There are all sorts of botanical secrets stashed away in South and Central Taranaki, says South Taranaki District Council property and facilities manager John Sargeant.
"In Eltham, there is Bridger Park on Bridger Street that's worth a visit. Children will enjoy looking at the toy wall, which has many hundreds of toys cemented into it."
Naumai Park in Hawera is good this time of year, and there's also the Goodson Dell, on the corner of High and Cambria streets, Mr Sargeant says. It is a small reserve gifted to the council some years ago and it has been developed and is cared for by a group of volunteers who call themselves the Goodson Guerrillas because they wage war on weeds and vandals.
"It's one of the best-kept secrets in Hawera. It's a bit like Dr Who's Tardis bigger on the inside than on the outside."
A trip a little farther afield is to Glen-Nui Park, at the top end of Lake Rotokare, a jaunt designed to be accompanied by a chicken sandwich and a flask of tea, Mr Sargeant says.
"Turn inland at the Eltham library and head out east. Follow your nose out over the Mangamingi Saddle and through Mangamingi. About 10 minutes past Mangamingi, turn right up Glen Nui Road and you'll find the park, which overlooks the lake. And it's fenced, so it's safe for kids and there's room to kick a ball around.
"In spring, it's full of bluebells and in autumn, there's chestnuts. Kids can skim stones on the river and it's well worth the journey out there."
There are good toilet facilities and barbecues there.
"It's one of my favourite out-of-the-way spots, where I go for some peace and quiet."
Farther south, at the Manaia Domain, is a rich trove of local history. To get there, go down Bennett Drive to the sports ground, walk around the 18th hole on the golf fairway and look for the watchtower poking up through the trees. The watchtower is part of the Manaia redoubt and it is a replica of one built in 1880 for the use of Parihaka chief Te Whiti o Rongomai and his followers.
"It's got some exceptional history there. and on one wall is some amazing graffiti. It's the names of people who wrote them before they went away to war, promising to come back, but they never did. It's hugely poignant."
Drive a bit farther south to Waitotara and you'll find a good beach called Wai-nui, Waitotara or Nukumaru, depending on who you ask, Mr Sargeant says. If you want some respite from the summer heat, there are six free public swimming pools cared for by the council at Kaponga, Rawhitiroa, Eltham, Waverley, Patea and Manaia. At Kaponga, the pool is in a lovely sheltered spot and as it's not very deep, gets quite warm and is ideal for families. The region's only public diving board is at Rawhitiroa. All pools are free to use and have qualified lifeguards on duty and are all open until 7pm, so it's a great way to cool off after exploring sunny South Taranaki.
In the north around New Plymouth, walkers looking for a quieter adventure than they'll find on the super popular coastal walkway could head to Lake Mangamahoe, suggests parks programme manager Steve McGill of the New Plymouth District Council.
To get there, turn off into Lake Mangamahoe opposite Kent Road and you'll find a sign board that shows the various trails through the forest. There is a bridle trail for horses, tracks for mountain bikers and others for walking. Many of these tracks require reasonable mobility, but those who are not up to walking far can enjoy the drive alongside the lake, which has several picnic areas, waterfowl to watch and feed, and toilets near the gates.
At Barrett's Lagoon, on the western end of New Plymouth, is an area of bush and grassy spaces with several quite gentle walks through it. One track meanders through a forest of young kauri, others though established bush full of birdsong. It is suitable for family rambles or for walking dogs, and there are ducks to feed from a wooden platform on the lagoon itself.
Another city walkway worth a wander is the Herekawe, which begins at Manadon Street on the city's southern boundary and trickles along beside the Herekawe Stream to Back Beach. It's gentle enough for the youngest of walkers to enjoy.
One of the most obvious places to go walking right now is in the centre of the province the good old mountain, Mr McGill says.
On a good day, pack up a lunch and head up to Dawson Falls or North Egmont for a short stroll or an invigorating tramp.
"It's certainly nice up there at this time of year. It can be a little cooler and there are lots of tracks for different levels of fitness and experience."
Taranaki Daily News | Friday, 02 January 2009
Sunday, January 18
Thursday, January 1
Family doctor
WALKING into Peter Rich's waiting room comes very close to travelling through a time warp. The walls of the reception office bulge with handwritten patient notes.
"He's a technophobe," his long-serving staff share fondly with broad smiles. In our modern world, where doctors are surrounded by computers and are grouping together to share costs in sprawling offices, his surgery in the front room of a big old villa in New Plymouth's Powderham Street stands proudly alone.
There's no sign of a computer on the battered wooden desk that his GP dad purchased in 1945 for his Hawera family practice. Apparently he does own a computer, but it is hidden away in a cupboard.
"I can't type and I'd lose a lot of time if I used a computer," he explains.
The 66-year-old estimates there are about 2100 patients on his books, some of whom are now the third generation of the loyal patients who signed up with him 30 years back, when he hung up his first shingle in his rooms next door to the police station. The shingle, which reads Dr Peter Rich, MB ChB (Otago) FRNZCGP and Dip Obst (Auck), has now shifted with him and his patients three times around New Plymouth.
His great sorrow is that his Dip Obst (diploma in obstetrics) has become redundant. New Zealand now has a rare few GPs who continue to assist in the birth of babies.
He regrets that there's now a generation of GPs who have never witnessed the joy of a birth.
"It is a privilege to go to deliveries. I think it's a tragedy that GPs have been sidelined from obstetrics and working with midwives as our colleagues. Midwives do a great job but we can add an extra dimension."
As a result, GPs are now missing out on that special bonding with families when babies are born. He's also a fan of families being together during the birth just as he had done when he was young.
While computers might not be his thing, he is passionate about keeping up with health trends and drugs.
"People are living longer with the introduction of ace inhibitors (which lower blood pressure). They don't have that slow decline."
The ace inhibitors help your heart pump better and by lowering the blood pressure, you also protect your kidneys, Dr Rich says.
And he's already on the record supporting the use of cholesterol-lowering statins, which he describes as "wonderful".
In the interests of good bowel health and lowering the likelihood of putting yourself at risk of the ever-expanding diabetes epidemic, he believes white bread should be banned.
"I wish we could get people to eat less white bread and more wholemeal. All white bread should be ditched," he says with feeling.
The message about healthy eating is slowly getting through to adults, he says, but he fears for the young, a generation seemingly brought up on a surfeit of fast foods.
Some Taranaki practices are already being swamped with diabetics.
"On average, diabetes has added 8% to our workload. In 15 years in South Auckland, there won't be any money for anything but diabetes."
However, in Taranaki, patients are well served by GP diabetes checks used to identify those at risk.
"Poos" are a great diagnostic tool and the sure way to find out if you are getting enough roughage in your diet and what might ail you, Dr Rich says. It's a great icebreaker when you ask the kids in the surgery about their poos.
"Their faces light up. They love talking about their poos."
Dr Rich is a great supporter of the monthly GP peer review groups that were made compulsory at the beginning of the year.
His own group is a mini League of Nations, where they benefit from sharing their different methods of diagnosis and treatment.
His love of diversity and desire to keep up his skills means he enjoys taking his turn at the city's community medical and accident after-hours clinics the type of work that the 24/7 family GP would have taken care of in the past. "You never know what's going to walk through the door."
It's a message to the younger docs coming through that they, too, should hone their skills by doing the same.
"The younger ones do need to keep up their interest in emergency medicine."
Another of his fears for the future of general practice is that government restrictions, which stop GPs putting up their fees, is financially strangling them.
"Helen Clark froze the fees for the last two years. And John Key said they would continue to be frozen. They are allowed to go up with inflation only. The problem is it did not keep up with pay rises."
It was a painful blow when they were facing pay rises of 20% for their practice nurses and clerical staff pay. And there's another in the pipeline. There's no similar restrictions on any other business in New Zealand, he says.
"As a result, we're unable to do maintenance or buy new equipment. The result is a lot of unhappy younger doctors do not want to come into private practice because they don't want their prices frozen."
In the meantime, Dr Rich proudly remains computer illiterate. He is adamant he works faster, leaner and meaner without a computer.
And his patients love the fact that they get his full, undivided attention. There's a few on the books who have left the bigger practices in preference for the handful of sole-GP practices that remain in Taranaki, he says.
"Not everyone wants their GP to be part of a bigger practice. I think solo practices will continue to thrive."
By LYN HUMPHREYS lyn.humphreys@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki Daily News | Wednesday, 31 December 2008
"He's a technophobe," his long-serving staff share fondly with broad smiles. In our modern world, where doctors are surrounded by computers and are grouping together to share costs in sprawling offices, his surgery in the front room of a big old villa in New Plymouth's Powderham Street stands proudly alone.
There's no sign of a computer on the battered wooden desk that his GP dad purchased in 1945 for his Hawera family practice. Apparently he does own a computer, but it is hidden away in a cupboard.
"I can't type and I'd lose a lot of time if I used a computer," he explains.
The 66-year-old estimates there are about 2100 patients on his books, some of whom are now the third generation of the loyal patients who signed up with him 30 years back, when he hung up his first shingle in his rooms next door to the police station. The shingle, which reads Dr Peter Rich, MB ChB (Otago) FRNZCGP and Dip Obst (Auck), has now shifted with him and his patients three times around New Plymouth.
His great sorrow is that his Dip Obst (diploma in obstetrics) has become redundant. New Zealand now has a rare few GPs who continue to assist in the birth of babies.
He regrets that there's now a generation of GPs who have never witnessed the joy of a birth.
"It is a privilege to go to deliveries. I think it's a tragedy that GPs have been sidelined from obstetrics and working with midwives as our colleagues. Midwives do a great job but we can add an extra dimension."
As a result, GPs are now missing out on that special bonding with families when babies are born. He's also a fan of families being together during the birth just as he had done when he was young.
While computers might not be his thing, he is passionate about keeping up with health trends and drugs.
"People are living longer with the introduction of ace inhibitors (which lower blood pressure). They don't have that slow decline."
The ace inhibitors help your heart pump better and by lowering the blood pressure, you also protect your kidneys, Dr Rich says.
And he's already on the record supporting the use of cholesterol-lowering statins, which he describes as "wonderful".
In the interests of good bowel health and lowering the likelihood of putting yourself at risk of the ever-expanding diabetes epidemic, he believes white bread should be banned.
"I wish we could get people to eat less white bread and more wholemeal. All white bread should be ditched," he says with feeling.
The message about healthy eating is slowly getting through to adults, he says, but he fears for the young, a generation seemingly brought up on a surfeit of fast foods.
Some Taranaki practices are already being swamped with diabetics.
"On average, diabetes has added 8% to our workload. In 15 years in South Auckland, there won't be any money for anything but diabetes."
However, in Taranaki, patients are well served by GP diabetes checks used to identify those at risk.
"Poos" are a great diagnostic tool and the sure way to find out if you are getting enough roughage in your diet and what might ail you, Dr Rich says. It's a great icebreaker when you ask the kids in the surgery about their poos.
"Their faces light up. They love talking about their poos."
Dr Rich is a great supporter of the monthly GP peer review groups that were made compulsory at the beginning of the year.
His own group is a mini League of Nations, where they benefit from sharing their different methods of diagnosis and treatment.
His love of diversity and desire to keep up his skills means he enjoys taking his turn at the city's community medical and accident after-hours clinics the type of work that the 24/7 family GP would have taken care of in the past. "You never know what's going to walk through the door."
It's a message to the younger docs coming through that they, too, should hone their skills by doing the same.
"The younger ones do need to keep up their interest in emergency medicine."
Another of his fears for the future of general practice is that government restrictions, which stop GPs putting up their fees, is financially strangling them.
"Helen Clark froze the fees for the last two years. And John Key said they would continue to be frozen. They are allowed to go up with inflation only. The problem is it did not keep up with pay rises."
It was a painful blow when they were facing pay rises of 20% for their practice nurses and clerical staff pay. And there's another in the pipeline. There's no similar restrictions on any other business in New Zealand, he says.
"As a result, we're unable to do maintenance or buy new equipment. The result is a lot of unhappy younger doctors do not want to come into private practice because they don't want their prices frozen."
In the meantime, Dr Rich proudly remains computer illiterate. He is adamant he works faster, leaner and meaner without a computer.
And his patients love the fact that they get his full, undivided attention. There's a few on the books who have left the bigger practices in preference for the handful of sole-GP practices that remain in Taranaki, he says.
"Not everyone wants their GP to be part of a bigger practice. I think solo practices will continue to thrive."
By LYN HUMPHREYS lyn.humphreys@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki Daily News | Wednesday, 31 December 2008
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