Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River

The Hutt Valley is truly blessed with this natural resource which provides so much recreational value to the locals. From swimming, tubing, fishing and rowing activities to jogging, strolling, skateboarding, scootering and biking along its banks, the river also provides car-parking and hosting for the weekly Saturday produce markets which has grown steadily over the years to include other stall-types. It also acts as a venue for budding musicians who regularly take turns to busk at this market.If you're into bird-watching you will be able to spot Canadian geese, paradise ducks (further inland) and black swans as the latter feed and ride the currents. You may even spot the rarer spoon-bills feeding at the estuary during low-tide and then there is the omnipresent mallard population. You will need binoculars to get a closer view of the rarer birds.And there's a bonus, right now the wild blackberries are flourishing and looking ornamental. They along with other wild flowers provide the bees, butterflies and birds with a feeding corridor through the Valley. (Is this significant? Yes, because the bee and insect populations are dwindling locally and globally.) On the whole the river banks are slowly getting prettier with time as wild flowers take hold.Update Feb 2019: The photos I posted of the river bank will be the LAST of its kind, at the Ewen bridge, car-parking-end, because in Feb. a large, shipping container was planted right bang, in the CENTRE of the best view and best access of the best stretch of the river - it is an ugly blight on the landscape which sprung out without warning !! Just a few yards north where the views are already blocked by tall trees would have been a more appropriate location for this MONSTER OF AN EYESORE !!It is also very dangerous for drivers (and basketball players) during poor visibility conditions because the container is so large, dark and sticks right out at an angle plus the two, basketball goal-posts sit right bang in the middle of a busy car-park, without any safe lighting or signage !! What happened to common sense ?? There are miles of river bank to construct their projects yet they choose THIS location and at the expense of the MAJORITY of the community's interest !! The project with the large container parked to block the best view of the River has DEBASED one of Hutt's BEST NATURAL RESOURCES !!Update April 2019: At last commonsense has prevailed and the container has vanished. Let Hutt Valley folks treasure and enjoy the Gift in their backyard once more. The goal posts are still there, so be careful folks, when visibility is poor.

Awesome place, little piece of paradise.

i lost my fitbit

Lovely spot for the dog to swim

A great green corridor of trails through our neighbourhood.

جميل جدا وممتع

Great spot for fishing and swimming.