Sustainable Waihī Beach

03/10/2026

🦭 UPDATE: Our seal safely returned to the sea Monday lunchtime! 🌊

A huge shout-out to everyone who respected this incredible creature and gave it the space it needed to rest. 💙

Ka pai, Waihī Beach!

⚠️🦭 LEOPARD SEAL ALERT – BOWENTOWN BEACH 🦭⚠️

We currently have a leopard seal resting on Bowentown Beach. Our volunteers are out managing the seal and cordons!

Please watch out for our warning signs and cordons and give this impressive visitor plenty of room.

This is not your average furry seal! Leopard seals are large, powerful predators with serious jaws and teeth, and despite looking pretty chilled while resting, they can move surprisingly fast. DOC warns they can cause serious injury if they feel threatened.

🚧 Our kaitiaki team has put a 40-metre cordon in place - please stay outside it.

🐕 Keep dogs on leads and well away.
🌊 NEVER walk between the seal and the sea - it must always have a clear escape route.
📸 Photos from a distance please - zoom is your friend!

🦭 And most importantly, let it sleep!

It isn't stranded and doesn't need us to intervene. It's simply hauled out for a well-earned rest.

Keep an eye out for the signs at Bowentown Beach and please respect the cordon.

Big seal. Very big jaws. Even bigger personal-space bubble. 😬🦭

💚 Sustainable Waihī Beach Kaitiaki Team

30/09/2026

🐣 DOTTEREL SEASON IS HERE! 🐣

Our tiny, feisty little tūturiwhatu / NZ dotterel tamariki are back doing what they do best - attempting to raise a family on one of the busiest bits of real estate at Waihī Beach! 🏖️

So keep your eyes peeled, give nesting areas plenty of space, keep dogs well away and help us give these ridiculously vulnerable little beach (and farm) birds the best possible chance. 💛

📚 And you can support the cause from your sofa too!

Don’t forget you can purchase a very special book written about and inspired by our dotterel tamariki. It’s a gorgeous way to share their story, help spread the conservation message and support the mahi going on right here at Waihī Beach.

Tiny birds. Huge personalities. Very questionable choice of nesting location.

Let’s make this a cracking season for our tūturiwhatu. 🌊

20/09/2026

🦭 Our Seal Kaitiaki have been busy! 🌊
Since completing their training, our local Seal Kaitiaki have responded to four call-outs - three at Waihī Beach and one at Taupiro Point.

Sadly, two young kekeno had died. 💔 The other two were exhausted and resting. Given space and peace, they safely returned to the moana. 🌊🦭

A huge shout-out to our community for keeping dogs leashed, respecting signs, maintaining distance, and allowing the seals to rest undisturbed. That’s kaitiakitanga in action. 💙

If you find a seal, call DOC HOT on 0800 362 468. DOC can assess the situation and connect with our trained local responders where appropriate.

🦭 Golden rules:
• Stay at least 20 metres away
• Keep dogs leashed and well away
• Keep children at a safe distance
• Never touch, move or feed a seal
• Don’t get between a seal and the sea
• Quietly give them space to rest

Often, a resting seal needs rest - not rescue.

Mihi to our wonderful Seal Kaitiaki and everyone helping protect these beautiful taonga. 💙🌊🦭

19/09/2026

🐾 Exhausted Seal Alert! 🦭

We’ve got a very tired seal enjoying a rest on the beach north of the dog walking beach at Albacore 🌊

Our local Seal Response Team has been out and assessed the situation - signage has been erected.

The seal is perfectly happy, it's just taking a rest - so please give it plenty of space.

✅ Stay 20 metres away, preferably on the dune side.

🚫 Do not walk behind it (between the seal and the sea)

⚠️ Important: Seals are fast-moving on sand and have a ferocious bite. Please don’t go down to look at it, especially with young children.

🐕 No dogs nearby please - sadly, several seals have been attacked and killed by dogs in recent years.

From a distance, it might look like a log - but it’s a living, breathing taonga of our coastline. Let’s give it peace and keep our beach safe for wildlife and people alike 💙

16/09/2026

🐧 KAITIAKI COMMUNITY CREW! 🦭

We are absolutely stoked with the number of people who have stepped forward to become Kororā / Little Blue Penguin & Seal Kaitiaki along our coastline. What an incredible response! 🙌

A massive shout-out to Vicki from Western Bay Wildlife Trust, Anna – Bay Conservation Alliance Shorebird Ranger, Sarah-Lyn from Department of Conservation along with orgainsers Susan and Pip from Sustainable Waihī Beach, for delivering our training evening last week and helping get this fantastic crew ready.

Sadly, the team had their first real call-out today — to a deceased baby fur seal. 🦭💔

It was a sad start, but also an important part of the mahi. The team were able to put their new training into practice, learning how to identify the animal and look for any indicators that might help explain its demise.

The little pup was respectfully buried, with a karakia said before it was laid to rest. 🌿

Not quite the first call-out we had hoped for, but such a beautiful example of our community stepping up to care for the wildlife that shares our coastline.

Huge aroha and a massive shout-out to every single person who has volunteered. 💙🐧🦭

This is community kaitiakitanga in action. 🌊

14/09/2026

Into the clouds they go… ☁️⛰️

There’s something pretty special about seeing conservation mahi quite literally taken to new heights.

Deep in Rarotonga’s spectacular Takuvaine Valley, local kaitiaki carried automated predator traps high into the cloud forest - more than 400 metres above sea level - where some of the island’s most precious native species make their home.

The traps, donated were donated by us - Sustainable Waihī Beach - in partnership with Te Ipukarea Society, and are the first AT220 and AT230 automated traps to be used in the Cook Islands.

And getting them there was no small feat! 🎒🌴

Carried by hand, up through steep tropical bush, across rugged terrain that required bush slashing and into the misty mountain forest - this is conservation at the grassroots level. People, communities and islands working together to protect the places and species we love. 💚

From Waihī Beach to Rarotonga. From the coast to the clouds. 🌊☁️

Pacific conservation in action. 🌺

From Waihī Beach to the clouds of Rarotonga

08/09/2026

Such sad news. ❤️

From all of us at Sustainable Waihī Beach, we want to acknowledge Jim’s unwavering dedication to sustainability, Coast Care and protecting the places we all love.

His passion for the ngahere, the coast and our natural environment was infectious, and the knowledge, time and energy he gave so generously made a very real difference.

A true kaitiaki and an absolute Waihī Beach legend. 🌿

You will be very much missed, Jim. Aroha nui to his whānau and all who knew and loved him. ❤️

A sad farewell from the ECHO family ❤️

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Jim Cowern has passed away.

Jim has been such an important part of the ECHO Walking Festival family for many years, and his passing leaves a very large Jim-shaped hole in our little motley crew.

Jim was a committed member of our committee, a wealth of knowledge, always willing to lend a hand, share his experience, tell a story and, more often than not, keep us grounded with his quiet wisdom and good humour. But beyond all of that, Jim was a friend.

He really was one of the good guys.

We know that Jim was known and loved by many throughout the wider ECHO family, not just those of us who sat around the committee table. His contribution to ECHO, his generosity with his time and knowledge, and the friendships he made along the way have left a lasting mark on our festival.

We will miss his humour, his stories, his knowledge and, most of all, simply having Jim there.

Our thoughts are with Jim’s family and loved ones at this incredibly sad time.

From all of us in the ECHO family – thank you, Jim. For everything you gave to ECHO, and to us.

You will be deeply missed, but you will always be part of ECHO. ❤️

25/08/2026

Get voting team Waihī Beach ⛱️ 😎

18/08/2026

Update! Thanks team, we have had an unprecedented number of people coming forward! We will be in touch over the next couple of days 🤗🙏🏻🐧🐧🐧

🐧🦭 VOLUNTEER SEAL & PENGUIN RESCUERS WANTED!🦭🐧

We’re looking at setting up a volunteer 'Seal & Penguin Kaitiaki network across Waihī Beach' and would love to hear from locals keen to be involved.

From time to time, seals come ashore simply because they’re tired and need a lovely, peaceful place to rest. Our kaitiaki would receive some basic training in seal conservation and learn how to safely protect resting seals from dogs, people and other disturbances while giving them the space they need.

We’d also like our kaitiaki to help with kororā | little blue penguins when they are found sick, injured, exhausted or in difficulty. Volunteers could be trained in what to do, including safely containing a penguin when appropriate and, following the agreed rescue process, taking it to our designated meeting spots for handover at the junction of Beach Rooad Katikati or Athenree Homestead, provide as space where it can be kept somewhere quiet, dark and secure overnight until the next stage of its care.

Volunteers will receive a small rescue/kaitiaki pack with some of the basics needed to help.

Because we’ll be working with protected wildlife, everyone involved will need to complete the appropriate training and sign a DOC Conservation Volunteer Agreement, which sets out expectations and helps ensure a safe, responsible and rewarding volunteering experience for everyone – including our wildlife.

You don’t need to be an expert – just reliable, sensible, comfortable around wildlife and keen to help protect the special creatures that share our coastline. 💚

We’re hoping to establish volunteer teams and have spare kits at three areas of Waihī Beach.

📍 North End
📍 Island View
📍 Bowentown

If this sounds like you, please email us at [email protected] and let us know which area North End, Island View, Bowentown or any of these, that you could help cover.

Let’s build a little network of local kaitiaki ready to step in when our seals and penguins need us. 🐧🦭🌊

13/08/2026

🎨🌿 CALLING ALL LOCAL CREATIVES! 🌿🎨

Got something to say about the world around us? Say it through art!

Envirohub BOP’s Climate Canvas 2026 is back, inviting artists of all ages from Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty & Rotorua to get creative around this year’s theme:

✨ PRECIOUS RESOURCES ✨

Think 💧 water, 🌱 soil, 🌬️ air, 🐦 biodiversity, 🤝 community, ⏳ time, and the knowledge and resources we pass between generations.

🏆 $1,700 IN PRIZES
🥇 $800 | 🥈 $400 | 🥉 $200 | ❤️ People’s Choice $300

Ten finalists will be exhibited at the Cargo Shed, Tauranga, 17–20 September, followed by a second exhibition at Carlton Gallery, Katikati in October.

📣 ENTRIES CLOSE 31 AUGUST

So, what does “Precious Resources” mean to you? 🌏🎨

👉 Find out more & enter at Envirohub BOP.