For the 3rd request on Turangi’s Christmas wish list we copy our report from:
Taupo-Turangi bike trail plan
Article from Taupo Times 13 November 2015 – by Matt Shand
An ambitious plan to build a 50km bike trail connecting Taupo and Turangi could mean big money for both towns when it gets the green light.
The project proposed by Destination Great Lake Taupo (Damian Coutts), Go Tongariro (Christine Dally) and Bike Taupo (Rowan Sapsford) aims to make Taupo to Turangi (T2T) towns a destination for tourist cyclists of all skill levels in the same way the Otago Central Rail Trail has revitalised South Island towns along the route.
etc.. (copied below)
Now, over a year later, the Government have announced their continued sponsorship towards tourist bike trails:
Cycle trails to receive more funding
The Government is investing $837,132 in nine new projects for the upkeep of the New Zealand Cycle Trail, Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key announced recently.
This investment comes from the fifth round of the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund, which aims to ensure New Zealand’s premier rides are maintained to their current world class standard.
The New Zealand Cycle Trail is ever growing in popularity among Kiwis and international visitors, with more than a million people visiting the 22 Great Rides last year. In light of this high usage it’s important the trails are kept to a standard that gives visitors a safe and enjoyable experience.
An evaluation released in October estimated that the Great Rides had produced $37.4 million in economic benefits in 2015 alone, through revenue from visitor spending.
The nine projects to receive funding from the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund are:
Motu Trails Trust: Motu Trails (Bay of Plenty), $29,752
Tasman District Council: Tasman Great Taste Trail (Tasman), $96,800
Queen Charlotte Track Incorporated: Queen Charlotte Track (Marlborough), $255,000
Mokihinui-Lyell Backcountry Trust: Old Ghost Road (West Coast), $42,971
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency: Rimutaka Cycle Trail (Wellington Wairarapa), $221,000
Hauraki District Council: Hauraki Rail Trail (Hauraki), $26,196
Central Otago Clutha Trails Ltd: Roxburgh Gorge and Clutha Gold (Otago), $21,713
Nelson City Council: Dun Mountain Trail (Nelson), $69,000
Ruapehu District Council: Mountains to Sea (Ruapehu), $74,700
Destination Great Lake Taupo: Taupo to Turangi (T2T), $ ??? Ooops? Sorry…
In February 2014, $8 million over four years was announced for the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund. A total of $4.2 million has been approved for 46 projects across 19 Great Rides.
The most deserving tourist trail proposal still missing out on the sponsoring is the T2T (Taupo to Turangi) bike trail? Turangi is still waiting to develop the T2T Bike Trail around the eastern edge of Lake Taupo… It is worth waiting for as it will undoubtedly become the most popular in NZ. It will do more for Turangi than any other single proposal. But Turangi has been neglected again… In the same five-six years since this T2T was proposed to Taupo Council, other bike trails have been conceived, developed and are now being extended – i.e. The Hauraki Trail. Meanwhile Turangi waits…
Taupo to Turangi – T2T – bike trail is all go (?)
After considering the rapid development and increasing popularity of so many successful tourist mountain bike trails throughout NZ, it is quite surprising that this T2T trail has not already been completed years ago.
At last the good people at Destination Great Lake Taupo – “DGLT” – the Taupo Council’s tourism promotion team lead by Damian Coutts – have realised the dream of many. DGLT have commissioned a feasibility Report on the T2T (Taupo to Turangi) bike trail to sort out the exact route, cost benefits, etc. for Government funding purposes.
It is interesting that nearly all of the other bike trails completed around the Taupo-Turangi-Tongariro central plateau region are, or were, the inspiration and ideas from local bike clubs and not from the tourist operators. This is not intended to criticise any of the clubs – like Bike Taupo – as their tracks and results have been simply outstanding Full marks to them.
However most of the trails were designed and built by keen fit bike club members to create challenging routes where their members wanted to test their biking skills and improve their fitness for endurance events, etc. They are too tough for tourist novices.
There is nothing at all wrong with that except the original Government funding (Nga Haerenga) for bike trails was supposed to be directed towards encouraging tourism – particularly aimed at the more remote or marginally economic locations that were missing out on many benefits from the tourism bubble – like the Republic of Turangi?
Market research on bike trails by Tourism Resource Consultants for Nga Haerenga, (the New Zealand Cycle Trail) found there are approximately four times more domestic bikers than international.
But as tourism is the biggest employer and most important industry in this Taupo region, there is demand for a full one day bike trail more suitable for the broad range of tourists of all ages and abilities, rather than physically testing routes largely restricted to keen fit mountain bikers or bike club members.
Just consider where some of the bike trails are located?
The latest locally being the Timber Trail leading from a popular tourist hot spot to another tourist mecca – Benneydale to Ongarue?
i.e. The target market, domestic and international tourists, would be lucky to find either and then there is always the other difficult logistical issues – transport problems to get bikes back to the start, affordable bikers accommodation etc.
DOC invested more than $5 million on this 80 km multi-day Timber Trail mountain bike ride in a remote wilderness.. Despite those misgivings it attracted over 6.500 riders over the past year. Comparatively this T2T proposal following SH 1 should attract ten times as many visitors. Which brings us on to DOC.
Throughout NZ, DOC currently has over 1600 km of tracks for bikers with 19 of the 23 Great Rides developed as part of Nga Haerenga on public conservation land.
DOC is also the manager and primary developer of four of these bike trails including the central North Island Timber Trail, and three in the South Island being Queen Charlotte Trail, St. James Cycle Trail and Otago Central Rail trail.
DOC also opened the Heaphy Trail for seasonal mountain biking last year after a three year trial. The Heaphy Trail is visited by more than 10,000 walkers each year. It has been improved over recent years with over $4 million spent on track upgrades, three hut replacements and other bike friendly facilities such as bike washing stations and widening bridges for bikers.
The daddy of all NZ’s bike trails, the Otago Rail Trail, has attracted more than 20,000 annual visitors for each of the past seven years with about 40% traveling to Clyde from the North Island. The Otago Rail Trail provided the specification for many others to follow. So TRM are surprised that DOC have not been more involved financially, as compared to many of the other tracks, the commercial success of T2T is a no-brainer.
The T2T is a natural fit for DOC as it would link their other bike tracks to tourist destinations such as the TRT (Tongariro River Trail) to their Trout Centre (Trout Farm?) located to the south of Turangi and Huka Falls to the north of Taupo.
The feedback from TRM guests indicates the demand from wannabe bikers is for softer ‘tourist friendly’ trails like the popular TRT (Tongariro River Trail) managed by DOC – suitable for all tourists’ fitness and ability levels and ages with a popular feature or theme. Excellent local precedents include the beginner trails along both sides of the Waikato River – the Rotary Ride, Redwoods Track and the Aratiatia Damn Ride and now a trail along the shoreline of beautiful Lake Taupo to top them all. Wonderful news.
DGLT investment to date is for a comprehensive feasibility study which should be completed by end of April 2016. (?) So we suspect DOC are just waiting for confirmation of a positive feasibility study to be paid for by local ratepayers – organised by DGLT – before they invest. Very smart. Yet for DOC this T2T would become the jewel in the crown.
The T2T track construction beyond Waitahanui could commence as early as next Summer. About nine km of the trail is already formed known as Lions Walk, from Taupo via 5 Mile Bay to Waitahanui so it is largely an extension south along the lake edge and following the general route of SH1 through a number of attractive small holiday and retirement settlements such as Hatepe, Motutere, Waitetoko, Te Rangiita, Oruatua, and Motuoapa. This T2T trail will have massive economic benefits to these villages and to Turangi.
The route crosses over several rivers including the Waitahanui, Hinemaiaia, Tauranga-Taupo, Waimarino, Waiotaka Rivers so most of these will require the construction or addition of bike bridges. The swamp land closer to Turangi will need to negotiate over wet areas and may require board walks.
So a total budget of about $6 million is envisaged. NZTA (New Zealand Transport Authority) will inevitably also be involved with funding to upgrade the bridges on SH 1 for better pedestrian and bike access.
Some of the many other bike trails and wilderness walking tracks in this region include:
1 Full day ride from Tree Trunk Gorge to Pillars of Hercules (Upper Tongariro River) to Turangi via Tongariro River trail (Enquire at TRM for route maps).
2 Full day – 42nd Traverse (SH47 on Tongariro National Park to Owhango),
3 Half day – W2K (Whakaipo Bay to Kinloch),
4 Two day – Timber Trail (Benneydale to Ongarue),
5 Half Day – Kawakawa Bay to Kinloch, (Taupo),
6 Half day – Old Coach Road (Ohakune),
7 Full day – Fishers Track (National Park via Bridge to Nowhere to Wanganui River – return to Pipiriki via boat),
8 Half Day – Tongariro River Trail (loop track along the Tongariro River in Turangi).
9 Full Day – Waihaha loop from SH41 following the river and combines a tramp down to Waihaha Bay and return over farmland.
But the T2T is the BIGGIE… So (this was in 2015) everyone in Turangi is celebrating DGLT’s latest initiative to develop a scenic tourist bike trail to link Taupo to Turangi. TRM predict this will knock the socks of so many other bike trails in NZ.
