Karioi Projects Fund

Donations to the Karioi Projects Fund support its funding for outdoor recreation opportunities for the youth of Huntly and north Waikato, centered at the new Lake Kimihia.

Since the 1980s the Huntly Karioi Outdoor Trust has been providing outdoor education opportunities for young people, previously by primarily operating the Karioi Lodge Outdoor Recreation and Education Centre near Raglan as the ‘school camp’ for Huntly College students.

With the overnight use of the camp declining, the Trust decided to sell it in order to re-focus its resources on supporting outdoor recreation closer to home, specifically at the Lake Kimihia reserve being developed at the former Huntly East mine.

To that end it used the proceeds of the camp’s sale to set up the Karioi Projects Fund at Momentum Waikato.

Murray and Jennifer Allen bought the former mine in 2018, with the goal of restoring the lake as Raahui Pookeka-Huntly's own version of Lake Karapiro and Lake Rotoroa in Hamilton. 

The mine’s huge pit is filling with rainwater and is expected to be full by the mid-2020s, creating a 1.2km-long, 500m-wide and 59m-deep roto.

The Allens are engaging with mana whenua and local stakeholders to ensure the whole community benefits from the project.

Rehabilitation of the site's environment and ecology is well underway, with waterbirds already gathering, such as the previously endangered New Zealand Dabchiks, who like the lake’s clear water to deep dive for the abundant fish.

Early on the Allens’ vision received strong support from Brian Curle, a life member of the Huntly Karioi Outdoor Trust. It was Brian’s idea to move the Trust’s investment closer to home so it could help support and augment the use of this new lake-based outdoor education centre by Huntly’s youth and community.

Plans for the new Lake Kimihia include a multi-purpose recreational and community complex, providing a bespoke education and events venue for non-motorised water sports immediately accessible from Hamilton and Auckland.