Far North news in brief: Agricultural show; Armistice Day and walking track upgrade

The Bay of Islands P&I Show is on again at Waimate North this Saturday.

P&I Show on

All your rural needs and more will be catered for at the Bay of Islands P&I Show on Saturday. The Bay of Islands P&I Show is the oldest agricultural show in New Zealand with the first show being held in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands in 1842. This year’s edition will be held at Te Waimate Showgrounds, Waimate North. For more details go to www.bayofislandsshow.co.nz/

Walking track upgrade

Planned upgrades to the popular Ōpua-Paihia coastal walking track have begun. The work will upgrade the track surface and structures such as retaining walls and boardwalk sections. The goal is to improve general safety and the experience of track users. The work will require a temporary closure of the track from the boardwalk at the intersection of Paihia Rd and Smith Camp Rd to English Bay. Signs warning track users of the closure are now in place. Unfortunately, a large slip south of the planned work means there is no easy detour around the section being upgraded. However, walkers can still access the track from English Bay and continue south to Richardson St or Franklin St in Ōpua. The work is expected to take six weeks with the upgraded section of track due to reopen in time for the busy Christmas period.

Armistice Day

Students from Kerikeri High School and Springbank School will conduct the Armistice Day commemorations in Kerikeri on Saturday. Students from the schools were involved with last Anzac Day event and the Kerikeri RSA, which sponsors the event, asked them to run the entire commemoration this year. The Armistice Day event will start at the Memorial Wall on the Kerikeri Domain at 10.45am when veterans will march onto the Domain. Armistice Day events are being held across Northland.

SH10 works

Drivers travelling between Kerikeri and Kaingaroa will need to allow extra travel time with Waka Kotahi planning to reseal sections of State Highway 10 during November. The work will add extra time pressure to drivers travelling to other centres south of Kaitāia with SH1 remaining closed at Mangamuka Gorge. Waka Kotahi says that chip sealing work will be undertaken on 12 sections of SH10 during the day between 8am and 5pm throughout November. Stop/go traffic management will be in place while work is under way and speed limits will be reduced to 30km/h. The government agency says each chip-sealing site will be completed within four days. That includes laying of the new seal, sweeping up the loose chip and line marking. All work will be weather dependent. Emergency services will be always given priority access. For more information, please contact Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency on 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49). The work will also be shown on the Waka Kotahi online Journey Planner.

Home destroyed

A Far North man suffered minor injuries in a fire that destroyed a home in rural Kawakawa early on Sunday morning. Kawakawa fire chief Wayne Martin said the blaze on isolated Pakaru Rd broke out at about 1.25am. The large, single-storey home burned to the ground. Martin said the sole occupant was woken by a noise and suffered minor burns to his hands, which he treated himself. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.