The trail near Ashcott Bridge will be opened as soon as possible.
The Tukituki Trail (TTT) has been a labour of love since the first sod was turned a decade ago. A lot of that hard toil is now under mud as the Rotary River Pathway Trust project fell victim to Cyclone Gabrielle a fortnight ago.
The trust is made up of a dedicated team of Rotarians and other trustees from the Cental Hawke’s Bay community. Trust president Roy Fraser says although the Gum Tree Farm received no damage other than a few trees coming down, the rest of the trail system took a hammering.
“It’s a bit of a mess. We have lost the Black Creek bridge, one section of the stopbank has been breached and no longer passable. All the low-lying areas have considerable washout damage, which we are currently working on repairing. The berm trails have lots of debris and fallen trees across them. Again we are currently working along these clearing and fixing any washout damage.”
Roy says the loss of the Black Creek bridge is problematic.
“We will have to go back to the drawing board plus initiate another fundraising programme to find the necessary wherewithal. Initially, we are concentrating on getting as much of the system clear and rideable that we can with our own resources, volunteers and the limited funds we have.”
The TTT has a hardcore team of trustees that maintains and fixes damage plus builds new trails on a volunteer basis, Roy says.
“With the cyclone damage a number from the community have now offered to help where they can — which is great.”
The building of TTT began with the limestone trails downstream from Waipukurau. Roy says a little later they struck a deal with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to lease the Gum Tree Farm at a peppercorn rental.
“We then commenced building a mountain bike park and currently have 15km of machine-built flow trails ranging from easy to advanced difficulty. More trails are to be built as this will be an ongoing project for some time yet.”
The next project was the construction of the swing bridge at the most downstream end to provide access across the Tukituki River and loop link to Waipawa.
“Unfortunately, this got demolished in the February 2022 flood. Plans are now well advanced to have this bridge rebuilt, hopefully by the middle of this year.”
Roy says the trust’s objective has been to provide a wide range of cycling and walking opportunities from easy limestone trail to cross-country and downhill mountain biking.
“We have had great support from the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council throughout the development phase as they see it as a great district asset. We are grateful to them as it is their land on which the bulk of the trails are built, plus to the many other supporters who have come to the party with assistance along the way.”
He says a grant from the council has allowed the trust to further expand the network of limestone trails upstream from Waipukurau, giving a total of more than 30km of limestone trails extending on both sides of the Tukituki and Tukipo rivers.
“This project involved the construction of two smaller bridges as well. In the river berm beside the limestone trails is approximately 40km of single-track walking and mountain biking trails.”
Trails are widely used by locals and visitors, including walkers, dog walkers and cyclists.
“With the building of the network hundreds, if not thousands, of locals have taken up various sorts of biking as it provides an off-road safe option to ride a bike.”
During weekends more than half the Gum Tree Farm mountain bike riders are not locals.
“It is pleasing to see the number of visitors using all the trails. It has always been the trust’s plan to build something a bit special so that it would attract people from outside the CHB and in this regard we feel we have been quite successful.”
However, as with many projects, finding funds is always an issue.
“We have a Friends of the Trail option, whereby for a sub, individuals can become a friend of the trail. With the cyclone damage, hopefully this will inspire more to become a friend and help us with the funding required, which is not going to be insignificant.”
To become a friend of the trail, visit tukitukitrail.com and go to the friends page. It is $50/person/year, $100 for a family and $500 for a life membership.