Campers dismayed at ARC plans to revamp Muriwai regional park

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Stormy seas sweep away chunks of Muriwai Beach dunes every year - but the threat of losing prized grassy sites to roading and carparks is more worrying to campers.

Tucked in behind the shelter of the dunes, the Muriwai Beach Motor Camp is caught in the Auckland Regional Council's plans for redesigning the Muriwai Regional Park.

They include building a road to the east of the dunes to new carparks that will help to serve the park's 840,000 visitors a year.

But long-time campers say new works would wipe out some of the best camping sites, demolish washing and cooking facilities, and bring noise and crime to their holiday haven.

"We want it left alone," said Helen Steven, a Te Atatu artist, who has been coming to the camp with her family for 21 years.

"It's so lovely here - where else can you go that's 25 minutes from home and has bushwalks, waterfalls, swimming and golf?"

Mrs Steven said a public road would mean visitors "hooning around" camping families.

She had signed the Muriwai Residents' Association petition against redesign plans.

Colin Buckwell, a Muriwai camper over 24 annual holidays, said the roading proposal was terrifying.

He said the ARC had scared off some regulars over the years with hints that it would close parts of the camping area in favour of parking and picnic areas for day visitors.

Martin Jones, who has been holidaying at the camp over 45 years, said extra parking was not needed.

He said the plans were an excuse for the ARC to get rid of a camping ground that did not fit in with its back-to-nature philosophy for its parks.

His mother, Colleen, a camp regular since 1952, said: "I wonder how many people will come up here to park, because they don't like black sand and surf."

Their camping neighbour of 30 years, Tony Mitchell, said Muriwai was the last regional park with sites that had a power supply. Power sites encouraged many tourists to stay around in their campervans after viewing the gannet colony.

He believed that people staying at the camp were better able to time their swims for when the beach was least dangerous.

ARC parks chairman Bill Burrill said the park was one of Auckland's most popular and must be redesigned to make it sustainable into the future.

It constantly battled erosion, he said. Scientists had found an average rate of erosion of the dunes since the 1960s of 1m to 1.5m a year.

Key decisions about the park's future management included shifting a carpark and the surf club and the future of the camping ground.

ARC project leader Paul Metcalf said in a report to councillors that the redesign would cost about $1.4 million, spread over the next five to 10 years.

He said the plan had not received universal support from all parties, but the final draft had received a "very high level of support, generally".

But Anna Mason, of the Muriwai Progressive Association, said residents feared Muriwai would become "a great carpark" and that more works would have a bad impact on the fragile dunes.

The ARC will receive public submissions on the redesign from January 12 to mid-March.

Muriwai

* 45km (40 minutes' drive) from Auckland

* Attracts 840,000 visitors a year.

* About 1200 pairs of adult gannets nest at Otakamiro Pt each summer.

* This headland and offshore islands are also home to white-fronted terns, blue penguins and fur seals.

* Recreational activities include camping, surfing, horse-riding, mountain-biking, walks and fishing.