Aoraki Dragons (and other users of Lake Rua, like Kore Sailing School) work very closely with Christchurch City Council, especially their Regional Parks Rangers, on the maintenance of Roto Kohatu Lakes. They have already built the awesome wooden boat ramp in front of our containers, and of course the new carpark and toilets that service the lake. 

They are now ready to start two of the priority projects from the reserve development plan this season: a new entranceway from Outlook Place and an upgraded lake edge at the northern end of Lake Rua. In fact, they already have lots of temporary fencing up, so access from Outlook Place may not be possible from time to time.

Road Access

Probably the most important improvement for us is to bypass the 1.3 km long metal track from the entrance off Sawyers Arms Road, which meanders past the Lake Tahi Jetski lake, and the Canoe Polo ponds. As we know, this can get rutted over the summer and is always dusty. And it gets clogged when the public descend onto the lake on hot summer afternoons. 

The past few seasons, some people chose the option of driving along Sawyers Arms Rd past the "Burger King" and Z petrol station, past the Highway Inn (which is open again), turn right onto Greywacke Rd for 1 km, then left onto Lakes Way to park on Outlook Place (then walk over to the containers).

Well by the end of November [update: 13 December], we will be able to drive straight into the lake access road off Outlook Place, which should take the stress off those workday rushes to training in the afternoon.

Changes to the Foreshore

No, I am not talking about Coalition changes to access to beaches and seabeds etc. Don't get me started. But this is a plan for the Rangers to make the lake edge more resilient, and to stop erosion. It will include a boardwalk so that people can get in and out of the water more easily and safely (swimmers and boaters). And it should provide nice places to sit and watch the racing (and tie off our Finish Line).

Isn't it great that City Council is putting our Rates to good use!

Construction Timeframe

Entranceway – Starts early September, completed end of November 2024 [update: Council Rangers say it is likely to be 13 December]

Swimming Beach – Starts March 2025, completed June 2025

The reserve will remain open throughout the construction period and there will be traffic management in place to help with traffic movements both in the reserve and on Outlook Place. There will likely be some noise disturbance during this work.

Aoraki will send them updates of our training schedules and event info so that they can work with us on any key dates that may be during the construction period.

Noel Anderton,
President, Aoraki Dragons