Ngunguru track forms another link in Cape Reinga-Bluff trail

by Andr? Hueber
A walking track stretching the length of New Zealand is a step closer to completion now a 4km bypass has been created at Ngunguru - eliminating 20km of road walking. The 3000km Te Araroa trail, due to link Cape Reinga to Bluff next year, crosses public land, roads and private property.
Seventy per cent of the track in Northland is open but before the Ngunguru bypass was opened walkers who arrived at the coastal settlement had to walk along Ngunguru Rd all the way to Glenbervie. They'd then cut through Harris Rd on to Pataua North Rd, where they would eventually cross the footbridge to Pataua South.
The Mackerel Forest at Ngunguru has a track popular with horse riders and in November it was upgraded for walking access.
Te Araroa's northern project manager, Fiona Mackenzie, worked with conservation volunteers to cut back bush, build a stile and mark the route.
The bypass track starts on Ngunguru Ford Rd and follows logging trails on pine forested hills and riverbanks, crossing the Waitangi and Teheke rivers. It finishes on Pataua North Rd.
Ms Mackenzie said the forest owners - an overseas company managed by Hancocks - agreed to allow the track to go through the land. "It's a working pine forest and even though parts of it look a bit desolate, pine trees grow quickly and there'll be lots of greenery in a couple of years."
The team spent three days clearing the track. All equipment - hedge clippers, scrub cutters and posthole borers - had to be carried through the forest and both rivers.
Bridges weren't planned because the track was a bypass and the trust doesn't want to spend lots of money, Ms Mackenzie said.
"The rivers are part of the adventure - if it's too sterilised it's not much fun - but we do advise people the Waitangi river is knee-deep when it's not raining.
"You need to be reasonably fit and sensible."
Ms Mackenzie said many "amazing" landowners throughout the country had given access or easements, allowing walkers to cross their properties.
If owners dug their heels in the Te Araroa Trust would look for alternative routes or bypasses.
Ms Mackenzie said the Otago Central Rail Trail in the South Island encountered opposition before it was completed in 2000.
"It took eight years to convert 150km of railway into a cycling track. Now it's a significant tourism attraction and a big earner for those who resisted it."
People had been walking the Te Araroa trail for the past six years, Ms Mackenzie said.
"It has the potential to bring money to rural areas. Provide transfers, accommodation, food and guiding ... the people will come."
Before the opening of the trail in December 2010, the Te Araroa Trust has to put up signs on all the routes, reduce road links and raise money for the remaining tracks.
To see details of the Te Araroa trail, visit www.teararoa.org.nz.