Northland’s Ruakākā Beach access repairs underway

A DoC ranger works on the removal of broken and dangerous beach access stairs at Mair Rd, Marsden Point. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Walking access to Ruakākā Beach has taken a hammering in recent weeks.

At least three wooden stairways to the beach have been damaged or destroyed completely in this month’s storms.

The seating at the sand dune entrance of the beach has completely disappeared and the steps to the beach appear to have moved several metres away from the once-connected path.

Storm erosion has turned the sand dune slopes into abrupt cliff drops along the beach.

Department of Conservation senior ranger Nigel Miller said it was important to remove the old stairs so people couldn’t climb on them and risk the structures collapsing.

“At the moment we’re just assessing the damage and addressing immediate hazards, like these structures sitting there waiting to be washed away or have people fall off it.”

The team was able to get to work removing the wooden structures when Northport bought a digger to the area.

“Northport has offered their digger that they were using for some other work... so we went, ‘that sounds great to us, let’s get this job done’.”

There is also a temporary no-swim warning at Ruakākā Beach due to poor water quality, according to the SafeSwim website and Northland Surf Life Saving clubs are only conducting observational patrols only (no flags) at Ruakākā currently.

Surf Life Saving Northern Region CEO Matt Williams said the access to the beach is impacting how it can be patrolled by lifeguards.

“Ruakākā has had some access issues coming out of the storm.”