Council services over Christmas and New Year

Waste & Recycling Services

Roadside rubbish and recycling collection and transfer station hours will be different than regularly advertised for the 2 weeks of Christmas and New Year.

Normal service resumes on Monday 6 January 2025.

Full information on kerbside collection and transfer station opening hours is available here.

Council Services

Upcoming Council meetings – December 2024 – February 2025

 Photo: Franz Josef Christmas Market, Franz Josef CDO

Introducing Freya Craig

A day in the life of a Hokitika Swimming Pool lifeguard

Freya Craig is a student at Westland High School and a part-time lifeguard at the Hokitika Swimming pool. She took some time in her busy schedule to share what it is like to work as a lifeguard at her local pool.

I became a lifeguard at the Hokitika Swimming Pool because I had friends who worked here who really enjoyed it. When the pool was looking for more staff, I thought it would be an awesome opportunity and experience for me to get a job as a lifeguard.

The main qualification I need for my role is a Pool Lifeguard Practicing Certificate (PLPC) and a first aid certificate. It is the minimum qualification you can have. PLPC will give you everything you need to get started, and it’s a great first step towards becoming a highly skilled lifeguard. We need to re-sit the PLPC and the first aid certificate every two years to continue to work as a lifeguard.

During a typical day at work, I come in after school at 3:15 pm and pick up any tasks that are left by the lifeguard on the shift before mine. As a lifeguard, I am responsible for keeping a good eye on customers who are using the pool and spa, and the younger kids who are there for swimming lessons or just a good time. There is usually Aqua Zumba or swimming club where I stay later to make sure they feel safe and always have someone looking after them. To close for the evening, I clean all the bathrooms, prepare the reception for the morning, put the covers on the pool and test that the water is the right level of pH and Chlorine. When I work on the weekends, I usually do the opening shift which includes taking the covers off the pool, testing the water, opening the reception and checking that the bathrooms are up to standard for our customers that day. During the day we test the pool water every three hours and the spa water every two hours. If the chemical levels are too high or too low, we calibrate them. We take the health and safety of our customers very seriously!

My favourite part of being a lifeguard is getting to meet new people and make friendships with people old and young. Seeing our regular customers come in is wonderful as they are always keen for a good chat and a catch up.

In a job like this, there are always a few issues like kids who don’t listen or understand the pool rules, which are always a bit of a struggle. Many people believe that being a lifeguard is an easy job and a babysitting service. That’s definitely not the case! To be effective, lifeguards need to learn the necessary skills, and they must be constantly alert for swimmers who need help while managing their other tasks. It’s a challenging but rewarding job. We are also not a babysitting service as we must keep a close eye on everyone in and around the swimming pool, not just the small children.

If anyone is thinking of training to be a lifeguard, do it! It’s such a cool job and there are so many different things you can do with it, such as surf lifesaving, going to work in camps around the world/country and becoming a senior lifeguard. It’s a bit of hard work to get there but it’s worth it in the end and you get to work with some pretty awesome people.

The messy problem of Christmas waste

While the Christmas holiday is a fun time of year for many people, it can cause a lot of excess waste. As we become more conscious of the impact on the environment, many of people are finding clever alternatives to traditional Christmas wrapping. However, if you still find yourself with wrapping, packaging and other festive season detritus, we have some tips for you.

Where you can, try to save the wrapping and ribbons to reuse – but if you’ve got so excited to unwrap and the wrapping is torn or otherwise unusable, make sure it goes into the right bin.

• Plain paper wrapping can be put in the yellow recycling bin.
• Metallic, plastic or foil wrap, gift bags and ribbons aren’t recyclable and need to go into the rubbish.

Disposing of gift wrapping

• Clean, flat cardboard and paper larger than an envelope can go in your yellow recycling bin!
• Plastic ribbons, bows and shiny foil/metallic wrapping paper and gift bags go in the rubbish. If the inside is shiny or hard to tear and feels like plastic, it’s probably plastic and should go in the bin.
• How to know if it’s plastic? Try the tear test – if you can’t rip it easily, it’s likely to have a plastic coating so put it in the rubbish to be safe. The same applies if you scrunch the wrapping and it opens back out.
• Plastic wrap, bubble wrap, cellophane, plastic ribbons and bows can be saved and reused. If they are too tatty, they need to go in the rubbish.
• Small pieces of paper, tissue wrap, and natural cotton ribbons can be composted at home, otherwise they go into the green rubbish bin.
• Polystyrene packaging can’t go in the recycling bin. Please dispose of it in the rubbish.

Toy and gift packaging

• Plastic packaging of any kind, twisty ties, plastic strapping and soft plastic packaging goes in the rubbish.

Christmas trees

• Real trees can be taken to the green-waste area at the transfer station (standard charges will apply).
• Fake trees that are past their best need to go in the rubbish if they can’t be passed onto someone else.
• Ornaments and tinsel go in the rubbish if they can’t be donated or reused.

Glass bottles and jars

• Unless they can be reused for the summer-fruit preserving season, glass bottles and jars can be recycled at Hokitika Transfer Station, or disposed of at one of our other transfer stations. Otherwise, they should go into the green rubbish bin.

Breakages and broken glass

• If your toasting was a bit enthusiastic over Christmas dinner, broken glassware needs to be wrapped in paper and put in the rubbish. The same applies to crockery, Christmas ornaments or any other type of broken glass.

Leftovers

• Leftover food including turkey and meat bones can go into your home compost. If this isn’t an option, it goes into the green rubbish bin.

Full bins

• It’s easy to completely fill recycling and rubbish bins at this time of year. The truck won’t be able to collect your bin unless the lid is closed flat for collection, so make sure you don’t overfill your bin.
• Excess cardboard, or other recyclables that won’t fit in the yellow bin can be taken to the transfer stations for free.
• For a small fee, bagged, excess rubbish can be taken to the transfer stations.

Unwanted gifts

• If you received something you don’t need or want, pass it on to a charity shop, re-gift to someone else or save it for a garage sale.

Bin Collection

• Rubbish and recycling collection will continue as normal over the Christmas period. See here for information on bin collection and transfer station hours.

Click here for more information about the items that can go in your yellow bin.

Dog days of summer

Westlander’s love their dogs (there’s around one dog for every four people in Westland!) and during the summer more dog owners are out and about in busy places. This means it’s a good time to think about responsible behaviour around dogs.

Dog owners have legal responsibilities to take care of their dogs and reduce any nuisance to the community.

Dogs in cars

Although we don’t recommend leaving your dog inside your car during the summer, if you choose to do so make sure that your dog is tethered with a dog seatbelt. This way, if something or someone outside the car attracts the dog, they can’t escape out the window. Depending on the style, it may also protect your dog in the event of a car crash. Dog seatbelts can be found online, at large pet stores or your Vet might sell them.

Leashes and collecting their poo

Dogs should only be off-leash in approved off-leash areas, and if you are down at the beach please consider any wildlife that may be there. If you are not certain that your dog will return when you call, keep them on the leash. You can purchase NZ-made long-line leashes from a few retailers around the country.

When you are out with your dog, always pick up its poo. No one wants to stand in dog poo, and it’s not hard to take a minute to pick it up in a bag and put it into a rubbish bin! There’s no need to risk receiving a fine.

To find out more about dog owner responsibilities, visit our website.

Scroll for some dog safety tips

Not only do dog owners have responsibilities, but the community does too. It’s important to learn appropriate ways to approach an unknown dog. Always ask permission from the dog owner before petting a dog.

If you or your child is given permission to pat a dog, always be gentle and pat or stroke the dog under the chin. Dogs can perceive a pat on top of the head as threatening and can get scared and react badly. Even with dogs that you know it is always best to approach them in this way.

Never leave a child alone with a dog, even if it is one you know

Around a third of all dog attacks in New Zealand are on children under 12 years of age. Over 70 per cent of bites are from a dog the child knows and loves. Always supervise the interaction between dogs and children.

Many dogs appear to tolerate children handling them because they are trying to be well-behaved. It is up to the dog owner and the parent to recognise and intervene when a dog might not want to play, even if the dog is good-natured enough to allow it.

Never approach a dog without permission

This applies to adults as well as children. A dog tied up outside a shop, or watching you over your neighbour’s fence, may not be as friendly as they look.

Dogs feel more vulnerable when tied up. Unless you know the dog and can read the dog, it is safer not to approach it. Most dogs don’t want to bite but do so because they tried to protect themselves in other ways.

Know how to react if a dog approaches you when walking, cycling, on a scooter, or on a skateboard

Even calm dogs can be reactive to the noise and movement of people things with wheels.

• If it’s safe, you can cross to the other side of the road.
• STOP. Many dogs will just carry on past. If the dog does pay attention to you, stand still and allow the dog to sniff you. Move slowly and speak softly as quick movements, wheel noises and loud voices can scare a dog.
• Avoid looking directly at the dog, which it may perceive as threatening. Never run away or keep moving, as the dog’s instinct is to chase, even if it is friendly.
• Use firm and simple commands in a calm voice such as “no”, “stay” or “down”.
• Know how to read a dog’s behaviour and body language

The best protection for you and your children is to understand when a dog might be a risk. Being able to read body language gives you a better idea of what the dog is thinking, so you can act appropriately. Often, after someone gets bitten by a dog, they say that the dog gave no warning. In most circumstances, the dog tried very hard to ask the person to leave them alone, such as:

• eye rolling,
• yawning,
• lip-licking,
• barking,
• growling, or
• simply turning away

Unfortunately, because most people are unaware of these signs, the dog feels it has no other choice but to bite.

Fox Glacier Market Day

November’s market day in Fox Glacier was a great success for the community. It was well attended and everyone enjoyed a busy and eventful day, despite road closures and floods. It was wonderful to host FENZ from Greymouth doing a fire demonstration, while the local Firies from Fox Glacier ran a lolly scramble.

Many prizes were won, including raffles, duck races and the mystery auction. Thank you to all who took part.

The Fox Glacier Community Development Society thanks the community for supporting the event, and all the vendors, some of whom travelled from Christchurch, Hokitika and Greymouth.

Special thanks go out to the event’s sponsors: Helicopter Line, Top 10, Fox Glacier Guiding, Reflection Lodge, Rainforest Lodge, Betsey Jane, Café Neve, and donors of raffle prizes, Ro Sullivan, Ann Scott and Lake Matheson’s Reflectionz.

Information and photo – Fox Glacier Community Development Officer

West Coast Regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan

Together, the three district councils, Westland, Grey, and Buller District Council, have developed the new Regional West Coast Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024-2030 (WMMP) to identify regional opportunities for waste management, develop regional waste infrastructure, and boost economies of scale.

The vision of the WMMP is:

“By 2030, our enabling systems are working well, and our behaviour is changing.”

To achieve this vision, the WMMP sets out three goals:

1. The building blocks are in place to enable change.
2. More activity is circular, and we produce less waste.
3. Emissions and other environmental indicators are improving.

We want to hear from you

The West Coast community from Haast to Karamea can provide feedback on the new West Coast Regional WMMP between Monday 18 November and 5 pm Friday 20 December 2024. No late submissions will be accepted.

Make your submission online, email it to infrastructure@westlanddc.govt.nz or drop your completed submission form into our Customer Service Centre 36 Weld Street, Hokitika.

Franz Josef Christmas Market

Another successful Franz Josef Christmas Market is done and dusted.

The Franz Josef Community Council (FJCC) hopes everyone who attended had a blast, found some cool, unique last minute Christmas presents, spent some time socialising, and enjoyed the yummy food the Franz Josef Playgroup had on offer, or even walked away with an amazing raffle prize! The live music was a fabulous accompaniment to a great event.

The market raised funds for:

Franz Josef Playgroup, Franz Josef Civil Defence and St. John.

If your group would like to get involved with next years’ market to try and raise funds, please reach out to the committee on office@franzjosefcdo.nz

Some very special people we’d like to thank on behalf of the FJCC & the FJ Christmas Market Committee:

Pouri & Wendy, Mike & Edward, Christina, Craig, Caitlin, Lisa 2, Tania Darl and Scenic staff, Stephen, Harley, and Zak & Lachie

Now on to thank our amazing sponsors who we would like to thank, as without their support we would not have been able to run the market in this way, nor would we have been able to have such an incredible amount of raffles to sell for the FJ Civil Defence :

Alice May Restaurant, The Landing/King Tiger/Full of Beans, Rainforest Retreat, Blue Ice Restaurant and Bar, Snakebite Brewery, The Glacier Shop, FJ Four Square Supermarket, Franz Fox Heliservices, The Helicopter Line, FJ Wilderness Tours, Air Safaris, Glacier Shuttles and Charters, Inflite, FJ Glacier Guides, Department of Conservation, West Coast Wildlife Centre, Te Waonui Forest Retreat, Scenic Hotel Franz Josef, St. John South Westland, Ellery’s Greymouth – Adele & Tony, Mitre10 Greymouth – Richard, Victoria’s Greymouth – Vicky, Fleur de Lis – Melissa, MT Studio – Marlene, Pro Kiwi International – Rafe, Halifax Ltd – Dougal, New Zealand Dimensions – Lexz, Wayne Castello.

Thank you all for your support, we hope to have your support again next year!

Text and photos: Franz Josef CDO

Summer Reading Challenge is back

Splash into summer with our Beanstack Summer Reading Challenge!

For Ages 5-13 years, from 1 December 2024 to 31 January 2025.

Log the minutes you read and complete fun activities to earn badges throughout the challenge.

All readers who complete the challenge by earning ten reading badges and three activity badges will win a shiny new book.

If you dare to take on our Super Reader Bonus Challenge, you could earn yourself a $20 book voucher and one lucky Super Reader will win a $50 book voucher too!

Pick up a tracker map for the challenge from the library (or download one here) and collect badge stickers from the library to mark your challenge progress.

For more information about Beanstack and all our Reading Challenges click the links or pop into the library and speak to one of our friendly team.

Text and photo: Westland District Library