This is the type of information we hate posting on social media. Hopefully, the Council will hate it even more. You might need to boil the jug…
This is not the only time we have had to expose the neglect and lack of maintenance of the most popular tourist bike/tramping/jogging/fitness trail in Turangi. The northern loop extends from the SH1 road bridge to zig-zag up the hill to provide views (which are now blocked out) over the Tongariro River.
Young fit daredevil bulletproof bikers might handle the rough conditions but the majority of tourist biker guests are inexperienced families or are more cruisy sedate “mature” (aka male, pale & stale) visitors who expect and deserve an easier less difficult riding surface than this… Many have biked on other bike trails around NZ so they can compare. They suggest that this is not up to any normal tourist trail standard!
Bikers will be aware that Taupo District Council recently spent $MILLIONS on their bike tracks along the lake edge and also beside the bypass to cover pumice with silky smooth 2.8 metre wide concrete surfaces (see photo below). They applied to MBIE (Ministry of Everything) for $3.6 million to help fund them, but would not apply to help their little tourist town 50 km south.
TRM do not enjoy posting incriminating photos like these. But when one biking tourist inmate complains then we have to take note. After two complaints, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Manager of everything here) gets antsy. Now after three complaints and one guest’s accident (He is an experienced ebiker) we are obliged to grizzle again about the terrible condition of Turangi’s track to encourage the Council to do something… Repairs and drainage are now urgent as the peak tourist summer season is about to start.
Have a squiz at the photos below and you decide if SWMBO is over-reacting? These illustrate a few samples of track erosion – photos taken from the northern end of the Tongariro River Trail heading south back to the Koura Street swingbridge.
Then you might enjoy comparing the Tongariro River Trail to the Taupo version – scroll down!
OK? The poor condition of the track is compounded by other tourists’ complaints:
At the top of the hill are two seats strategically positioned for walkers to have a rest to enjoy the distant views out beyond the delta to Lake Taupo and upriver. The only problem is that for the last few years the views have been completely blocked out by ugly scruffy secondary growth. The track has recently been trimmed but they missed the shrubbery. Or are we expecting too much?
But don’t go away…
The following is especially for Turangi tourist bikers to compare Taupo’s version alongside SH1...
East Taupō Arterial shared pathway
Project overview
(July update) Work is underway to build a new shared pathway alongside the East Taupō Arterial (ETA) route from the Airport Roundabout off Lake Terrace and Anzac Memorial Drive to Centennial Drive.
The path will provide access to current and future residential developments and help to connect our communities going into the future. Upgrading the current unsealed surface to concrete will open access to many different users, providing a travel area separate from motorised traffic for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, wheelchair users, joggers, dog walkers and other users.
Implementation of the project rests with locally employed workers from CAMEX and is expected to be completed December 2022, weather permitting.
| Location: | East Taupō Arterial (ETA) |
| Project status: | Phase one complete – airport roundabout to SH5 Napier-Taupō roundabout. Phase two in progress – SH5 Napier-Taupō roundabout to Broadlands Rd |
| Project budget: | $3.6 million – funded by central government |
| Start date: | August 2021 |
| Completion date: | December 2022 |
| Contractor: | Camex Sub-contractors – May Concrete Placers |
Project update 26 August:
Pathways project connecting communities (except for Turangi!)
With another section of the new East Taupō Arterial (ETA) shared pathway completed, Taupō is well on its way to having a pedestrian and cycling network that circles the entire town.
The recently completed shared pathway along Acacia Bay Road now links to the CBD and the Great Lake Pathway. A new 2.8 metre-wide pathway that runs alongside SH1 from the airport roundabout to the SH5 Napier-Taupō roundabout will connect future residential developments in the south of the town. Work is under way on the next segment, which connects this section to the intersection of the ETA, Broadlands Road.
4 July 2022: Marking a milestone on ETA shared pathway
Elected members, council staff and contractors gathered last Monday to mark a milestone in our East Taupō Arterial shared pathway project.
The team have battled the weather and concrete supply disruptions over the last few months to complete pouring the new 2.8 metre-wide pathway which runs alongside SH1 from the airport roundabout to the SH5 Napier-Taupō roundabout. Work on the next segment is underway.
Mayor David Trewavas said that it was great that the pathway was already being used – and that will increase as the pathway grows.
“This is all about connecting our communities and making sure we have infrastructure in place for cyclists, walkers and joggers to move around our town without necessarily having to go down on to Lake Terrace,” Mr Trewavas said.
After preparing all that I received a prompt reply from Taupo Council… I should have known… They never fail to amaze me. Of course you would have realised, it is not their problem. The classic solution to all problem issues. Pass the buck to another Department…
Kia Ora Ross,
Thank you again for sending through your concerns. I have just been told it is under DOC (Department of Conservation). I forwarded your photos as long as your original request to them to get this sorted for you. I emailed this through to the Taupo office.
Nāku ngā mihi, nā
Jess
Jessica Sanft Team Leader Customer Support – Kaiārahi Rōpū Tautawhi Kiritaki
So congratulations are in order if you have persevered this far, but this then brings up another interesting issue.
Who does the riverside strip of land belong to?
If you want to improve it you need official permission for something as simple as restoring the existing track. But everyone claims they own it – starting with the local Iwi? Tuwharetoa or Turangitukua. That appears to depend on who you ask. They both own everything here – the sky, the rain, etc.
Or the council? But then which council? The District Council (who have just passed the parcel, repaired the track last time), or the Regional Council (who control the lake levels)?
The Government Departments could be either of the DOC’s? i.e. Department of Conservation – who manage the track – or Department of Corrections – who has maintained the track for the last hundred years – who own the adjoining farm/forestry and require their permission to cross their farm to access the track? Then we might enquire, who owns the track? i.e. If the track is flooded, who owns the water? Genesis controls the dam so they should be in on the picnic too.
Then the BIG question… was it included in the Treaty Settlement? Then it gets more interesting.
Below is the specification from the 1995 Turangi Township settlement by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Not many people know this… They decided: quote:
“The Tribunal sought further information from the Department of Justice on the subsequent use of the lands included in the Turangi East site. We were informed that an area of 647.325 hectares (1598 acres) known as Mangamawhitiwhiti Farm had been sold by Treasury to Landcorp on 1 April 1987 and that ‘Justice has never been advised of this property sale nor did it receive any revenue from its sale’.
Excluded from the sale was a strip of land along the east bank of the Tongariro River, reserved for conservation purposes.
Up to 1987, this land was part of Hautu Prison Farm (also known as Tongariro Prison Farm). A 1969 Department of Lands and Survey report on land development activity in the Te Kuiti district recorded that this land, then called Poutu, was an area of 530.5 hectares (1311 acres), which had just been laid in grass.13By 1969 the area supported over 4000 breeding ewes and 240 breeding cows. In 1980 the block, now known as Mangamawhitiwhiti, had been enlarged to 631 hectares. A Lands and Survey report that year described it as mainly flat land bordering the Tongariro River, with a tight pumice soil of low natural fertility and very prone to summer drought’.
(This interesting but perhaps irrelevant historical information has been added to indicate the extraordinary extent of deep meaningful research by TRM’s legal department – aka SWMBO.)
So now you know. Watch this space…