A big patch of Wild Ginger has been cleared and the roots sprayed with Metsulpherine which appears to be working well.

At the entrance to the track on Kerikeri Road there is a huge pactch of Jasmine and Wisteria which are smothering the trees. We had a work party to cut it back and this gave better access so that spraying could be done on the remainder. Thede vines are very difficult to kill so we just have to keep at it.

There is a steady program of improvements and maintenance on the Southside track which anges from making it a safer and  and easier place to walk and also trapping of pests and elimination of invasive plants.
The photo is where we put in some steps in a steeep section which was very slippery in the wet.

The development of Bings Wood was inevitable, due to its strategic position in the town, but it has the possibility to enable greater access to the most beautiful section of the Kerikeri River.
At the moment most of the eucalyptus trees have been felled and the task of removing the stumps and preparing the site will shortly commence. There have been a number of outline proposals, which include traffic routes and some green recreational areas, but all slightly different and so the final plan does not seem to be settled yet.
Opening new wlkin tracks may require a substantial budget, and it would require a plan for the whole area which would include access from the town to the river and an esplanade walk along the river from the Golf Club bridge to Fairey pool and on down the Peacock Gardens reserve.

Parts in the various plans are constant such as the two streams or drainage gullies that run from the flat land near the Kerikeri Road down to the river, the riparian strip alongside the river and some form of through route that takes traffic from Homestead Road or Fairway Drive through the site, connecting to the ends of Clark St, King St and Redwoods Motel driveway and exiting onto the Heritage Bypass. Plus, of course some 350 houses.

​In Kerikeri we are blessed with a number of walking tracks which start at the Stone Store Heritage area and go upstream, one along the Wairoa stream, another is the Rainbow Falls track and the last is the Southside track, which is on the town side of the Kerikeri River of which part was an informal section through Bings Wood and went from the town down to Fairey Pool, an FNDC reserve. If you walk the full circle, it is an 8.2 kilometre walk never more than 1.5 Kilometres from the town centre, and this is promoted for the town in the Five Waterfalls leaflet and website https://www.kerikeriwalks.kiwi/ . These walks are very popular and help make Kerikeri such a pleasant place to live and visit as a tourist.

​Several Kerikeri volunteer groups have made the case for linking the town to the river through the site and the initial outline proposal had an excellent wide green strip, dividing the whole site in two and with a café on the riverside. Making use of the drainage streams to have walking tracks alongside them could be another suggestion and, of course, the riparian strip along the river from the Golf Club bridge down to Fairy pools would be a lovely walk as this is probably the most picturesque part of the river.
If you continue walking downstream along the river you pass under the Heritage Bypass bridge and then on to the Peacock gardens reserve and from there the route continues as an unadopted track through the DOC area and eventually reaches the Stone Store heritage area.
 This is a very substantial walking route and deserves some well signposted access from the town to the river.

A bird which we believe is a Weka built a nest right next to the track. We quickly put up a fence and signs but were too late as the bird abandoned the nest. At least we know that we have Weka this side of the Bay of Islands. We will have to start trapping.  

Huge thanks to Vectis the roading and quarry company for improving the car park. We were expecting a generous gift of 10 cubic metres of metal but instead they sent a team of men with a digger and compacter to sort out the drainage and lay a proper section of road. This should sort out the huge section of mud in the entrance.

After nearly two years we now have a clear path to consents on both the FNDC Peacock Gds reserve and the DOC Booths Wharepuke Farm reserve. 
In the case of FNDC the procedure had not been formulated but Living Waters have negotiated and completed the first agreement which means that it can be repeated and we have the necessary forms to complete.
In the case of DOC an agreement for a track was never going to work and the agreement will be for planting the reserve with native trees, clearing weeds and starting a pest elimination trap line.
The whole procedure has to be completed but at least there is properly documented path leading to an outcome and we have the necessary forms.