Now used only by pedestrians

[Posting Wednesday morning (NZ time) as the site was undergoing maintenance yesterday evening]

This bridge over the Waituna Stream on Huia Road was built many years ago, and was a one lane bridge. It has been replaced when the sharp corner with Laingholm Drive was smoothed out. During last year's floods, this was under water. Waituna translates as 'water of eels'; marine eels used to come this far upcreek. 

Names like Waituna which refers to the stream/creek, as well as the area between the road and the shore are names given by the tangata whenua and now used by everyone. Even Mr David Seymour is hardly going to argue that the stream and the area should be named 'Water of eels'.

I would expect that the vast majority of Aotearoans (New Zealanders) know that 'wai' is Te Reo for water. I went to school at Waikino which I understood (as a child) meant dirty water, the result of having a major gold field feeding into the Ohinemuri River. That field had stopped producing gold when my father started farming there after the 2nd World war. The area is Waitekauri; a name that is meaningful for the locals.

I am noticing that more people are more often using Te Reo in their postings on social media. The ACT party (which received about 8% of the party votes) erroneously claim that they have a mandate to destroy our reputation as a country and (a la Trump) return to a mythologically better past.