{"id":389270,"date":"2026-04-20T20:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389270\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T20:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:35:08","slug":"on-the-up-weka-point-scout-camp-rebuild-underway-after-cyclone-gabrielle-devastation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389270\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Weka Point Scout Camp rebuild underway after Cyclone Gabrielle devastation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Floodwaters during the cyclone in February 2023 from the Mangaone River engulfed the Rissington<\/a> settlement, along with the campsite, leaving only the foundations of the two accommodation buildings.<\/p>\n

The swing bridge was torn from its foundations and left destroyed across a neighbour\u2019s farm.<\/p>\n

Decades of native plantings were lost, and the site was covered in up to three metres of silt and debris.<\/p>\n

The campsite was insured and the decision was made to undertake a staged rebuild, initially repairing the ablution block and progressing to the wastewater systems and swing bridge.<\/p>\n

That rebuild is now well underway, made possible by the support of dedicated volunteers, local organisations and national funding. <\/p>\n

\"ChairwomanChairwoman of the Lions’ Cyclone Gabrielle committee Carol McMillan (centre) with Hastings Host Lions Club members Hilary Bullot (left), Elizabeth Crawley, Alan Harvey and Angus McMillan. <\/p>\n

The Hastings Host Lions Club, which originally supported the construction of the swing bridge in 2011<\/a>, visited the site in February this year, on behalf of Lions Clubs International. <\/p>\n

The Cyclone Gabrielle<\/a> committee, put together at the time to oversee how Lions could help the local communities successfully, nominated Weka Point as a Lions Clubs International Foundation Cyclone Gabrielle resilience project.<\/p>\n

\"CycloneCyclone Gabrielle destroyed the camp’s swing bridge.<\/p>\n

They secured a significant grant of $140,000 towards rebuilding the bridge, with construction to commence mid-June. <\/p>\n

The project will be led by Edifice Structures, specialist bridge builders with extensive experience working on Department of Conservation (DoC) projects.<\/p>\n

Weka Point committee member Phil Crombie said the loss of the site and swing bridge was deeply felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeka Point is believed to be the site of New Zealand\u2019s first ever scout camp in 1911, when \u201cLittle John\u201d [John Cooksey] took a patrol of six scouts down to camp on the site. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was named Weka due to the large number of weka present at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WekaWeka Point Campsite before Cyclone Gabrielle. <\/p>\n

He said the campsite grew into a well-developed facility, with accommodation buildings, an ablution block, a commercial kitchen and dining area, and a swing bridge to provide safe access across the river. <\/p>\n

\u201cGenerations of young people from Hawke\u2019s Bay and beyond have experienced adventure, friendship and personal growth on the site.\u201d <\/p>\n

The goal is to welcome young people back to the campsite in spring 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Floodwaters during the cyclone in February 2023 from the Mangaone River engulfed the Rissington settlement, along with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,1863,682,11783,10040,15357,33959,33452,39513,33960,6628,424,111,43,139,69,90,423,17152,201472,24855,223,58455,810,118826],"class_list":{"0":"post-389270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-back","10":"tag-being","11":"tag-brought","12":"tag-camp","13":"tag-campsite","14":"tag-cyclone","15":"tag-devastated","16":"tag-devastation","17":"tag-gabrielle","18":"tag-historic","19":"tag-life","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-on","25":"tag-point","26":"tag-rebuild","27":"tag-rissington","28":"tag-scout","29":"tag-the","30":"tag-underway","31":"tag-up","32":"tag-weka"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}