Hauraki Coromandel Post Year in Review: January 2022

Paige McLeary enjoyed hitting the water at Whangamata in a beach-designed wheelchair.

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

Paige McLeary couldn’t keep her excitement under wraps as she was wheeled into the cool, clear waters of Whangamatā Beach at Christmas.

The 25-year-old was able to enjoy the sea again as she was among the first to book a new beach wheelchair in Whangamatā.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been in the water I can’t even remember,” said the Tauranga woman. “It was warm, I kept going back in the water and I’d go out for a while, then I would go back in. It was lovely.”

Paige was holidaying further south at her family’s bach in Whiritoa.

The annual Miss Pāuanui contest continued in 2022, with Mia Nelson coming in first place.

Miss Pāuanui 2022 is Mia Nelson, second was Courtney Rohrlach and third was Sacha Chambers. Photo / Pat Courtney.

A “significant new chapter” in the history of Tairua’s Surf Club unfolded with the demolition of the old clubhouse, to be replaced with a brand new building.

The Tairua Surf Lifesaving Club was among recipients in 2020 of the Government’s “shovel-ready” funding pool announced that year.

A combined $1.7 million was tagged for surf club upgrades in the region. With the consenting process the club faced for the replacement building on beachfront council land, it took a long time for the project to get across the line.

Barry MacCulloch and Tony Cheetham on the Tairua Surf Club site where the original club is about to be demolished. Photo / Alison Smith

The people who originally founded the club, including Tairua surfer Barry MacCulloch, met with members of the Tairua Surf Lifesaving Club and were able to fill in the history of the early years.

That included highlighting the importance of some historic treasures such as an original surf rescue board built by Whangamatā shaper Paul Shanks.

“The old building was a bach from around the Pepe that we bought for $4000,” says Barry. “It came with everything including knives, forks and spoons in the drawers.”

The club and the local boardriders are working together treasure-hunting for memorabilia from those early days.

Some of this is historically and sentimentally important to the founders of the original club, who were the local boardriders, Barry says.