In 2013 the public Walkway and Wildlife Corridor began, starting 350 metres upstream of the waterfall along the Orchard Estate boundary to the Cobham Bridge and then continuing upstream. In February 2015 Vision Kerikeri and Rotary Kerikeri started a 2.2 km track from Pa Road bridge to the long hidden Wairoa (Te Wairere) waterfall. This required the bridging of the stream midway along this section
of the track which was opened in 2017. The Friends of The Wairoa Stream constructed a track downstream from the Cobham Road bridge that linked up with the Pah Road section. The track has been extended further upstream and the stream again bridged to connect to Campbell Lane. In 2019 a further track was constructed up a tributary (Te Tahawai track) and this has just been pushed through to Hall Road in Spring 2021. Further extension of the Wairoa Stream track will push that through to Limelight Road in the next few years. As of 2021, 20,000 native plants been added to the 5km of track built and nearly 500 predators have been trapped requiring 9,200 hours of manual labour. Maintenance is an on-going issue for these walkways especially with spring w**d growth, planting, pest control and track construction and repairs. Without maintenance, the effort to build the tracks will be wasted. It is too much for the few stalwarts to manage as they did for the Walkway for the first couple of years. An informal group called Friends of Wairoa Stream was formed. There are already around 20 members who have expressed an interest in our stream. We hold regular working bees on the first Monday and third Sunday of each month, from 9am - 11:30am. Not everyone can come all the time but if you can contribute some of your time please contact us.
