Vandalism opens up opportunity for river cruises
Vandalism has closed one opportunity but opened up another for a water tourism venture looking to expand across the Waikato River.
Waikato River Explorer has been granted permission to move a pontoon and ramp from Acacia Narrows Reserve near Airport Rd, and relocate it to the Mystery Creek Events Centre a few kilometres away.
The move would give the river cruise business an all-weather, secure mooring point, to connect the 12,000 to 15,000 tourists its river cruise carries each year, to new events planned at Mystery Creek. It would also connect visitors with the popular Te Awa Cycle Way which runs past the events centre.
Company director Darren Mills said the floating pontoon at Acacia was used as an alternative when the cruise boat could not access the jetty at Mystery Creek.
"The mooring at Mystery Creek is currently fixed, so when there is a flood, it's underwater. We were able to use the one at Acacia as an alternative because it's a floating pontoon.
"But during the summer it was damaged by people using it as a ramp to dive into the river. They'd drive nails into the pole of the pontoon and use them as steps to climb up, and then dive into about 1.5 metres of water."
Mills said originally the business planned to redevelop the Acacia pontoon but heard that the council wanted to remove it because of vandalism.
"So we said we'd remove it at our cost, and asked if we could relocated it to Mystery Creek."
The council's service delivery committee met to review Mills' request and gave it the nod. The decision would still have to be approved at a full council meeting.
"What this will do is give us an all-weather, all-height access mooring to use. And the Acacia structure will fit that purpose."
Mills said a one-way cruise from Hamilton Gardens to Mystery Creek had proved popular with visitors and he aimed to build on that interest.
"What we have now is a situation where there are a lot of tourists arriving in Hamilton then getting on a bus and going to Hobbiton, Rotorua or Waitomo Caves.
"We want to be able to offer cruises like this one, to keep them in the Waikato a bit longer."
Mills said the business had grown since he and wife Vanessa restarted the river cruises in 2012.
The Mystery Creek site would help propel the business forward in the coming years. The business has one cruise boat operating now but a second could be added in the future.
"Boats aren't cheap and they have to be specifically built to your needs, in terms of how you're going to use them."
Mills said the Hamilton City Council's river plan may also offer new mooring sites in the city and a further chance to grow cruise passenger numbers.
Have you ever been on a river cruise? How did you find the experience? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.
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