Great walk number 12? The Awatere Valley cuts through the proposed Molesworth Great Walk route. Photo / File
New Zealand could be on track to gain a new, 12th Great Walk.
One of the more surprising pledges to emerge from the election campaign trail was support for a new Great Walk in north Canterbury.
If elected, the National Party has pledged $14 million over the next four years to the creation of a new multi-day tramping track between Molesworth and Waiau-toa/Clarence River. However this isn’t the first time the trail has been suggested as a candidate.
The Great Walks, which are managed by the Department of Conservation, are described as the country’s “premier tracks”. Served by bookable huts and well maintained trails, there are currently 10 multi-day trails on the network, which stretches from Waikaremoana in the north to Rakiura / Stewart Island in the south. An eleventh Great Walk is set to become part of the network, over Southland’s Hump Ridge Track, next month.
The Paparoa Track, which opened to through-walkers in 2020 has already become one of the most popular on the network. Bringing 6620 bednights to the West Coast a year, DOC have considered adding additional capacity to huts as it joins the Pike29 commemorative trial.
National party leader Christopher Luxon proposed the trail in north Canterbury as part of their tourism policy.
“We have seen how economically transformative the Great Walks have been to local towns across the country,” Luxuon said last week, saying a walk would be a draw for more visitors to this “special part” of New Zealand.
At 80km it would be the longest walking trail on the network.
Molesworth and Waiau-toa would be even longer than even the Heaphy Track, which DoC suggests takes 4 or 5-days or can be cycled during the low season.
However this is not the first time the north Canterbury trail has been suggested as a contender for Great Walk Status.
In 2018 the Molesworth trail was proposed and shortlisted during a public consultation by DOC as to where the next Great Walk should be, offering a share of the $76 million tourism infrastructure budget to bring it up to standard.
The Hurunui District and Kaikoura proposed the trail as a way of bringing tourists and economic relief into the region following the Kaikoura quakes.
It’s an idea that has been in development since 2017, but had been put on hold since missing out on selection and the Covid 19 downturn.
Graeme Abbot, Product Development Manager for Hurunui Tourism, told the Herald it was great to have the trail back in the public conversation.
“There is not a lot of infrastructure there for the 3 or 4 night journey over 80 kilometres,” he said.
The $14 million proposed in Nationals policy is equivalent to the amount proposed to bring the current trail up to standard with the rest of the Great Walk Network.
“It was a good product and a lot of work was done on it. Though, it ceased to be a priority since Covid.”
There was no provision for bike access in the initial proposal.
“The design was for three huts of thirty bunks,” says Abbot. “This represents around 5000 people a year, and that doesn’t take into account those freedome walking.”
While there were a lot of walking tracks available in the region, including a section of the Te Araroa long-distance trail, there was nothing of Great Walk standard.
Despite the simple, low-cost appeal of tramping - Abbot said that walkers represented significant value to the tourism economy, particularly in overnight accommodation at either end of the trail.
“For a track of this distinction to be in our district, the boost for the local and regional economy could be quite significant,” Hurunui Mayor Marie Black, told Newstalk ZB’s Tim Dower.
With Hanmer Springs and the Kaikoura coast at either end of the trail, there are plenty of tourism businesses which could benefit from increased foot fall.
“In 2017 our council supported the concept at the time. As a district we would embrace something of this nature in our district,” said Black.
According to DoC the Molesworth Recreation Reserve contains ecology and a landscape of national significance, featuring “scree-scarred mountains, wide river valleys and tussock slopes,” and some of the highest peaks in New Zealand outside the Southern Alps.
Currently there is an unmarked, five-day East to West route that DoC describes as “suitable for trampers who have a high degree of off-track experience and fitness.”
Clarence River to Molesworth was one of seven tracks shortlisted as part of the public consultation asking for potential Great Walks, in 2017-18.
Fiordland’s Hump Ridge Track, out of Tuatapere was eventually chosen as walk number eleven and is due to gain Great Walk Status next month.
Here are the other trails which were deemed potential greats:
Sub-tropical Northland is without a Great Walk but plenty of multi-day trails and tramps.
The Paki Track is a 48 km, 4-5 day coastal trail that leads around Cape Reinga at New Zealand’s most northerly point, from Spirit’s Bay to the Te Paki sand dunes.
Technically in Auckland, Aotea / Great Barrier is a 25km 2-3 day loop offering views over the Hauraki Gulf from Mt Heale and the crags of Windy Canyon. There are even hidden hot pools in the Kaitoke Wetlands.
Already a successful 2-day cycle trail the full 85km route traverses the historic bush tramways from historic forestry. The Trail cuts through podocarp forests of regenerating rimu and totara and takes visitors to explore the Ongarue Spiral.
Not far from Rotorua, leading through the landscape and lakes scarred by the Mt Tarawera eruption of 1886, the current trail is a 6hr route only accessible by water taxi. A potential Great walk would seek to add to the current 16km of wooded track.
Already one of the most popular multi-day trails in the country, the Queen Charlotte traces 71km from Meretoto / Ship Cove back to Picton, takes up to 5 days though the Marlborough Sounds. There is already well maintained infrastructure of trails, water taxis and even catered lodges throughout the route. Running over a mixture of private and crown land, it is only accessible by day permit.