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The opening of the first stage of a new boardwalk in Parry Kauri Park this month will allow the wheelchair-bound to experience New Zealand’s native bush close up this summer.
The opening was an emotional moment for Ray Jensen and his wife Robyn.
Ray is chair of the Kauri and Native Bushmen’s Association, which has been dedicated to making improvements in Parry Kauri Park for decades.
He recalls that when he first joined the association in 1974, there were no tracks through the bush to see the massive McKinney and Simpson kauri trees, which are more than 500 years old.
Instead, schoolchildren would follow a trail indicated by trees marked with blobs of paint, and the route became muddy and slippery in winter.
At one point, loose metal was used to make a trail, but this proved unsatisfactory as the metal damaged the roots of trees underneath when walked upon.
The Bushmen’s Association set itself the challenge of building a boardwalk through the bush. It started work in 1992 and over the next 20 years the walkway grew to be about 1.8km long.
But in recent years, it became clear that the boardwalk was not sufficiently elevated in places to prevent the spread of kauri dieback.
Back in July, Auckland Council, in consultation with the Bushmen’s Association, began replacing the boardwalk and installing a picnic area and observation deck.
The aim of the $520,000 project is to allow visitors to continue to explore the native bush and see the great kauri, while preventing the spread of dieback.
Ray says right from the beginning he pressed Council to make the boardwalk wheelchair accessible, saying that he had often seen people with disabilities visiting Parry Kauri Park who were unable to get much further than the carpark, and Council agreed.
So far, Council has installed about 500 metres of wheelchair-accessible boardwalk and more work is planned to extend it next year.
When Ray advocated for access for the disabled, he had no idea that his wife would be one of those to benefit. She succumbed to Huntington’s disease about 12 months ago and is now confined to a wheelchair herself.
Ray says Council has done a fantastic job on the new boardwalk.
“They have done much more than we expected. We had huge cooperation, and Council consulted with us on everything,” he says.
“This will be a great attraction for Warkworth. Everyone can come here.”
Council kauri dieback team manager Lisa Tolich says the remote locations of kauri often make it difficult to provide wheelchair access, but it was deemed appropriate for Parry Kauri Park.
She says the park hosts a large number of visitors and is considered the gateway to the Kauri Coast.
