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As spring gets underway, Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society Inc (SOSSI) has several projects on the go, including upgrades to the park’s much-loved walking tracks.
Two new bridges are being installed on the Waterfall Gully track, around 500 metres from the waterfall. The track is partially closed until the bridges are completed.
Roger Land and his group, affectionately known as the ‘Crack Track team’, have helped maintain Shakespear’s tracks and bridges since 2010, before the park’s pest-proof fence was installed in 2011.
Roger says the group is not simply a collection of men with an affinity for building and demolishing, but a team of unpaid volunteers who signed up to help look after the park and found like-minded company along the way.
“We’re just 20 geriatrics conquering repairs and builds,” he says.
One of the best parts of the work is being in such a beautiful location, doing something meaningful while enjoying the group’s company and camaraderie, he says.
The new bridges were planned by Roger Land Design to balance the needs of visitors with the surrounding environment, with the wider team working together to minimise impacts on native vegetation. Roger says work sites are kept tidy throughout construction, with everyone involved focused on reducing disruption to the environment.
The new bridges are being built alongside the existing ones so the track can remain open for as long as possible and closures kept to a minimum.
They will be wider to accommodate the growing number of visitors to the park, while the plastic non-slip mesh used on the old bridges will be replaced with non-slip strips.
“We want people to come and visit over the summer. It’s such a beautiful, peaceful place for all to enjoy,” Roger says.
Shakespear Regional Park is home to hihi, saddleback, tūī, kererū, robins, pīwakawaka, kiwi and wētā, as well as a wide range of native plants the crew helps protect.
The Crack Track team has even had an unofficial inspector keeping an eye on progress – a friendly robin, named ‘Boss’, which regularly visits the work site.
Roger says the Waterfall Gully track should fully reopen by the end of the month, ready for walkers and birdwatchers to enjoy the new bridges.
