AGM 2012 minutes and reports (PDF, 180KB)

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[A copy of an article that is in Focus magazine]

Those sandhoppers must have got a shock last Sunday. On a dull, threatening morning, 2 September, some 170 people assembled at a marquee near Ngunguru School and registered to cross the river and walk the intertidal of the ocean beach - and gather rubbish. A fleet of five small boats efficiently delivered them, life-jacketed and bag-bearing, to the other side. To protect the nesting N.Z. dotterels sand dune margins were roped off and people were advised about the rarity and vulnerability of these birds in their maternity ward.

A huge surprise awaited midway along the beach. A nondescript mound on the sand resolved into the decomposing corpse of a humpback whale about 9m long. Because its upper jaw was gone, it was easy to examine the plankton sieving baleen fibres fringing its mouth. It may have been killed by ship collision.

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A mass organised walk on the Ngunguru Sandspit Beach was anything but a pedestrian experience.

When Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society (NSaPS) presented an opportunity for a walk on the Ngunguru Sandspit Beach, I was among those who leapt at the chance.

Some had participated in a mass walk before, in 2007 or 2010. But for the ‘class’ of 2012 it was an experience to savour as the Ngunguru Sandspit is now – mostly – in public ownership.

Walkers turned out in force – 170 of them – and were not put off by cold, blustery conditions of the first Spring Sunday or by rain showering the walk start.

Instead, people showed their support for the sandspit being a reserve for generations to enjoy by taking generations of their families out on the walk and chatting to people they met.

The event drew interest from beyond the Tutukaka Coast, with my husband and me meeting a Whangarei Heads man and his daughter. We later had coffee together at SaltAir Cafe and invited them home for the afternoon.

There were even rumours that a hockey team from Whanganui had joined the walk but I didn’t spot any of them, at least not in uniform.

Mid-walk many stopped in their tracks due to the spectacle of a decomposing beached whale. Others went in for spotting endangered dotterel from a safe distance and checking out other shore birds.

Meanwhile those armed with bags got down to the serious business of collecting rubbish.

Snippets of conversation carried on the wind with phrases like “never been here before ... it's special”, “it’s ours and we must care for it” and “years of work to this stage”.

By afternoon it was time for the return walk on this so near-yet so far beach that is dear to us.

As they had on the journey over, boaties did a safe and skilful job of skippering the crowd to the other side.

My day ended with new friends made, awareness heightened, and a sense of shared support for the Sandspit being a reserve for our future generations.

NSaPs says concern remains for the southern end of the Sandspit and Whakairiora Mountain which calls for greatest protection as these areas could be at risk from inappropriate development.

NSaPS is working towards joint management of the Sandspit involving tangata whenua, the community and DoC.

See photos of all the beach walks.

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Twenty-four years after the Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society dug their toes into the sand to stop it being subdivided, its return to the people can be celebrated with "A Walk on the Ngunguru Sandspit Beach".

The event on Sunday will celebrate several things - Father's Day, Conservation Week and the first anniversary since then-Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson and Whangarei MP Phil Heatley announced the Department of Conservation had acquired the Ngunguru Sandspit from Todd Property Group, formerly known as Landco.

The event on Father's Day won't be the first community-inspired Walk on the Ngunguru Sandspit Beach; earlier walks took place in 2007, 2010 and 2011 to "Welcome the Godwits".

But it will be the first since the announcement in August last year that DoC had swapped a parcel of surplus government land and buildings in Napier to gain possession of the sandspit.

Full story...

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Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society Inc (NSaPS)

AGM & Lunch Saturday 25 August 2012

Ngunguru Memorial Hall

Anniversary Shared Lunch at 12 noon

Meeting 2 pm

Come and celebrate. All welcome.

Please phone 09 434 3452 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society Incorporated presents in conjunction with Conservation Week…

A Walk on the Ngunguru Sandspit Beach

We did it in 2007, 2010 and 2011 to ‘Welcome the Godwits’. Now is your chance to walk in 2012.

Ngunguru Sandspit is now in public ownership but concern remains for the southern end of the Sandspit and Whakairiora Mountain, both still in private ownership. NSaPS is working towards joint management of the Sandspit involving tangata whenua, the community and DoC.

Show your support for the sandspit being a reserve for all generations to enjoy in its natural state. Show you care by walking and talking together, bring a bag to collect rubbish.

Fathers Day -Sunday 2 September 2012.
Rolling start time: 10.30 -11am, last return time 1pm.
Meet at Te Maika Rd, Ngunguru, register at the marquee.
Free ferry boats will be provided, bring a lifejacket if possible.
Tutukaka Coastguard will provide on-water safety watch.
Rubbish collection kindly arranged by Dive Tutukaka.
‘Save the Sandspit’ greeting cards available for sale.
Donations to NSaPS accepted.

Bad weather postponement date – Sunday September 30

Download the flier... (750KB, PDF)

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