You will no doubt be aware of the impacts that Cyclone Gabrielle, plus the inordinate amounts of rainfall over the "summer", have had on walking tracks around Auckland, leading to the cancellation of WOPs walks for the remainder of this month.  While some of the damage has been reported on - or you may have seen it for yourself - there is more which is so far largely unheard of or unpublicised.  This is what makes the task so difficult for our leaders when it comes to selecting tracks for any future programme.  One of the leaders received the following information from a friend who lives in the Bethells/Te Henga area and knows it well: 

"You probably haven’t had a chance to see the beach yet, but you’re going to be shocked.  I went down last night to have a look.  The Waiti stream which runs under the one way bridge completely jumped its bed and took out the entire car parking area for the walkway.  The new indestructible footbridge (over the Waitakere River) has been swept away.  Much of the track itself has fallen off the cliff in a couple of massive slips…and all that before you even reach O’Neills." 

The Auckland Council website has a list of facilities which are closed: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Pages/emergency-facility-closures.aspx. This includes regional parks, tracks, walkways and maunga.

There are still many road closures in place, especially in the north and west of Auckland.  Keep up-to-date with these on the Auckland Council website: https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/road-works-disruptions/auckland-flood-impacted-road-repair-and-recovery-programme/ or Waka Kotahi: https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/auckland/

If you are planning on going out for a walk, please check these information sources and keep safe!