Len Salt: Thames-Coromandel Mayor says next step after Cathedral Cove is repairing other tracks in area

An early Christmas present for the Coromandel Peninsula as the walking track to Hahei's Cathedral Cove reopens.

It closed in Feburary last year because of damage caused in Cyclone Gabrielle.

Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt says combined with the reopening of State Highway 25A, the region is ready for a busy summer.

He told Mike Hosking the next step will be repairing other tracks in the area.

“Not just down to the Cove, but the other bays. We’ve got Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay which is still closed to access.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Haven't been building for something good in the Coromandel this summer,
isn't It looks good walking access to the cathedral cove.
But I'm sure you're well aware of some reopen so
along with twenty five A, well, they could well be
booming the Corimandal meal insult is will this lend very
good morning to you?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Morning, Mike?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Can you do on very well? Thank you? How big
a thing is the cove in terms of you know,
bringing people to the region.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh, this is huge for us, but you know, it's
kind of an early Christmas present, isn't it for us?
And last year we had the early Christmas present with
the opening of twenty five A ahead of schedule. So it's
don't expect this to happen every year, Mike, But no,
it's big for us.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
They've said December, didn't they. They said it will be
opened by December, and I think they've delivered on that.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
So I wrote to the Minister on the first of
December twenty twenty three and I said, congratulations on your
new job, mate, We've got a problem here. Can you help?
And he came back to me and said, look, I'm
going to give you a commitment to have it open
by the first of December twenty twenty four and he
was as good as his word.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Fantastic And is it a permanent fix in terms of
what they've done infrastructurally speaking, this is a long term thing.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
No, it's a temporary fix, Mike. And it's part of
a whole reconstruction or a development of the walking access
not just down to the cove, but the other bays.
We've got Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay which are still
closed to access, but there's other there's historical sites there.

(01:33):
There's a lot of work being done with between Doc
and Nati Hay who are local EWI and very very
collaborative and respectful work because we've got to respect, you know,
the katiarchy of the whole area. And there's some good work,
but it's in progress. It's probably another couple of years work.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Fantastical. I hope you have a very good summer with
a len appreciate it. Currimental Meren salt with us. For
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