at this stage we are trying to get an idea of what people think about the idea, when the market should be and what people would like to buy there but running a short (5-10 minute) survey asking those kinds of questions.  The survey is also a place where you can offer help or indicate your interest in having a stall.

 

If you would like to see a market in Halswell, then you can help by clicking here and filling in the survey.  Do it soon!  

Ideas for stuff in Halswell?

A group of us got together recently and thought about the sorts of things we might like to see around Halswell that provide fun ways for people to get together and get to know each other.  Some of these things are already happening in small pockets but could we make them happen more broadly.

• A regular  Halswell farmers and or craft Market 
• Swap-a events similar to the ones we have already run!
• Fix-it days where people bring stuff along and get help with fixing it from bikes to clothes to electrical gear
• Local barbecue events/ Christmas parties
• A Timebank
• A Community garden.
• Competitions between different subdivisions in Halswell - eg in potato growing!
• Community-built Habitat House projects
• Community Art projects 

Our biggest question is what do other people in Halswell think?   

What do you think of these ideas? 

Have you got any ideas for what you'd like to see?

More on placemaking

I've already written a wee bit about placemaking here where I talk about the "Power of 10".  However, there are other ways to think about "making places" and these might be important given the base material that we have to work with in Halswell.
I came across this piece that reflects on the question how do we create public spaces which encourage strangers to interact?

Reading this, I was reminded me of the idea of flashmobs - the one of the best ones I've seen is this one in Auckland which turns a pedestrian area into a dance floor.  Maybe we should suggest that the Halswell Drama Group sets up a flashmob outside the supermarket to advertise their productions!

What else?  Another possible way of doing something is developing a market in Halswell.  Thanks to Council processes this is quite an involved, and expensive business, but it is possible.  Some folk are currently looking into how we might get over the consent hurdles and set up something regular here (watch this space for developments!).  In the meantime, we have are our intermittent swap-a events (next one coming up on 29th Sept - check out details on this page).

A Greening the Rubble site 

I've wondered about approaching the supermarket and suggesting that they might provide a small space in their carpark for some plants and seats or some artwork and seats where people can sit with a coffee, or staff could sit for lunch.
And perhaps there are a number of other places where something could be done to draw people into our public spaces - even our privately-owned public spaces?

And what about display space for community artworks?  I"m sure there are places say at some of the churches where it would be possible to set up outdoor display space where we could run occasional events to make some kind of artwork.


What do you think?

New Library and Multi-Purpose Community Centre on its way - Have Your Say!

Anyone keenly studying the fine print of the Council's 2012-13 Annual Plan will have spotted the inclusion of the Halswell Library and a Suburban Community Centre for the area in the Capital Projects budget. As Council staff reach for projections data and other handy statistics, poising their coloured pens in mid-air, we invite you to join us. Help us imagine the Halswell of the future, and help us plan and design for the needs of the community in these coming years of growth and rapid change - socially, environmentally and structurally.

Who will make up the Halswell community in 5, 10, 20 and 30 years time? What will their lifestyle be like? What will their social, recreational and work activities involve? What kinds of facilities and services will be needed to support these activities? And what do we want these to look and feel like?

Your input into what Halswell people want from a library and community centre, now and in the future, is vital to ensure this facility meets community needs for current generations and those to come. So, come join us: over August we'll be gathering initial input into this project.

The Halswell Liaison Group is hosting a Community Workshop from noon-1.15pm on Wednesday 8 August at the Halswell Baptist Church in Balcairn St (changed from what was advertised in the newsletter). It would be great to see you there.

If you can't make it to this, you can pop along to another Community Workshop from 6.30pm-8.30pm on Wednesday 22 August at Oaklands School Music Room, Cunningham Place, or a Family Fun and Drop-In from 1pm-4pm on Sunday 26 August at St Luke's Union Church, 436 Halswell  Road.  Also, keep your eyes open for an online survey that will be doing the rounds.

Or: why not pop in and have a chat to your friendly local librarians at the Halswell Library who are also very excited about this project and eager to hear your ideas?

How about hosting your own conversation with your whanau/family, club, association, group, business, organisation or neighbourhood and letting us know what you think? I'm currently putting together a sheet of ideas, including questions and activities, and am very happy to help you out. Keep an eye out for this and drop me a line at sharon.moreham@ccc.govt.nz or call me on 941-6451 or 358-3535 with any questions or suggestions. Both myself and the Libraries staff are available for visits if this would be helpful.

But here, on this blog is a perfect place to get the conversation started. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas...

Warm wishes, Sharon

Plans for Transport in Halswell

At the Halswell Liaison Group meeting in May, the head of one of the local schools noted that difficulties that they are having getting children across Halswell Road to use the domain sports fields and the Pool. 

At the June meeting, we had Ryan Cooney from NZTA come to talk to us about Halswell Road.  NZTA look after State Highways and Halswell Road is SH75.   At this stage, NZTA have 4 laning in the long term plan but there is nothing definite in the way of dates etc.

We had quite a lot of discussion about speed limits and there are some question about why the speed limit through Halswell is 60km per hour when crossing the road is such a necessity for getting between different community facilities and other communities have a 50km/hr limit through their place.  

Another question that came up was how do NZTA make decisions about what happens to Halswell Road (and other State Highways).  He talked about the idea of the best outcomes for "New Zealand Inc."  There may be criteria for making these kinds of decisions but it is not clear quite what they are.  I felt that the most critical question was 'Which has priority in the planning process - the good (safety and access to community facilities) of the local community or the good (speed) of the people driving through?"  Ryan was unable to answer that mainly because he is not privy to how these decisions are made.

It seems to me that, as a community, it would pay for us to be aware of these issues and to get involved in planning processes so that we keep the needs of the local community in the minds of transport planners as much as possible when they are making their plans.

What do you think?

Placemaking in Halswell

What do you think of our place in Halswell?  How do you meet people here?  Where are the public spaces where you can bump into people?  How do we create public spaces where people can meet, hang out, and enjoy the ambience?  What would we need to create to draw people into these spaces? 

These are the sorts of questions that the art of  Placemaking  aims to answer. The “power of 10” is one principle that we could think about to make our places more attractive. 

What is the power of 10?  Well … the idea is that a place has about 10 things to draw people – these can be quite simple things eg seating, shops, play areas, trees/ garden areas, art works, music, history, food.   The thing is that there is a mixture of things - just having 10 shops does not make a place attractive in the sense of allowing people to hang out.  Likewise 10 artworks probaby won't do it on their own either.  A great place caters for the very young and the very old as well as those in between.  Events can also help to make a place more of a place by drawing people in at regular intervals. 

The Power of 10 also applies to suburbs – an attractive suburb has about 10 places with about 10 things,  and attractive city might have about 10 suburbs with 10 places with 10 things .. and so on.   

To me, the principle of the power of 10 is something that could help us start thinking about how to build great community spaces in Halswell.  How might we work with the supermarket etc to make the space around it more attractive?  Could we have some space there for trees, art, play facilities, seating – some space that is free of cars and designed for people to hang out?  What would it take and how would it make Halswell feel?  One thing is sure. I'd spend more time and probably more money there if it were fun to go there!  What about you?

Chrys

The First Halswell Swap-a

The very first Halswell swap-a happened last Saturday afternoon. 

A good number of people showed up with clothes, veges, fruit, books, seeds and toys and, with very few exceptions, they all left with some goodies in their bag.  It was great fun. 

 I enjoyed checking out clothes and then discovering the person who had brought them along!  Alex, who brought a great supply of seeds he had saved (along with a huge box of yummy grapes), was a mine of information about vege gardening, seed saving and sowing. 

The baking and hot drinks went down well (thanks to Kathryn who spent a lot of time making tea and coffee amongst all sorts of other things).  Phil’s boxes of books provided great pickings for Mike and quite a few others.
People chatted and seemed in no hurry to leave and we finally packed things up around 3.30 after our 1.00 pm start.   

A very big thank you to the folks at St Lukes who lent us their great venue for the afternoon, and to the organisers for running with this idea.

One thing that we didn't do very much of was talk about a timebank ... so perhaps that is something for next time.Another good thing to be talking about would be a local market.  The swap-a had quite a market feel to it and personally, I'd like to see more of this kind of thing around Halswell. 

We will be doing this again, probably sometime in the early spring - keep an eye on the newsletter for date and time!

Aoraki-spotting from Halswell

OK, you can’t quite see it from Halswell… depending how you define Halswell!  But if you walk or bike for a bit (or even drive, if you must) it isn’t too difficult.

The details were provided to me years ago at Castle Rock by the late Phil Stuart-Jones, who got pretty sophisticated with compass bearings and sightlines, but I will aim to convince you without any of that stuff.

Aoraki/Mt Cook is about 196 km from our house in Halswell, almost exactly due west.  He’s a big fella though, and should be easily visible with the naked eye.  The key to it is to find Mt Somers.  Mt Somers is indicated by the arrow in the photo below (taken from Cooper’s Knob, with Gibraltar Rock and Tai Tapu in the foreground).  It’s one of the most obvious foothills, an unequal triangle with an easy-angled side on the right.  That's Mt Hutt on the extreme right under the clouds.

Next let’s see Aoraki from close up without much in the way.

That's Aoraki on the left, Mt Tasman on the right, from Malte Brun Pass.  This is the eastern view of the mountain, which is what we are looking for.

Now let’s have a look at Aoraki (indicated by the arrow) from the top of Mt Somers.  I think you can see it's about the same shape.  Keep an eye on the ice cap on the right of the summit that is in the sun.

  

Since Mt Somers is pretty close to due west from Halswell also, the view of Aoraki that we see from Halswell should be pretty similar to the one from Mt Somers.

So now let’s zoom in a bit on the first image.  The arrow on the right points to Mt Somers, and the arrow on the left to Aoraki.  As you can see it looks much the same, although a bit more hidden by the intervening ridge.  The piece of ice cap on the right at the top looks identical.  Pretty good eh!

Aoraki can be easier to spot in summer, when the ranges in the foreground don’t have so much snow; then, it is the only white one (although viewing can be quite a lot hazier at that time of year).  Where it appears relative to Mt Somers depends on which part of the hills you are on.  If you head towards Gebbies Pass from the top of Kennedys Bush Track it will appear on the left of Mt Somers, as shown.  I suppose a pair of binoculars or a telescope would make it better, but they definitely aren't essential.

Happy spotting!