{"id":531128,"date":"2026-07-17T19:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531128\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:22:22","slug":"rotorua-lake-tikitapu-blue-lake-reserve-damaged-by-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531128\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) Reserve damaged by vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis appears to have been caused by individuals who have managed to access the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that is really disappointing,\u201d Wilson said. <\/p>\n

Damage caused by vehicles illegally accessing reserves \u201cdoes occur from time to time\u201d, particularly during winter when the grass is soft, Wilson said.<\/p>\n

Wilson said the damage created \u201cunnecessary work and costs\u201d.<\/p>\n

The affected area would need to be \u201csmooth[ed] out\u201d before new grass seed could be sown when temperatures warmed up.<\/p>\n

Acts like this affected both the reserve and the people who enjoyed it, Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTikitapu is a much-loved community asset and an important recreational destination for both locals and visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe reserve at Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) will need to be smoothed before new grass seed can be sown. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

Wilson said the damage had been reported to police and urged anyone who witnessed similar behaviour to safely record identifying details and report it.<\/p>\n

Police told the Rotorua Daily Post earlier they had not yet received any reports about the damage.<\/p>\n

An employee at neighbouring Blue Lake Top 10 Holiday Park said employees usually finished work around 7pm and had not reported any issues.<\/p>\n

\"DamageDamage caused by vehicles illegally accessing reserves is more common in winter. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis appears to have been caused by individuals who have managed to access the area. \u201cSo that is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15497,3595,17153,42,13207,43,10665,1327,136553,40,38,41,39,6861],"class_list":["post-531128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-blue","tag-by","tag-damaged","tag-headlines","tag-lake","tag-news","tag-reserve","tag-rotorua","tag-tikitapu","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vehicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531128","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=531128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}