TAKING THE HIGH ROAD

TIME FOR A BREAK: Parked up and enjoying the view of Table Cape, Mahia in the distance, looking over the southern part of Te Au Station from the Paritu-Mahanga Road. Picture by Barry Foster

Paritu-Mahanga Road, the historical main road between Mahia and Gisborne, has largely become a forestry and farm track now.

The old road joins Wharerata Road/SH2 about 3km on the Tūranga/Gisborne side of the summit of the Wharerata Hills.

On Sunday of Waitangi Weekend a group of tramping club members started a cycle ride at this junction, at about 460m, so that we would have a generally downhill ride to Mahanga. It was a perfectly timed ride — we arrived at Mahanga Beach, after about 25km of cycling, in the early afternoon just as the predicted rain began.

The road follows the undulating ridgeline that you can see on the skyline south of Te Kurī a Pāoa (Young Nick’s Head) in the view from Titirangi. If you look at that ridge you can see there are still many uphill sections to climb but they are short.

We had six electric bikes in the group of 16, and these performed very well, with good tyres for the ride. It was not a fast ride, with many stops, so the people riding standard mountain bikes were able to keep up.

At the start of Paritu Road, Whareongaonga 5 Blocks Trust land is on the left, with Wharerata Forests Ltd on the right. Juken NZ Ltd manages the plantation forest for Wharerata Forests Ltd, and except for Sundays there are likely to be log trucks using the road.

Aratu Forests Ltd are also using the first 1km of Paritu Road for log trucks as they harvest forest on Whareongaonga Trust land.

The first 8.5km of Paritu Road from SH2 is loose gravel, and the gravel is quite chunky. It is easy riding as long as you take the corners gently, and you can look around as you cycle. The views were amazing, with the air especially clear, even though there were patches of low cloud.

As you follow the road south and stop to look back towards Turanganui a Kiwa from the high points on the ridge, the farmland and patches of regenerating bush on Paritu Station are in the foreground. You can see a long way northeast along the Tairāwhiti coastline and Hikurangi maunga stands out on the skyline.

The headlands of Te Kurī a Pāoa and Tuaheni Point enclose Tūranganui a Kiwa, and the bay appears to offer a welcome to visitors from the sea.

The rich history and many visitors to Tūranganui a Kiwa is summed up in the saying, from the website of Te Runanga o Tūranganui a Kiwa:

Turanga Tangata Rite,

Turanga Ararau,

Turanga Makaurau,

Turanga A Mua

Tūranga the meeting place of people

Tūranga the pathway of many

Tūranga of a thousand lovers

Tūranga the ancient

At the locked forestry gate 8.5km from SH2, we were directly above the Tikiwhata Railway Tunnel, which at 2989m is the fifth longest railway tunnel in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We had decided to follow the formation of the “real” Paritu Road, now a rough farm track through Paritu Station so this was the start of the mountain bike riding for us. Juken NZ Ltd has constructed a private forestry road deviation for 1.5km from this point because the old road is narrow and has been unstable with slips — not considered suitable for log trucks.

After rejoining the more well-used road, we found the route was not all easy to follow.

In places forest harvesting has meant new roads have been formed and the old road formation has been bulldozed away.

Near the boundary between Pourewa Station and Te Au Station we pushed the bikes up a short steep clay slope to find the old road formation. Juken NZ Ltd also manages the plantation forest on Pourewa Station.

After about 12km there is a sharp bend in the old road, where there is a view towards Māhia, into the Kōpuawhara Valley and inland to Whakapūnake. Here we lifted our bikes over the boundary fence of Te Au Station.

Directly below is the site of a tragedy where in February 1938 the flooded Kōpuawhara stream swept through a railway construction camp and 21 people drowned.

The railway line can be seen in the valley below. It is still there and still offers an opportunity to be reopened to provide a low carbon emissions option for transport of containers of chilled fresh produce from Tūranga/Gisborne to Napier’s container port.

Te Au Station changed hands several years ago. Now, except for patches of regenerating bush on steep slopes and the steep coastal faces, the station is fully planted with pine trees and managed by PF Olsen Ltd as Te Au Forest.

The young pine trees are on both sides of the old road and people wanting to use the road must request an access permit from the forest manager. The new land owner is keen to ensure that access along the old road is maintained and PF Olsen Ltd are generally accommodating in approving a permit for walking or cycling access.

The road continues through Te Au Forest as a track through long grass with deep ruts which made cycling tricky. There are no sheep or cattle now to keep the grass short. We had to really concentrate on riding, and have stops to enjoy the view.

Then the road becomes a steep dirt track with stream channels, bedrock slabs and slips, before joining the more-used section of road towards Mahanga. There are dramatic views of the rocky coastline on the way.

PF Olsen Ltd, as the forest manager, has installed a locked forestry gate across the road at the southern boundary of Te Au Station at Mahanga. The gate is designed to stop four-wheel drive vehicles from using the road, but you can walk or push a bike around the ends of the gate.

Mahanga Beach is a lovely place for a swim, a walk, or for shell collecting, after the cycle ride.