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AmandaGuest
Otaki Forks Road is currently closed due to a slip at Blue Bluff. This closure applies to both vehicle and foot traffic.
Because the slip is unstable, work to open the road will not start till 5 January at the earliest. DOC is keen to get this message out as widely as possible, given the time of year, so please share.
The latest info on road status can be found on the Kapiti District Council website
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FrancesGuest
Pondering a future without Otaki Forks (hopefully it won’t come to that) I’d be interested to hear people’s ideas for alternative trips?
Over Christmas I did an alternative Southern Crossing (2 cars): Waiohine Gorge to Tutawai Hut, Tutuwai to Alpha with an afternoon trip to Hector and back with day packs, then Tutuwai to Kaitoke via Marchant Ridge. This was a nice way of getting to cover most of the regular route though it was a tough morning from Tutuwai to Alpha and a long day with the extra afternoon trip. I would have like to stay at Kime and return to Waiohine via Neill Ridge but the few trips reports I read of this suggested the navigation could be a bit tricky so I didn’t want to risk it.
Anyone tried or considering any other less well-travelled routes because of the road closure?
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harryGuest
Does anybody know how far this slip is from the end of the road?
And while they say it is closed to pedestrians, is there anything to actually physically prevent pedestrians from going through if they want to take the risk? And what would be the legality of doing so?
If it’s where I think it is, it’s within easy walking distance of the Forks. And while from the photos it looks like a real mess with big boulders that would obviously do you some fairly serious damage if you got hit by one, in reality I suspect the risk of walking across it wouldn’t actually be all that great except after heavy rain. I think I’d be prepared to take the risk for a minute or two if I wanted to do a trip in from the Forks (a private trip that is – I obviously wouldn’t take an official club trip across it).
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SharronGuest
The slip is roughly 3km from the road end. People have been accessing the park on foot by walking and running over it.
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Jenny BGuest
I couldn’t figure out how to share onto the clubs FB page but Kapiti Coast District Council has posted a couple of photos of the slip – worth looking at. I can see why they’ve closed the road…
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Amelia WGuest
The other issue with walking yourself over the slip is I suspect there is not a lot of vehicle turning space in that sort of vicinity – so I dont know what distance you would have to walk from a place where your driver could turn their car around. (Then again, I’ve only been in to the forks once in the last 4 years, so someone with more knowledge could potentially clarify that?)
Hopefully they’ll come up with a solution and be able to re-open the road so campers and picnickers can head in again.
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MikeGGuest
Kapiti District Council have more detailed info about the road closure with photos of the slip here. Looks like it’s not a quick fix by any means!
You can walk in and out from Waikanae via the Pukeatua Track – an additional 9 hours, realistically another day for your trip.
Kapiti Heliworx will fly you in and out from Paraparaumu. They let me know the cost is something like $250 per person, subject to a few different factors, which seems fairly reasonable for a helicopter ride. They’ll also take you to Kime Hut or Alpha Peak instead to cut off a bit of the uphill!
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harryGuest
If you can walk over the slip and it’s only 3 km from the roadend, anybody who would pay $250 to chopper in has clearly got more dollars than sense…
Are there actually any regulations or restrictions on the use of helicopters in the Tararuas, or can anybody just fly in to Kime or anywhere else whenever they like?
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kevin coleGuest
JUST FOR CLARIFICATION (FROM THE CHIEF GUIDE):
THE WTMC IS A RESPONSIBLE ORGANISATION AND FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR MEMBERS WILL BE COMPLYING WITH DOC RECOMMENDATIONS (TO NOT CROSS THE SLIP).
SCHEDULED TRIPS WILL BE RE-ROUTED TO ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS
K.
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MikeMGuest
Hi Harry. It’s a gazetted legal road (just checked in the LINZ database), so strictly speaking I think it’s legal to walk in that passage of land, notwithstanding considerations in the next paragraph. Here’s a LINZ link showing the region with the NZ Primary Parcel database layer over the top of the Topo50 map layer, if the link works: https://data.linz.govt.nz/x/NSjzj2 Click around the map and you can identify the various official land designations.
From memory, local councils have legal power to place access restrictions on roads in their jurisdiction, which is probably why it’s not legal to drive vehicles on some legal roads at all, even if it’s legal to walk on them. I can’t recall what limitations (if any) exist on the councils’ power to place restrictions. eg. Maybe it’s only allowed to restrict vehicles, or maybe they can only be in place if they’re temporary, or maybe they can only be placed under certain conditions? I might try to find the legislation later if I can, but even with that someone else would really have to give a clearer legal opinion than I could on exactly how this works.
Adding to what Kevin said re club policy, obviously none of this legal speculation should be used to inform someone’s personal judgement of whether it’s actually safe and reasonable to cross the slip in question. Council engineers say it’s not safe.
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harryGuest
Hi Mike,
the question I asked and was interested in was about helicopters (which was following on from MikeG’s comment) – are there any rules or regulations on the use of helicopters in the Tararuas or can you just fly in whenever and wherever you like?
I know there are restrictions on helicopters in some of the wilderness areas down south, which I’m fully in support of, and MikeG’s comment just made me wonder out of idle curiosity whether there were any such restrictions in the Tararuas.
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MikeMGuest
Sorry, Harry. Somehow I’d had your earlier comment in front of me and read it as the most recent one!
I’m not 100% certain (haven’t had time to look), but the State Forest Parks and Forest Recreation Regulations seems to have a very basic set of rules for aircraft. Some of those regulations date back to the 1970s, but section 65(5) of the Conservation Act adopted them as regulations for all Conservation Parks when all Forest Parks became Conservation Parks in 1987.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1979/0214/latest/whole.html#DLM67065
Rule 21 says nobody can hover a helicopter above a park, or land any aircraft on land or water in a park, unless they have a permit or permission from a lawful authority. From that I’d take that if DOC says it’s okay, then it’s legal. Maybe there are other rules out there which could also have an effect.
DOC’s probably required to consider the various management plans and local strategies in making that decision. There’s been some controversy lately about how much DOC actually bothers to do that. eg. The huts committee expressed concern that DOC hadn’t taken into account the local Conservation Management Strategy, or even properly consulted, when deciding to allow the recent Atiwhakatu mountain biking event.
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MikeMGuest
DOC has negotiated an alternative walking access route to Otaki Forks, beginning from the Shields Flat Historic Reserve carpark, 13km into Otaki Gorge Road.
Note that this alternative route is about 5.1km. DOC suggests allowing 2 hours and classifies it as an “advanced tramping track” (but maybe someone who visits could comment). It also crosses private land, so please stick to the marked route.
DOC advises it’ll be closed again once vehicle access is restored.
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MikeMGuest
For anyone who might have been contemplating walking across the slip face, it sounds as if this is no longer an option. An informal report from http://tramper.nz/?view=topic&messageid=54142#message54142 :
“20th Feb: Last night the whole centre section of the slip came down and there is definitely not even any foot access across now.” […] “The only good news is that the section of slip that has come down was the part that caused the contractor to stop work some time ago when he found large cracks in the ground above where he was working.”
I guess it only took a decent torrent of rain in the end.
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AmeliaGuest
The Kapiti council has confirmed that a significant extra slip came down
http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/whats-on/News/2016/fresh-slip-at-blue-bluff/
Also, last I read is that there are still more cracks above this slip.
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