On 04 November 2012 we discovered Waikawa Beach for the first time, and a section for sale. In December 2015 we moved in to our new bach to live here permanently.
When we moved to Waikawa Beach I found a new home. I love the area, the environment, and the lifestyle.
One of the things that makes me who I am is a strong drive to share accurate information. I’m also a strong believer in building a sense of community, and a good way to do that here is to let people know what’s going on in and around Waikawa Beach.
My background lies in teaching, in writing how-to type materials, and in technology such as computers, Internet, websites and so on. One of my jobs in the early 1990s was to visit community groups and make them aware that this ‘new’ thing called email existed and to teach them how they could use it. Later I was teaching them how to use this other new thing called the World Wide Web.
So it came to be that by April 2017 I had been co-opted onto the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association Committee, where I took over running the website and producing the newsletter.
In the roughly 5 years I was on the Committee I updated the website regularly with news and information, increased the newsletter frequency to approximately monthly and wrote various discussion and background documents relating to Council’s Annual Plan consultations and on other issues.
I loved doing that and the feedback was tremendous and very heartening. It seems people really appreciated my work and it helped achieve my aim: to foster and enhance a sense of community.
In February 2022 it was time for me to strike out on my own and create an independent Waikawa News website and newsletter, unencumbered by the restraints that arise from writing on behalf of a formal group.
This News site also incorporates items about the local environment — protecting and enhancing the beach, dunes, birds and wildlife, our wetlands, our envied dark skies, clean air and other natural features.
I do my best to identify birds, plants and various wildlife correctly but love to hear from experts when I’ve got it wrong.
Sometimes I write fact-based opinion pieces on matters to do with Waikawa Beach.
I strive to be factual and accurate. I welcome respectful comments, and corrections where I’ve made a mistake.
To contact me, or to leave a comment on anything on this site, email me at kiaora@waikawanews.nz.
