2009. Heathcote River North Bank, Woolston Loop

2009. Woolston Cut Footbridge by Bamford Primary School, Christchurch. Avoca Valley, Port Hills backdrop


2009. Heathcote River, Woolston Loop downriver start by Woolston Cut, Christchurch. Avoca Valley, Port Hills backdrop

I parked my car in Gould Cres by Bamford Primary School. I crossed Woolston Cut footbridge and walked down Woolston Cut till I reached Heathcote River north bank, where waters flowed down Woolston Loop to the Pacific. I'd already walked the longer south bank of Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, and wanted to walk the north bank of Woolston Loop too.


2009. Heathcote River, Woolston Loop downriver view from Long St, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River downriver bend on Woolston Loop by Long St, Christchurch


2009. Hazchem Sign, Long St, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River Woolston Loop business, end of Long St, Christchurch. Avoca Valley, Port Hills backdrop

I followed Heathcote River upriver along Long St, backdropped by Heathcote Valley and Horotane Valley in the Port Hills. I passed a HAZCHEM business sign, and passed a Christchurch City Council sign:

CCC PUBLIC ACCESS
ALONG RIVER...


2009. Christchurch City Council Sign, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Farmland, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

Long St ended with businesses on my right and Heathcote River on my left. As Woolston had been an industrial area for over 100 years, I would pass many more businesses on Woolston Loop.

Native plantings on Heathcote River bank obscured businesses and river views, and trapped litter. I saw soft drink cans and booze cans, plastic bottles and polystyrene. I found a DESIGN TEAM INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE ceramic mug, which I salvaged as a souvenir.


2009. Pukekos (purple gallinule) Christchurch emblem, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Farmland, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Farm Shed, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Woolston Loop businesses, Christchurch

I saw pukekos, ducks and shags in the water. Ducks were nervous as it was duck shooting season. Whenever I raised my Nikon ducks flew off. A week before, non duck shooting season, ducks stayed put on the river.


2009. Heathcote River downriver view, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Illegal Dumping, Cumnor Tce side of Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch. Ironic Car Crusher Yard one block behind

At the end of farmland, Cumnor Tce side of Heathcote River, I saw the carcass of a blue minibus dumped with a pile of tyres beside it - not there when I'd passed a week before. Views of Horotane Valley and Avoca Valley behind MANA TRANSPORT LTD made up for visual pollution.


2009. Heathcote River downriver view of Woolston Loop businesses, Christchurch. Horotane Valley & Avoca Valley, Port Hills backdrop


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Cumnor Tce business, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River upriver view of Cumnor Tce businesses, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Graffiti downriver view of Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch. Mount Cavendish left. Castle Rock & The Tors, Port Hills, right

I passed riverbank shell middens. I wondered if they were ancient Maori middens or shells left by more recent settlers, at lime kilns?



2009. Shell Midden, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

I passed a concrete DANGER 11000 VOLT MED CABLES sign on the riverbank, an identical sign was on the southern bank, so I assumed cables went under the river. A kayaker paddled downriver, while I examined a graffiti sprayed corrugated iron fence hiding a business. On the opposite bank, noisy trucks on Cumnor Tce lumbered past.

I crossed two wooden footbridges over ditches. A green, plastic pallet was dumped on mud amongst reeds. Someone's fishing platform? By another CCC PUBLIC ACCESS ALONG RIVER... sign I joined King Edward Tce beside Heathcote River.


2009. Wooden Footbridge over ditch, Heathcote River downriver view, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Illegal Dumping, King Edward Tce, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

Litter polluted King Edward Tce, like litter I'd seen on Cumnor Tce a week before. Two more illegal dumps blocked my way along the riverbank - household junk and garden rubbish.

I thought if Christchurch City Council didn't expect people to pay for dumping their own rubbish at council depots, there'd be less illegal dumping. CCC would have more revenue-earning rubbish to recycle, as dumpers would dump at depots and ratepayers wouldn't have to pay for illegal dump collections.


2009. King Edward Tce upriver view, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch. Post 2010-2011 quakes the old bldg was renovated as The Tannery. My son worked at The Brewery gastropub next door

All along Woolston Loop Heathcote River water was turbid and crappy. I wondered what Environment Canterbury (ECan) was doing about Heathcote River water quality? I was loath to dip my toes, wash my face, or swim in that filthy water. I wondered what the E. coli count was?


2009. Industrial Era Info Board by Heathcote River, Rutherford St, Wooston Loop, Christchurch

By Rutherford St, I stopped to read info boards:

"INDUSTRIAL ERA

The opening of the railway from Lyttelton to Christchurch 1867 fuelled an era of industrial growth. The Heathcote River was replaced by the railway as the main highway of travel and trade.

Woolston Tanneries Ltd (est 1878) was one of 8 tanneries that operated in Woolston during the industrial boom. Also in the area were 2 lime kilns, 11 wool scourers, a flax mill, a glue works, a soap and candle works, an abattoir, a leather manufacturer and a carpet factory.

In the days when river traffic had priority, swing bridges... could be swivelled onto the bank to allow passage of boats. Today's bridge on Garlands Road... was designed in 1930 and reflects the Art Deco architecture influence of the time."


2009. Kayakers on Heathcote River, by Garlands Rd Bridge, Christchurch

"The river now provided a source of water and a means of transport, power and waste disposal for the heavy industries which established along its lower reaches.

Take a walk across the road to the Woolston Cemetery (est 1850) the final resting place of many figures prominent in the history of Heathcote River.

Woolston once a busy residential and commercial area, became one of the chief industrial centres of New Zealand." (CCC)

"RESTORING THE RIVER'S HEALTH

The development of heavy industry and overcrowding in Woolston last century led to severe pollution of the Heathcote River. There were no sewers - industrial effluent and household waste were channelled directly into the river.

'In 1903 4.5 million litres of industrial effluent were being discharged each day... coal smoke filled the air... turning the skyline dark and murky... (and) the Woolston area of the Heathcote River was so polluted that virtually no plants could live in it. (The Estuary: where our rivers meet the sea)'

Christchurch became known as the unhealthiest place in the country. Repeated outbreaks of diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria and dysentery in the mid 1870s, and fears of a full scale epidemic of bubonic plague provided incentive to improve standards of hygiene.

Changes were gradual and pollution of the river continued until the 1970s when industrial effluent was finally piped to the sewers for purification.

Today there is widespread appreciation of the river, as breathing space for the city and suburbs. With the efforts of the City Council and many hard working volunteers the Heathcote is beginning to regain some of its natural character." (CCC)


2009. History of Chapel of St Luke, Woolston Cemetery by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

A paunchy man got out of his car and pissed by the riverside. I crossed busy Garlands Rd concrete bridge, with its Art Deco design, to Connal St where I looked at Woolston Cemetery (first burial 1852, last burial1989).

An info board described the history of the funeral Chapel of Saint Luke (1888) which was moved in 1949 from Woolston Cemetery to Jubilee Hospital when the cemetery became full. After Jubilee Hospital closed the Chapel of Saint Luke was moved in 1991 to its present position at City Mission, Hereford Street. (CCC)


2009. People Buried in Woolston Cemetery by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

Another info board described people buried in Woolston Cemetery:
Politicians - Murray-Aynsley; Ollivier; Richardson.
Philanthropists - Bray; Ollivier; Cholmondeley.
Children - Milner; Monck.
Business People - Acland; Penfold; Adley; Charlesworth; Hawker; Ollivier. (CCC)


2009. Grave Plan & Notable Trees, Woolston Cemetery by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

A third info board described the grave plan and notable trees in Woolston Cemetery: oak; Dutch elm; ash; limes. (CCC)


2009. Graves & Notable Trees, Woolston Cemetery by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

I passed GELITA THE GELATINE GROUP, while a rancid smell of burning bones issued from the factory chimney. Another kayaker paddled downriver.

With riverside graffiti, dirty water, rubbish in the water, litter and dumping on riverbanks near Woolston Barrage, Heathcote River was stuffed.


2009. Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, Heathcote River, Woolston Barrage, Christchurch

At the end of Connal St, I walked on the soggy, grassy riverbank and passed riverside duplexes painted bright colours: blue, yellow, orange, green, maroon... Duplexes curved round the first / last riverbend of Woolston Loop, past reeds and ducks. I saw Radley Park on the opposite bank, and passed riverside poplars and Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, on my left and roadside businesses on my right, till I crossed Woolston Barrage, then returned to my car along Woolston Cut. Woolston Loop, walk time: 1.5 hours.


2009. Heathcote River Footbridges by Woolston Barrage, upriver Woolston Loop, Christchurch

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

2009. Heathcote River South Bank, Woolston Loop

Anzac Day, 25 April, I parked my car in Catherine St, Christchurch, as I wanted to walk Woolston Loop where Heathcote River went past houses, industry and farmlands. I didn't walk the north bank of Woolston Loop, wheelchair-friendly, as it was cut off from farmlands.


2009. Heathcote River, Woolston Barrage, Radley Park, Christchurch

At Union Wharf near Woolston Barrage, I crossed Heathcote River over a footbridge into Radley Park on the south bank. I passed a dog training area, where wooden dog-jumps had Eukanuba signs advertising dog products.

Beside Heathcote River, on the tarsealed footpath a goatee-bearded man on a motorbike whizzed by with his brindled brown dog leashed to the handlebars - running hell-for-leather.


2009. Radley Park Dog Training Apparatus, Christchurch

Radley Park followed Heathcote River a bit, with native plantings along the bank to secure the bank. At the riverbend I watched ducks and pukekos, then walked past houses by willows and poplars on Cumnor Tce, with Castle Rock and The Tors as Port Hills backdrop.


2009. Heathcote River, down Woolston Loop, Radley Park, Port Hills backdrop, Christchurch


2009. Heathcote River, first bend downriver on Woolston Loop, Radley Park, Christchurch

Cumnor Tce houses degraded into industrial bldgs on either side of Heathcote River. Through a back gate, I snapped a Hazchem sign:

IN EMERGENCY DIAL 111
FIRE, POLICE
OR AMBULANCE


2009: Hazchem back gate sign, Cumnor Tce, Heathcote River, Christchurch

Hazchem sign had warning pics for flammable gas; flammable liquid; flammable solid; oxidising agent; toxic; corrosive; ecotoxin - the latter so close to Heathcote River. The industrial zone along Cumnor Tce / Heathcote River bank was a polluted mess.

For hundreds of metres I saw discarded plastic; cardboard; paper; wood; polystyrene; tin cans; aluminium cans; plastic hub caps; tyres; car junk. Riverside native plants and grass were polluted with rubbish. I wondered why Cumnor Tce businesses didn't phone Christchurch City Council and demand cleanups?


2009. Heathcote River bend, Woolston Loop by Cumnor Tce, Christchurch


2009. Another Heathcote River bend, Woolston Loop by Cumnor Tce, Christchurch

I crossed Garlands Rd Bridge and continued past more businesses, with more litter polluting Heathcote River bank. On another Heathcote River bend I passed a concrete sign: DANGER 11000 VOLT MED CABLES.


2009. Cumnor Tce / Chapmans Rd corner by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

After the river bend, I continued down rubbished Cumnor Tce, a railway on my right. The incoming Pacific tide flowed fast upriver, water scummy and turbid. I came across white storage tanks on my right at Cumnor Tce / Chapmans Rd cnr.

I continued left along a gravel road past another DANGER 11000 VOLT MED CABLES sign beside Heathcote River. More businesses on my right including MANA TRANSPORT LTD, with views of Avoca Valley and Witch Hill. Business roads had easy access to Lyttelton Tunnel and Lyttelton Port on the far side of the Port Hills.


2009. Mana Transport Ltd by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Port Hills backdrop, Christchurch


2009. Businesses by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Port Hills backdrop, Christchurch

By riverside gums and pines, a double-padlocked gate had a red and white sign:

PRIVATE PROPERTY
KEEP OUT


2009. Heathcote River by Farm Signs, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

I crossed a stile over the sign. Further on by an open gate, another red and white sign:

STRICTLY
NO ENTRY


2009. Farm Road by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Farm Shed by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Avoca Valley backdrop, Christchurch

Not a soul in sight. There were no footpaths through the farm paddocks, but the gravel road followed Heathcote River towards Woolston Cut. I had downstream views of Woolston businesses on the opposite bank and gums and pines on the southern bank.

No rubbish pollution in the farm paddocks, but that would change, as the paddocks were earmarked for business development.


2009. Gum Tree view down Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Gums & Pines view up Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

On my right were wheat fields with macrocarpa shelter-belts going towards Lyttelton Tunnel Road in Heathcote Valley. I passed a house, then passed several small storage sheds on the riverside, passed a bigger shed with a tractor inside, passed straw bales stacked below a pine, and passed a green combine-harvester below a macrocarpa.


2009. Combine Harvester below Macrocarpa by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Shags, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Shag, Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch

I coolpixed two shags on gum tree branches over Heathcote River. When I walked towards a flock of Canada geese raiding ripe wheat, geese flew off and wheeled in the cloudy sky towards another wheat field.


2009. Canada Geese above wheat field by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Christchurch


2009. Wheat Field by Heathcote River, Woolston Loop, Port Hills backdrop, Christchurch

Riverside native plantings increased towards Woolston Cut. At the end of the wheat fields, I crossed a fence near a padlocked, spiked metal gate. Heathcote River flowed fast up Woolston Loop, below a small concrete bridge, while wide waters of Woolston Cut slowed tidal waters flowing up to Woolston Barrage.


2009. Heathcote River, end of Woolston Loop, lower Woolston Cut, Christchurch

I crossed a handrail by the spiked gate, and from the concrete bridge I watched tidal waters flow up Woolston Loop. I returned to my car via the south bank of Woolston Cut, crossing a footbridge to the north bank. Along the way I watched ducks and grey gulls avoiding chill winds by standing on lower steps by Woolston Cut. Woolston Loop, walk time: 2 hours.

28.07.10. The Press reported that 40 hectares of farmland by Woolston Loop to Tunnel Rd would become an industrial business park, leased or sold mainly for Lyttelton Port use, like container storage. Some park!

I wondered what would happen to birdlife - Canada geese, cormorants, pukekos...? Would Heathcote River by the industrial business park become another stinking sewer with sewage spills during wet weather? Would rubbish clog Heathcote River, as I'd seen upstream rubbish clog Heathcote River by commercial buildings near Rutherford St?

03.06.11 Coda: After 04.09.10 & 22.02.11 quake destruction of Christchurch sewers and drains, Heathcote River, Avon River & Avon-Heathcote estuary became stinking, open sewers for months, as sewage & waste water was pumped into rivers, while repairs were done. CONTAMINATED WATER signs lined riverbanks & estuary banks for months.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.