{"id":555527,"date":"2026-08-02T02:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/555527\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:29:21","slug":"napier-boardwalk-quietly-disappears-from-popular-ahuriri-estuary-walking-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/555527\/","title":{"rendered":"Napier: Boardwalk quietly disappears from popular Ahuriri Estuary walking track"},"content":{"rendered":"
DoC principal ranger Kelly Eaton said it was \u201cpast the end of its useful life and was removed for the safety of visitors\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are currently reviewing the track network and looking to improve the safety of existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to begin some improvement works in early 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n
The location (black circle) of the wooden pathway that has been removed from the loop track. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Other wooden pathways remain in place on the walking track.<\/p>\n
A nearby resident, who preferred not to be named, said it was \u201creally odd\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day it was there, and the next day it was gone,\u201d she said, of that section.<\/p>\n
She said after it rained or when the tide was in that section of track got \u201cquite slushy\u201d, and a wooden pathway seemed necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see people standing and discussing and a bit confused, and some take it on while others take a different path.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the walking track was particularly popular on weekends.<\/p>\n
She noticed people were getting caught out with not wearing the right footwear for that section, now the wooden walkway had been removed.<\/p>\n
A note about the track has been added to the DoC website.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boardwalk that joins onto Meeanee Quay opposite Nott St has been removed due to deterioration,\u201d the website read.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe path remains open, but it may become submerged at high tide. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, an alternative route is available along Embankment Rd.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ahuriri Estuary walking track is about 4km long and takes about an hour to walk.<\/p>\n
Dogs are prohibited from the track to protect wildlife in the area.<\/p>\n
It loops around Pandora Pond, which was named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Pandora.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DoC principal ranger Kelly Eaton said it was \u201cpast the end of its useful life and was removed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79563,243855,30620,44972,208485,105687,71,2845,20829,3607,111,43,139,69,10903,77617,22974,23442,4770],"class_list":["post-555527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-ahuriri","tag-boardwalk","tag-confused","tag-disappeared","tag-disappears","tag-estuary","tag-from","tag-leaving","tag-locals","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-popular","tag-quietly","tag-track","tag-underfoot","tag-walking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555527","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=555527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}