Editorial: Walkway has many spin-offs

Kotuitui Whiti links the new Hatea Loop (Huarahi o te Whai, or Pathway of Opportunity). Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangarei's new Huarahi o te Whai walkway is teeming with opportunity.

And Whangarei's district council is open to ideas and proposals for small businesses around the circuit.

On Sunday, I spent an hour or so in the area. It was warm, and the first day of daylight saving. There were walkers, runners, people in wheelchairs, people on bikes, trikes and scooters.

The walkway is like a giant vein, pumping life into the Town Basin.

A couple of business opportunities struck me.

Ice creams. Someone will make a killing parking an ice cream truck in a strategic location opposite the Town Basin.

And water - a golf cart doing the circuit selling water out of the back would also do well. There were some red, thirsty faces doing the circuit.

And if tired toddlers and their dads could hop in the cart and get a ride back to the Town Basin, I know I'd pay money for the service.

One or two groups of parents with toddlers attempted the 4.2km loop, and found it a bridge too far. Been there - it's not much fun when you've overestimated your child's ability to climb Mt Parihaka.

I also know how hard it is to keep control of your child on a scooter. I saw more than one scooter kid who had made a break for freedom and were way out of mum and dad's control.

One of them nearly flattened me, bless him. At age 3 or 4, I don't expect him to know the give-way rule, or the protocols around sudden u-turns in front of oncoming traffic. But I expect mum and dad to know. A playground somewhere along the Pohe Island route would help keep the kids focused, and give them an incentive to walk towards. Before they are bribed the rest of the way with promises of an ice cream.

There are bigger business opportunities too. A cafe or restaurant in a boatshed would fit the area perfectly. So would a hotel of some sort on Riverside Dr, on the edge of the river.

The popularity of the walkway will grow as the attractions around it also increase. It's going to be an exciting and intriguing journey.