Access

The main entrance points to McIntoshs are from the carparks located at Askeaton Reserve, Kaiapoi, Ferry Road and from Featherstone Ave, Kairaki. Motor vehicles can access the rivermouth and Pegasus Bay from Featherstone Ave, Kairaki.

Things you can do...

McIntoshs Rocks
The focus for recreation at McIntoshs Rocks is fishing and whitebaiting. The cycle/walkway links Kaiapoi to the beach communities and Te Kohaka o Tuhaitara Coastal Park. The section offers great braided-river and estuarine bird watching opportunities and a variety of picnic settings.

Kairaki Beach
Here the focus is on recreation activities at the rivermouth and along Pegasus Bay.

At this park you can...

 
  

History

Prior to European settlement, the Waimakariri River was an unconstrained braided river which had split into two main channels in the lower reaches forming a number of islands.  The river then made its way downstream for about two kilometres to an estuary which ran south and parallel to the sea before discharging into Pegasus Bay about 2 kilometres south of the present day mouth.

Kairaki was an important mahinga kai area for local Maori with an abundance of shellfish and fish species.

Early Pakeha settlers in the Kairaki region used it as a cattle rearing area.  The first European settler at Kairaki was David Tibbitts. Later settlers included Kenneth and Grace McIntosh who emigrated to New Zealand from Scotland and arrived on the 'Mystery' in 1859. Kenneth and Grace settled in Kaiapoi and purchased the first of their lands on Beach Road in 1869.

They had twelve children including Hector and Robert. Hector went on to become mayor of Kaiapoi Council between 1924 and 1927. His brother, Robert, was elected Mayor of Rangiora in 1925 and the two brothers established the McIntosh Shield to encourage friendly rivalry between the two towns. The Shield is still contested today.

Kairaki beach became a favourite picnic spot during the 1860s and the Kaiapoi Volunteer Rifles had a range out in the adjacent sandhills. The original Beach Road was a track across the wetlands, but it was not until the 1870s that a stable road to the beach was made.  James Butt, an early Kaiapoi road and bridge contractor, was responsible for forming this road, and the Mandeville and Rangiora Road Board was forced to plant poplars along each side to keep the high foundations from sliding into the adjacent swamps.  This is the origin of the beautiful poplar avenue which lined the road for many decades.

The Jubilee flood of 1887 was the catalyst for the digging of McIntoshs Drain which is still in place today and flows into the Kaiapoi River immediately upstream of the confluence.

By 1931, the works to straighten the Waimakariri River’s lower reaches were completed. These were carried out to move shingle and floodwaters out to sea at a faster rate than was occurring with the river's natural meandering form. However, the newly excavated entrance through the sand hills to the sea was to be a failure as the river continued on its old course. It was not until the flood of 1940 that the river abandoned the Brooklands Lagoon and made straight for the sea forming today’s mouth, some distance north of where the River Trust had planned for.

Many ships plied this section of the river, with Kaiapoi serving as a trading port from the early 1850s until it officially closed in 1969. The first regular shipping service was run by George Day with his ‘Flirt’ in 1852. It was a monthly service between Heathcote and Kaiapoi.

In 1909, the Kaiapoi Shipping and Trading Company purchased ‘Kairaki’ a specially designed steamer to cope with the large volume of cargo out of the Kaiapoi Port’. ‘Kairaki’ went down with all hands in a storm off Greymouth in 1914, only a mile or two from the river mouth.

Today, the lower reaches of the Waimakariri River are highly modified and bear little resemblance to how they looked 150 years ago.

Remember

• River levels can rise rapidly
• Never enter dirty floodwater
• Motor vehicles and horse riding are not permitted along the McIntoshs reach
• Check the notice board at the park entrance for up-to-date information
• You can contact the park rangers on 03 353 9725.