Not long now to hang on

Maromaku Park, a volunteer-built picnic area at the corner of SH1 and Callaghan Rd, is a step closer to getting a public toilet. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Visitors to a volunteer-built park south of Kawakawa may not have to hold on for much longer for a toilet stop, thanks to a $5000 community board grant.

Maromaku residents have spent the past six years turning what used to be a transfer station at the corner of State Highway 1 and Callaghan Rd into a park with picnic tables, a bush walk and children's play equipment.

However, it is still lacking a toilet. Its original Portaloo was knocked over and damaged in a storm; the replacement was stolen and has not been recovered.

At a meeting in Kerikeri earlier this month, the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board granted $5000 towards the $20,000 cost of installing a more permanent loo.

Committee member Barbara Clark said it was also the only public rest stop between Whangarei and the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, so it was used by motorists travelling on SH1, as well as visitors to Maromaku.

A dry toilet would be installed because there was no water supply at the site. The grant would make it easier to raise the remaining $15,000 required, she said.

The community board also gave $8123 to Christmas parades and events in Kaeo, Kawakawa and Moerewa, and up to $3162 to the Ruapekapeka Pa Management Trust for the 170th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Ruapekapeka. Living Waters was granted $5000 to remove pest plants and plant natives on the banks of Kerikeri's Wairoa Stream. The next board meeting is scheduled for February 24.