Suzanne Williams

As a former keen walker and lover of the beautiful track and bay, I have been interested and concerned about the Otarawairere Track controversy, although very ill-informed until the past week, as I am not a Facebook aficionado.

However, I attended the public meeting of the Projects and Services Committee on Thursday, leaving there wiser and more confused in equal parts.

First, kudos and well done to the leaders and instigators of the volunteer group. You have gone about putting together thoughts and proposals in a sensible and considered manner; one which has garnered huge support and has apparently every chance of success.

However, I have not seen anywhere exactly what your proposal is, other than following the original track, which seems highly dicey to me, so I’m obviously missing something – but no doubt we shall find out in due course, when the proposals are properly presented.

Mind you, I can cast my mind back to early 2012, when, walking the Abel Tasman Track in the aftermath of an extreme weather event, we picked our way across at least two bad slips with no problem.

If the track is closed at times of perceived hazard, it sounds as if the risk to walkers here would be negligible.

The finance seems to have been worked out (?) The council is investigating the availability of funding from the (now defunct) Tourism Infrastructure Fund and indicated that the volunteers would be considered employees from the H&S angle.

The main concern of the council seems to be the possible liability of council staff in the case of a storm event; I wonder what, if any, has been the effect of the terrible Mount Maunganui collapse – has there been any talk of responsibility/liability of the governing authority?

However, I think I can speak for a mostly-ignored minority – my active-late-seniors compatriots – when I record my total opposition to the second option of circling around behind the historic marae, which would necessitate climbing a near-vertical 70m staircase up the escarpment – impossible for me to scale and hard for probably 50 percent of the averagely fit tourists as well.

It would be fine, of course, for Toi Track competitors, but do we always want to cater only for the most capable demographic?

It may be interesting to note here that this formerly well-used and lovely track (and specifically the lookout) is one of only three walks from Whakatāne mentioned out of 365 short walks in Peter Janssen’s book A Walk a Day.