Notices:
Access to Muriwai Beach is blocked on Old Telephone Track, at the Council owned end in the 5-Mile-Strip, by a tree stump. As a section of Wightman Way (track 26) will also be closing today Thursday 11 January 2018, due to forestry activity in the area, the map below shows possible alternative routes to the beach. All tracks outside of the area highlighted in pink remain open. Please note that the tracks shown in red define the boundaries of the horse park within Woodhill Forest. Please keep within these boundaries while riding in Te Ngahere o Woodhill. Ngā mihi
A 9 month registration for membership to Te Ngahere o Woodhill Kake Hōiho, which runs from 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2018, is now available. The price is $240 for an adult and a further $80 if you wish to add a child (under 16) to your membership (please see the link to download a registration form below).
A few reminders. Firstly, that all dogs must be under control while they are in the horse park and tied up while in the car park. Secondly, all riderless horses must be led by a rider and also under control at all times. ALL riders must wear hi-viz vests/tops when in the forest at all times.
The Restall Road gate is opened at 6:30 am and closed at 8 pm for the summer season.
MACHINERY IN OPERATION at PULPIT ROCK and SOUTH BLOCK:
From Wednesday 1 March 2017 access to the horse park from the Muriwai tie-up will be closed (unless you access via the Council Five-Mile Strip to Wightman Way or Old Telephone Track). These forest operations will be ongoing and though we will inform you as soon as we are able to re-open the tracks, due to changes in the harvest schedule, we do not expect that they will be available to riders in 2017.
Kia ora to the Kake Hōiho whānau
We have been investing in the park over the last month or so, purchasing new equipment and increasing track maintenance / creating new tracks. We hope you are noticing some positive improvements and will be making a post or two to show you what we’ve been up to.
There is a lot of harvesting activity going on in and around the park at the moment – the nature of the beast of a working forest. Please keep up to date with safety messages on our website and Facebook page, Te Ngahere o Woodhill Kake Hōiho. The good news is that by working with the forester to concentrate harvesting at this time of year, we expect that the horse park should be pretty free of forestry activity come the busy peak summer season.
Kakea!
KAKE HŌIHO KAITIAKI:
Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara welcome the continued use of designated parts of Woodhill Forest by the equestrian community, through the Kake Hōiho operations.Equestrian access to the forest requires a current registration, which is based on an annual subscription from the 1st of October each year. Registered riders will be provided with an access key and ID which must be carried at all times when riding in the forest.
Forest Kaitiaki/Wardens are patrolling the park/forest, if you are riding without our company vests you could be approached by them for proof of registration.
OFFICE HOURS FOR KAKE HŌIHO REGISTRATIONS & CASUAL RIDERS
MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9 am – 5 pm (excluding public holidays)
PHONE 09 420 9566 ext 1
If you wish to arrange a casual ride for the weekend; please download a Casual Rider Form (below), fill it out, pay by Direct Credit to our bank account, then email the form with proof of payment (a screenshot of your banks confirmation of the payment to our account) to kake@kaiparamoana.com anytime during the week but before 4 pm Friday. We will then process the form and return it to you (via email) with your receipt and instructions for the collection and return of a key. Please remember that you must display your completed form (signed by us) on the dash of your vehicle and carry the receipt on you while you are riding. All riders must wear hi-viz vests while in the park.
Online registration & Casual riding is a simple process:
- Click the link below to download our registration/casual rider form.
- Take a selfie or get your bestie to take a pic of you looking your sharpest (this photo should be of your whole head and shoulders please -required for registration only). If you have been issued with a card previously we can use that photo again if you prefer.
- Email your completed registration/casual rider form and proof of payment (confirmation page from your internet banking provider) to kake@kaiparamoana.com
- We will process your forms and reply with appropriate information.
- Please note that we will not post forest keys. They must be collected from the Restall Road office, 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday or by prior arrangement for a weekend collection. Please contact our office to arrange (09 420 9566 ext 1 or kake@kaiparamoana.com).
- ID cards can take up to four weeks to arrive via the post. Please ensure your correct postal address is on to your completed form. You are able to ride prior to the arrival of your ID card by using your receipt as proof of payment.
- Riders that are under 16 must be supervised by a responsible adult rider for the duration of their ride. This includes registered riders and casual riders, as per the terms and conditions of the Kake Hōiho registration forms. Keys will not be allocated to riders under the age of 16.
- Please be sure to send Casual Rider Forms and accompanying documents for weekend riding by 4 pm Fridays so that we can return processed documents and relevant information to you in time for your ride and ensure that your contact information is available in case of emergency.
The current available registration form is for 12 months membership, from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018.
DOWNLOAD 9 month Kake Hōiho Registration form 2018
DOWNLOAD Casual Rider Form
If you are interested in hiring the Nursery, please see the form below for details. You will need to check with reception and staff for availability.
Download Facility Hire Agreement (Nursery)
You can view and print the following Kake Hōiho horse park map which details the current tracks available at the equestrian park:
Download Kake Hōiho horse park map
TO VIEW THE RIDERS NOTICEBOARD
KIA ORA KAKE HŌIHO RIDERS
Our recent clarification of the ways to access the Horse Park from Muriwai has generated lots of commentary on our Facebook page and other social media forums.
Although this topic has been addressed before via our website, Facebook, newspapers, pamphlets and in public forums, we’ll present some key information again now.
In 2013 Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara (NMWoK, the ‘corporate’ entity representing Ngati Whātua o Kaipara) purchased the land under Woodhill Forest from the Crown as part of our Treaty of Waitangi settlement. The land then became privately owned. The primary reason for purchasing the land was a commercial investment to fund the hapū’s social, educational, cultural and health programmes.
As private land, there is no obligation on NMWoK to provide access to the public – just as there is no public right to roam on the private land any of us own our homes.
Ngati Whātua o Kaipara has for centuries now welcomed new people into our region – even when for periods of time we became marginalised and dispossessed. We understand and value the development of a strong community and will play our part. The various activities we run or licence within Woodhill (e.g. Bike Park, Tree Adventures, off-roading / dirt biking, paintball) give opportunities to the public to enjoy the forest – whilst contributing to the commercial return we expected when we decided to purchase it. However unquestionably the most significant activity in the forest is forestry, which we both licence and now, increasingly, participate in as a joint venture partner. Forestry is a high-risk industry and the forest is a workplace. Other mobile businesses such as firewood collection also use the forest. One-off events are increasingly common. There is even a live-firing weapons range at the northern end of the forest and military exercises at times outside of that area. We have strict obligations on us as the landowner, landlord and now forestry company to keep this workplace, and all within it, safe as required under legislation. The new health and safety legislation that came into force this year is much tighter than the old and sets out massive penalties for our senior staff and board members should an incident occur and our processes be found lacking. This encourages caution. We know other organisations with similar responsibilities to us are grappling with how to manage their obligations in a sensible way. You may well see a range of responses but no-one wants to be the test case for a prosecution under the new legislation. Our tenant businesses are as conscious as we are of their organisational risks operating in the forest. We need to take their concerns into account in how we manage the forest.
So, for now, having taken legal advice, discussed these matters in depth with our tenants and business partners, and considering our own appetite for risk (especially those in positions of authority for us who would face fines into the millions should we be convicted of a failing under health and safety legislation), our cautious position is that the public may only access Woodhill Forest by permit, or in one of the licenced activity areas. For horse-riders, this means the exclusive horse park area, the boundary of which is described as the ‘perimeter trail’ on your maps. As registered riders, we know we have your details should we need to contact you. We know you have been informed of the dangers in the forest and made aware of where to find information on changing situations in the forest (e.g. areas that are out of bounds because of harvesting activity). We know the area within which you will be found (and importantly where you should not be but where we could then permit other activity). The same can be said of all the other licensed activities we sanction in the forest. This knowledge and ability to exert control and keep things safe are absent when we don’t know who is in the forest, doing what and where. Managing this mosaic of use takes a lot of staff time and attention – and so there is a cost to this. There is also a limit to the complexity of use that we believe we can actually keep track of across all 12 500 hectares of the forest, and keep everyone within safe to a reasonable standard. Only we out of all the businesses/groups / individuals that access and use the forest can appreciate and need to know, everything that is happening in it every day. Thus we reserve the right to only permit what we believe we can safely manage. We will continue to make use of tools like media, signage, pamphlets, our kaitiaki educators, and trespass to discharge our responsibilities and preserve our own rights.
Constructive feedback is welcome but we will continue to take a precautionary approach that allows us to feel we are discharging our duty of care to ourselves and our workers, our tenants and business partners, and our customers. Over time we will make changes to the forest regime as experience, understanding and the mosaic of activities change. Some of these may be less restrictive, some may prove to need to be more restrictive.
We came to help with the working bee in the Five Mile Strip, knowing that we are encouraging people to use that as a way to reach the Horse Park from Muriwai. It was good to confirm on the ground that it can be used by riders. We are also working with Council in other ways to encourage the improvement of this area for use by horse-riders.
Going into the new horse-riding season this spring, we are intending to allow the use by registered horse riders of some trails between the exclusive horse park (southern boundary Wightman Way) and Muriwai. This is reliant on us getting those trails up to spec by then and getting in place a system of which riders can effectively be warned if these need to be closed from time to time (e.g. for harvesting or other events that may be taking place). The intention is that generally only horse-riders will be using those trails, but the area may still be offered up for use for another activity / event from time to time – in which case other access may need to be restricted.
Eke Hōiho will change its name at that time to ‘Kake Hōiho’ (pronounced ‘Kar-keh Hoy-hoar’) to better reflect the Kaipara dialect.
It would be easy (and tempting) to discuss and debate public access in the forest forever but we are loathed to endlessly revisit this. Now and again we will respond if there is something new to be added or clarified but generally, we hope and trust that people will respect us as a private landowner and business. We know we won’t meet the wants of all the wider public who would like to have unfettered access to the forest, but this posting sets out again why we are acting as we are. We will take note of reasonable suggestions but will generally consider these in our own way and time as we manage the large, complex beast that is Woodhill Forest.
Happy riding.
CURRENT CLOSURES / RESTRICTIONS IN WOODHILL FOREST:
From Wednesday 1 March 2017 access to the horse park from the Muriwai tie-up will be closed (unless you access via the Five-Mile Strip to Old Telephone Track). These forest operations will be ongoing and though we will inform you as soon as we are able to re-open the tracks, due to changes in the harvest schedule, we do not expect that they will be available to riders in 2017.
Forest Kaitiaki/Wardens are patrolling the forest. If you are found in the forest without a permit you will be asked to leave and risk being trespassed.
The northern horse park boundary ends at Puketapu Road. Please ensure to stay on the mapped trails and south of Puketapu Road as the mountain bike trails start north of Puketapu Road. Kia tūpato whānau!
MACHINERY IN OPERATION:
PULPIT ROCK and SOUTH BLOCK – From Wednesday 1 March 2017 access to the horse park from the Muriwai tie-up will be closed (unless you access via the Five-Mile Strip to Wightman way or Old Telephone Track). These forest operations will be ongoing and though we will inform you as soon as we are able to re-open the tracks, due to changes in the harvest schedule, we do not expect that they will be available to riders in 2017.
WIGHTMAN GRAZING – Riders please note that temporary fencing is erected around this area, kia tūpato (be careful).
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
RIDERS – please remember Woodhill Forest is an operational forest, there is a potential danger if you choose to ride in close proximity to harvesting areas especially during weekdays. We are receiving a few minor incidental reports with riders and forestry operators, especially around the Quarry or Muriwai end (please note some of these areas are out of the Exclusive Kake Hōiho Equestrian area, so should not be accessed by riders). To avoid any major incidents please refrain from riding around these areas.
Continual disregard for the Kake Hōiho Park boundaries could result in the cancellation of memberships.
- THE RESTALL ROAD GATE TO ACCESS THE EQUESTRIAN PARK OPENS AT 6.30 AM AND IS CLOSED AT 6 PM DURING THE WINTER SEASON AND 8 PM IN SUMMER (Except Wednesdays, when the Woodhill Mountain Bike Park stays open until 10 pm, year-round.)
- VEHICLES LEFT IN THE FOREST AFTER HOURS WILL BE TOWED AT THE OWNERS EXPENSE or A RELEASE FEE OF UP TO $250.00 WILL BE CHARGED BY FOREST SECURITY (ARROW SECURITY 0800 277 697)
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR REGISTERED RIDERS:
- COMPULSORY – Riders must wear an approved riding helmet when riding in the Forest.
- COMPULSORY – Riders must wear an approved Hi-Viz vest or top when riding in the Forest.
- Riders must have current registration ID, or receipt, with them at all times – you could be asked to leave the forest if you can’t show a current registration ID, or receipt.
- Riders are required to have a tag on your saddle or bridle with a contact name and number should your horse get lost or separated from the rider in the Forest.
- No keys issued to riders under 16, who must be supervised by a responsible adult rider.
- No accompanying pedestrians, riders only.
- ALL GATES ARE TO BE KEPT LOCKED AT ALL TIMES – UNLOCKED GATES LEAVE THE FOREST OPEN TO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS.
- Throughout the year parts of the forest are grazed. Please ensure all grazing gates are kept closed to stop cattle wandering on the roads.
- Riders must stay on the marked horse trails.
- No access to the dune area.
- Registered Kake Hōiho riders (only) can use your keys to come in through the Coast Rd gates from Muriwai – you must secure the gates behind you. At the ford over Ōkiritoto Stream, you must get off Coast Rd and enter the Five Mile Strip if you wish to continue north. You cannot stay on Coast Rd, nor enter Woodhill Forest to the east of Coast Rd, between the ford and Wightman Way (which is the southern boundary of the horse park). From the Five Mile Strip, you can enter the horse park from directly opposite Wightman Way or Old Telephone Track by cautiously crossing Coast Rd. You can’t ride on Coast Rd between these tracks.
- Dogs are welcome in the forest with you BUT they must be under full control at all times and tied up when in the car park.
- You must notify Kake Hōiho staff or forest security of any missing or loose horses in the Forest or call 09 420 9566 ext 1.
- At times the park could be closed due to forest events that may compromise the safety of riders and their horses.
- The forest is a working production forest and has year-round harvesting and other forestry activity. We will endeavour to notify all riders of what is happening in the forest, however, please adhere to all warning signage and note that there is no access to areas that have been taped off.
- Logging trucks and other light and heavy vehicles are using the forest roads and they have right of way – extra care is required when crossing roads within the Forest.
- Horse riding is permitted in the licenced areas only.
- Firearms or hunting of any sort is by permit only.
- Smoking is prohibited when riding in the Forest.
- Access could be restricted during high fire risk periods or during times of high winds. We will endeavour to do our best to notify all riders of any changes to access and you should monitor announcements on www.woodhillforest.co.nz
- Vehicle access is permitted to the car park within the licenced area only.
- All vehicles and horse floats entering the car park must have a current WOF and registration.
- Riders not following the terms and conditions as notified could have their memberships suspended or canceled.
- Registrations run to the 30th of September annually and all keys must be returned at the end of the membership period. Riders must re-register and purchase a new key to continue membership and access to the horse park. Horse gate locks are changed on the 1st of October each year.
- Horse riding is a high-risk activity when you ride in Te Ngahere o Woodhill you do so at your own risk and must be aware of the hazardous environment. If you identify a hazard please ensure it is reported immediately to the Kake Hōiho staff or the forestry office (09 420 9566 ext 1). Complete a hazard identification form found on the noticeboard in the car park or email your concerns to kake@kaiparamoana.com
