Waihi Beach Adaptive Surfing Success

On Saturday, 18th January, 2025, Parafed Waikato ran an adaptive surfing day at Waihi Beach, which I attended. The day was very well organised as there was surf school instructors, two types of beach wheelchairs and they even had a big surf board. The amount of volunteers helped my nervousness, as this was going to be a new experience for me, out of the safety of my wheelchair. The volunteers were very helpful and reassuring: if you had asked me 2 minutes before going into the water whether I was able to do it, I would have said NO. However, I would have missed out on a great opportunity. I loved the coolness of the water and the movement of the waves. It was amazing to feel weightless on the surfboard. A big thanks to Aidan from the surf school who suggested I go on the surfboard; without his encouragement I wouldn't have tried the surfboard. In summary, all disabilities were represented, for example there were able-bodied people as well as other wheelchair users.

Thank you to all the people that helped all of us to give it a go and to Cathy Wooler who helped organise that. It was so good I am now in the mood for doing water sports and adaptive skiing, which is also being run by Parafed Waikato.  Both of these events will take place on 1 March and in May. The May activity will be advertised in April, so make sure you check it out! Details for the watersports is already posted on Parafed's Facebook page. If you want to join in on the fun, but your not a member of Parafed Waikato i strongly suggest you head to the Parafed Waikato website, all the details are on the website.

Exciting News Flash!

While at the surf day, it was lovely to meet my old physio Tarsh Munro, who told me that there is going to be a accessible changing room at the Waihi Beach Surf Club, which is brilliant for those of us who need hoisting! She is also in the process of designing a mobile changing room for the disabled community to use on trips. This is what she had to say:

"I am working with Love Well Waihi Beach and Waihi Beach Surf lifesaving Club on a fully accessible bathroom to be located at the surf club. We are working hard to meet the needs of everyone in our community and ensure a fun and inclusive visit to the beach. Beach wheelchairs are available for free hirage and the big blue mats make accessing the beach easier, now we are working on the changing facilities, with ceiling hoist, adult sized change table etc.

The other project I am working on is a mobile access bathroom. This is simply a project I started for Goldfields School with the permission of the principal. A huge barrier our students face is access to actual açcessible bathrooms when we go to different places and events such as sports days, beach days, school camp, cultural festivals. Lots of barriers can be overcome with temporary ramps, extra staffing etc but the bathroom is tricky. We are at the design phase at the moment and securing funding, we have $20,000.00, so far from the local charity the Valder Trust which is so great. The idea is to have an accessible changing room with over head hoist and change table etc that can be towed behind one of the school vans so we can just take it wherever we want to go. We also plan to hire this out to families who may wish to go camping etc but need access to a bathroom and also to local events such at the fireworks and the tattoo in Paeroa. This will increase accessibility to our community but also help cover running costs. " THANKS TARSH!