Hauraki Coromandel Post Year in Review: 2022 June

Pipi the cat took eight years to find his way back to his home.

The Hauraki Coromandel Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in June:

A site has been chosen for a skatepark in Tairua. File photo / Alison Smith

A site has been chosen for a new skatepark in Tairua.

The Thames-Coromandel District Council has chosen Cory Park Domain for the facility.

The council said all potential sites were investigated and public opinion was thoroughly canvassed.

It said a community skatepark design reference group would be formed with a mix of members including skaters, adjacent residents, a member of the Preserve Cory Park Domain Society, a member of the Tairua Recreation Sports Trust, a member of the Tairua Rugby Sports Club and others including police and other park users, to ensure the skatepark design was compatible with other recreational uses of the park.

Former Silver Ferns coach Dame Ruth Aitken. Photo / Stephen Parker

Former Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken of Paeroa has become a dame for her services to netball.

Aitken coached the Silver Ferns from 2002 to 2011.

She is their most-capped coach of all time at 112 tests. Aitken told the HC Post it was “a real shock” to find out she was becoming a dame.

“I felt very humbled to have been acknowledged in this way, as there have been so many others that have contributed to the success of the Silver Ferns during my time.”

During her time as coach, the Silver Ferns won the 2003 World Netball Championship and the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Pipi the cat took eight years to find his way back to his home.

A Coromandel family is reeling after their pet cat turned up eight years after going missing.

Pipi, a grey shorthair from the beach town of Whiritoa, had been rehomed in Parakiwai Valley in 2014 near Whangamatā. After spending only two nights at his new residence, he went missing.

Lisa Grove and her family had all but given up hope when she received the call from the vet while at work.

“The vet said, ‘Did you lose a cat? He’s just been found today.’ I went back to work and I couldn’t think, I just couldn’t function. I had to ring them back to ask ‘Have I got this wrong?’”

Pipi had been brought to the vet after being found back in his hometown, Whiritoa. He had spent eight weeks locked in a shed at a bach, with only a small water source to sustain him.

He had made the journey from Parakiwai Valley to Whiritoa, about 16kms by road, with many streams and forests in between.