Get walkers off the road: Te Araroa Trail founder

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Te Araroa Trail walkers ofen have to deal with heavy traffic on the Invercargill-Bluff highway when completing the trail.

The reputation of the length of New Zealand walkway is being damaged because trekkers have to complete the final leg into Bluff along a dangerous state highway, the trail's founder says.

Geoff Chapple, who founded the 3000km Te Araroa Trail From Cape Reinga to Bluff, said it was imperative to complete the Invercargill to Bluff section.

Geoff Chapple, founder of the length of New Zealand Te Araroa Trail.

Just 9km of the 26km leg is finished after six years, but plans are afoot to have the trail completed this summer.

For now, walkers complete the final 17 kilometres along State Highway 1 into Bluff.

Bruce Hopkins, a Kiwi actor and novice tramper, hiked the Te Araroa Trail but said the final road section into Bluff was dangerous.

'That road is a dangerous road to walk, we have to take them off the road,' Chapple said.

Bluff had traditionally been the finish point for the Te Araroa Trail, but more walkers were now starting their journey from the port town.

'To start the Te Araroa Trail and walk up a bloody highway with trucks racing past and rocking you back and forth with the downdraft is shocking for the reputation of the trail.'

Bruce Hopkins, who completed the Te Araroa Trail this month, said the final road section into Bluff was brutal and dangerous.

When walking off the track and onto the state highway towards Bluff he had to walk along the asphalt due to the roadside ditch being so close.

Trucks barrelled past him at close range so when a Bluff man stopped and offered him a lift, he took it.

'I was more than happy to forgo that last section of road … it's a brutal way to end the trail.'

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt also wanted the trail finished.

When the council voted to spend $2.5 million on a Living Dinosaurs Experience last week, Shadbolt said the trail should be a greater priority.

'I just think as an investment, if we want to attract tourists and we have got $2.5m to spend, I would rather the trail between Invercargill and Bluff be finished.'

The road was a 'death trap' and a 'such a disappointment' for the people finishing the 3000km walk, he said.

More than 550 people walked the trail From Cape Reinga to Bluff over the 2016-17 summer season, and many thousands more walked individual sections.

Environment Southland senior staffer Russell Hawkes said final completion of the Invercargill to Bluff section of the trail was dependent on reaching agreement with KiwiRail on crossing details.

'We hope to have the trail substantially completed this coming summer.'

About $826,000 had been spent on the southernmost section of the trail in the past six years, with funding coming from Environment Southland, Invercargill City Council, Te Araroa Trails Trust, Community Trust of Southland and ILT Foundation.

Another $650,000 was needed to complete the trail, but Environment Southland and the city council had $300,000 available between them and the national land transport fund was another potential funder in August.

A NZ Transport Agency spokeswoman said it was in the process of constructing 8km of seal widening in the narrowest areas of SH1 between Awarua and Bluff.

The agency had completed a 1km section of the trail to bypass the railway overbridge at Greenhills near Bluff and was building a 500m bund on the state highway on the outskirts of Bluff to support a cycle path - both to address safety issues.