Crossing Mahia Peninsula

ON THE WAY: Information boards tell the story of Te Aratia Walkway. The13km hike takes walkers from one side of the Māhia Peninsula to the other. Pictures supplied

Māhia's coast-to-coast walk is shaping up to be a future gem for the peninsula after a big opening month.

The work done to create Whangawehi walkway, or Te Aratia Walkway, has helped bring back birdsong and some native fish, and it has captured the attention of summer visitors too.

The community project was officially opened on December 8. Restoration work began on the stream as far back as 2012, before work started on the walkway through Tuahuru marae, Kaiuku marae and Whangawehi Catchment Management Group in December 2020.

Funding and support was provided by Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission.

The full walk is nearly 13km and links the eastern and western sides of the Māhia Peninsula, crossing through farms and following the riparian planting alongside the Whangawehi River.

A whare marks the halfway point, before the second half of the walk goes through commercial forestry consisting of redwoods, pines and cypress until arriving at Māhia Beach on the west side of the peninsula.

Rae Te Nahu, Whangawehi Catchment Management Group secretary, said the opening had gone wonderfully.

“The following Sunday after opening on December 8, about 50 locals, including some children, did the first walk, and since then it has been very, very busy, particularly at this time of year.”

She said they hoped to instal counters to track how many used the track, but she estimated that over 100 people, at least, were using the walk every week.

“To see the trees growing so well and to see the birds coming back is awesome. The eel numbers are also increasing, albeit slowly,” she said.

“It is a wonderful walk if you need some time out. There are picnic tables along the way, there is wooden seating along the way if you want some quiet time to yourself. It has a lot of potential for you to wander down the track and just sit there quietly — recharge the batteries.”

Project coordinator Nicolas Caviale-Delzescaux said visitors who had heard of the walkway and tried it were giving glowing feedback.

“There are not a lot of things to do in Māhia besides fishing and sunbathing. so they are trying the walkway, and we are getting high numbers of recommendations.”

He said they have plans to eventually upgrade the walkway to make it more accessible, if they can obtain more funding.

“This is stage one, I would say. Hopefully, we will get more funding to allow disabled people to use it. We also want to make it an all-year-round walkway, which is not the case at the moment.”

He said the walkway was not usable from April to October due to the river being flooded or likely to flood.

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa gave $9600 for surveying and legal costs to secure walkway access to the land and registered the walkway easement over the land, worked with the landowners and provided advice and support to the project team and the council.

The first planting on the land next to what would become the walkway was in 2014, and now 250,000 trees have been planted in total.

• People interested in supporting the project can donate at .