Walk Begins on 2nd Anniversary of Happy Valley's Occupation

Heather and Mick have left on their momentous journey to Happy Valley. It was one of those mornings where Auckland is treated to blue skies, gentle breezes and (being a public holiday) clear roads. There couldn't have been a better day for walking to begin!

The pair set off from the Auckland Skytower with a crowd of supporters taking the first step, or the first few thousand, together. The campaign aims to raise awareness of how crap coal power is and ultimately prevent the new coal mine Solid Energy has planned for Happy Valley on the West Coast of the South Island.

I went along as a supporter and gained some insight in to the issues at hand as well as how hard it is to walk for ages. I also took my camera! Here's the team about to take the first step.


After all that lead-up, the first step sure looked pretty easy. It was just a step. Anyone is capable of doing this. It was followed in rapid succession by the second step, which was also dead-easy. It made me wonder why more people don't walk half the length of the country in service of such worthy causes (actually the reason why was a bit more apparent to me when my city-boy legs failed me in Epsom, but still).

You might be wondering why now why anybody would knowingly choose to walk to Westport when Air New Zealand will fly you to Christchurch for a hundy. Well, the Walk the Walk website has a "why?" page but I thought Save Happy Valley put it pretty well too:

Solid Energy’s open-cast coal mine - a planned 96 metre deep pit - would completely obliterate this pristine valley, and pollute local rivers with heavy metals and acid mine drainage.

The coal produced would create as much carbon dioxide as all of New Zealand’s domestic transport, making it a significant contributor to climate change.

You might have heard of the Save Happy Valley folks, who occupied the valley in early 2006 because they don't like coal mining (either that, or they do like Happy Valley, which is fair enough too). But did you know that they've been there for two years today? It's New Zealand's longest environmental occupation ever, and the anniversary just happens to be Auckland Anniversary Day. Two years in Happy Valley. I hope they're celebrating (or, like, not).

Heather and Mick will be supported on their journey by the "Chip Wagon," named as such because it runs on vegetable oils previously used for cooking delicious hot chips. It's a mean piece of kit, loaded to the brim with helpful stuff from shelter to noisemakers to warm clothing and a much drooled-over box of food from Ceres Organics.

The take-away shops that provided the oil would otherwise have thrown it out - no good for cooking any more fritters or spring rolls anyway. But these things don't just prevent waste, they also have an extremely low carbon footprint. That's hot.

Drivers are still needed for this bright green (in more than just colour) vehicle. If you're up for it, email the walkers and let them know.

Steps update:
Heather is wearing a pedometer (step counter) that will tell us how many steps she takes to get there. This counts dance steps as well as the usual forward kind, but will only be worn while moving with intent to reach Happy Valley. Here it is at zero today.

Day one: 24616 steps!

More updates soon including actual words from the walkers themselves. Subscribe and stay tuned!