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Mangawhai festival
Having been to most wine and food festivals held opposite Mangawhai Beach School, I was looking forward to it being held again. A couple of things stood out.
Number one, not being able to get back to the car was just crazy. We had two people on our table who needed to get back for medical reasons. One for a diabetes shot, which had been forgotten and the other for meds that he needed at five o’clock. Both times they had major problems and then were followed to their cars like criminals. I understand this was a council requirement. Then the security people prowling around the crowd all the time looking for who knows what! Not a good feeling.
Number two, pouring beer from a perfect can to a brittle plastic container that I hope were recyclable.
The event was great, but a couple of niggles.
Kevin Healy, Mangawhai
Mangawhai Lions respond:
Firstly, we are delighted that Kevin thought the event was great. Unfortunately, in the years since the events at the Olive Grove, regulations around alcohol are much more restrictive. Having a one-way system where you cannot leave the event is recommended by police and is commonplace at festivals.
Where there was a genuine requirement to leave, such as the insulin shot, a security guard simply escorted them there and back. Any major event will have security present to ensure no issues arise that may spoil the day for everyone. From the feedback we got, they did a great job and the event was incident free.
The plastic cups were recyclable and, again, a requirement of the alcohol licence; pouring cans into a cup means the amount being consumed can be controlled.
We understand the niggles, but need to work within the rules and regulations to ensure a safe event for all.
Protecting coastal sands
The excellent study being completed on the Mangawhai spit and harbour, (see story pg4) which includes the potential threat of a breach of the spit and identification of the coastal sands that have been taken, has placed a focus on the impact of the coastal sand mining that has been operating on the Mangawhai to Pakiri beach fronts for decades.
While it is unrealistic to believe the sandmining is totally responsible, it has certainly played a major role in the depletion of our coastal sand volumes.
We cannot control the impact of Mother Nature, but we can control the impact of man-made disruption to nature’s normal processes of beach management.
If we choose to ignore nature’s way for our beaches and hand over this responsibility to the private company, McCallum Bros, whose objective is only profit, then those involved in the Fast Track consent that McCallum’s has lodged to extend their mining practices to Bream Bay, need to include a historical reference check on the company’s mining practices.
Their practices have caused two courts, the Resource Consent hearing and the Environmental Court, to decline McCallum’s continued mining consents in the neighbouring Mangawhai to Pakiri coastline.
This check would show a pattern of bad practice that is well documented.
The initial Resource Consent application was requested by McCallum’s to be classified as non-notifiable, in an endeavour to slide it through without community awareness.
This attitude colours their broader operational practices to this day.
At the first consent hearing, Auckland Council started out in support of the application but after hearing the cultural, environmental and scientific evidence, changed its position mid-hearing, to opposing the application.
McCallum lost credibility with their claims that their mining caused no sea bed damage, when the results of a diving expedition by marine scientists revealed sea bed trenches, one extending for kilometres, five metres deep and 20 metres wide. The sea bed was described as a ploughed field. McCallum was immediately ordered to cease mining in this area.
McCallum’s have a mining practice not allowed in other countries, this is mining during and after storm activities, when free flowing sand from the beaches is easily sucked up. This means that the sand which would get recycled by nature back to refill the beach is taken, the lifeline is cut.
These actions, and many others, were best addressed by Judge Smith at the completion of the Environment Court hearing, stating that McCallum’s exercise of their inshore consent was “gravely concerning to the Court.”
As they certainly are to our community!
Ken Rayward, Mangawhai
Dear Mangawhai
After one year and three months in your magical town, it’s time for me to go back to France. I can’t even say ‘time for me to go home’ as I’m no longer sure where my home is. I had no idea where this adventure would lead me, but destiny brought me here. I had to come here, had to meet you, Mangawhai.
I never thought I’d stay more than five months in New Zealand, never thought I’d live all the things I’ve lived, never thought I’d meet all of these people, that I’d learn this much.
The reasons why I left my country aren’t the happiest, briefly let’s say: I lost my smile, crying became a hobby. Well, you brought this smile back. It feels so good to feel happy, at peace, relaxed, to feel welcomed and loved, to feel alive.
I would like to thank all the places I’ve worked at: Kotare Cafe, The Bunker, Bennetts Bakery, Mean Burger and Wood Street Pizzeria. They all saved my journey here, welcomed me and trusted the beginner that I was in hospitality. I learnt a lot from each of you.
Volunteering at Mangawhai Museum and MSS senior community has been one of the highlights of this journey. I’m so thankful I have been able to meet locals, listen to their stories and help with moviemaking and photography.
I would like to give a special thanks to Jean, David, Tina, Steph, Michelle and her parents, Britt and Eli, Angela, Shanika, Alex, Jazmin, Hana, Gary, Sue, Nick, Dave, Lyndon, Eddie, Noble Fight system fighters, every single customer to Kotare Cafe, Aotearoa Surf School crew, MAZ skatepark riders for letting me bothering them with my longboard dancing, Lesley and Len, Stacey and Tim, Gael, MSS ladies and Mangawhai’s volunteers. You all contributed to this adventure, you all helped me and made me feel part of a family while being far from my own one. I am the luckiest girl in the world.
Can we make a deal Manga? Stay the same. You are allowed to change, but don’t change your people. Keep these smiles alive, keep this sunshine vibe and positivity, be sad but see the positive out of it, cry but don’t forget your ocean isn’t far and it’ll heal your soul, dream of somewhere else but climb the cliff walk and realise the beauty of your land.
I will miss you, all of you. I just can’t believe it’s over and I don’t want to go, but it’s time for me to leave.
It’s not a goodbye though, it’s a see you soon.
Thank you for everything Magical Mangawhai.
Avec amour,
Ophelia.
