{"id":412912,"date":"2026-05-05T13:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412912\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:29:18","slug":"mauao-summit-access-restoration-work-underway-after-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412912\/","title":{"rendered":"Mauao summit access restoration work underway after blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cRestoring access to Motukauri (summit track network)\u202fwill enable us to work on restoring the maunga.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The council said implementing a plan to access the summit was now underway and expected to take up to about four months, depending on the weather.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">It has previously said restoring the summit access would be easier than the base track, which had more damage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Mauao Trust chairwoman Matemoana McDonald said the blessing was an expression of tikanga M\u0101ori and acknowledged the spiritual and physical wellbeing of Mauao.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The trust represents the three iwi owners of Mauao.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis blessing is about clearing the way forward in a manner that honours our t\u016bpuna and the significance of these sacred place,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The blessing followed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/bay-of-plenty-times\/news\/mount-maunganui-landslide-recovery-council-gives-update-at-public-meeting\/IZZTFMY2OVECRHRPEE5HEU5VBY\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/bay-of-plenty-times\/news\/mount-maunganui-landslide-recovery-council-gives-update-at-public-meeting\/IZZTFMY2OVECRHRPEE5HEU5VBY\/\">community meeting last Thursday<\/a> where Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale announced the restoration work would begin. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">He also said the council was investigating replacing shipping containers placed at the base of the mountain post-slip with a bund &#8211; a mound of earth used as a protective barrier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The meeting was told there was no estimated date for reopening other closed facilities, including the Pilot Bay boat ramp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The council declined NZME\u2019s request to attend the blessing, but   shared a video of it  on its YouTube. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">It included shots of slip damage on the track to Te Tihi o Mauao, the summit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Earth covered a section of track below a section of carved-out hillside. Broken fencing could also be seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">It showed Mauao kaitiaki (guardians) and others in hi-vis walking on the Te Ara Motukauri (the 4WD track) to the 232m-high summit. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Drysdale yesterday said Mauao was central to the identity of Tauranga Moana, and the blessing reflected the care, collaboration and cultural leadership that guided any work on the maunga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBeing able to return safely and appropriately to Mauao to begin repair work is a positive step forward, and it\u2019s right that this is done alongside wh\u0101nau, hap\u016b and our Mauao partners.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cRestoring access to Motukauri (summit track network)\u202fwill enable us to work on restoring the maunga.\u201d The council said&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[542,74,204014,80560,111,43,139,69,6756,23850,58455,4576],"class_list":["post-412912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-access","tag-after","tag-blessing","tag-mauao","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-restoration","tag-summit","tag-underway","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412912","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=412912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}