Blue Spring walkway re-opens after two years of repairs

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

After two years and $2 million, Putāruru’s popular Blue Spring/Te Waihou Walkway has officially re-opened.

Two years, and $2.1 million later, Putāruru’s popular Blue Spring/Te Waihou Walkway is now fully open to the public.

What was first billed as storm and landslip repairs, which would take about a year, and less than $1 million to fix, turned into a full repair, maintenance, and upgrade job which the South Waikato District Council says “shouldn’t need shutting again for the foreseeable future”.

The popular walkway about 5km north of Putāruru was partly closed in June 2023 after a rockfall forced the council to close the main carpark entrance near Leslie Rd.

Putāruru’s Blue Spring/Te Waihou Walkway was partly closed after rockfalls closed the main track in June, 2023.

Subsequent problems with people parking dangerously on a busy state highway forced the council to close it completely in November 2023 with the council then deciding to carry out extensive maintenance and upgrades while it was closed.

The council’s delivery executive manager Nick Murphy said the maintenance and upgrade of the walkway had seen three years of work achieved in one.

He said the council had initially budgeted $2.1 million for track renewal, which was spread across the first three years of its long-term plan 2024-2034, but moved the work forward to “avoid further track closures in the immediate future”.

The walkway was fully closed in November 2023 after problems with visitors parking dangerously on a state highway.

He said alongside critical work to secure rockfall at the site, the project included strengthening boardwalks and diverting the walking track away from unstable cliffs.

The car park at the Leslie Road end has also been upgraded to triple its previous capacity, a key measure to increasing safety at that entry point of the track.

The 4.7km-long walkway, well known for its pristine water which attracts 45,000 to 50,000 visitors a year, can now once again be accessed from two ends – Leslie Road and Whites Road.

The refurbished walkway is now fully open.

Murphy said it was a “wonderful outcome for members of the district and the tens of thousands of domestic and international tourists who visit the walkway”.

“This work has not only addressed safety and access issues, but also improved several areas of the track,” Murphy said.

“There were also major end-of-life assets that had to be renewed or replaced.

New walkways have also been installed on the popular walking track near Putāruru.

“We have now caught up on the outstanding maintenance of many years and, barring unforeseen natural events, the walkway shouldn’t need shutting again for the foreseeable future.”

Following a re-opening ceremony and karakia by South Waikato mana whenua Raukawa on June 27, Murphy acknowledged the cultural significance of the site.

“Te Waihou is a special place for mana whenua. We want to thank them and the wider community for their patience and support over the last two years.”

South Waikato mayor Gary Petley said the work did take longer than expected, and “a lot of people were pretty vocal when we shut it down”.

“But we realised it was not worth just doing a repair, so we put forward funding into it and made it all the same standard at the same time.

“It’s important to have these things done to a high standard, yes it took time, but it’s a quality repair, and we won’t have to spend much on it for quite a while.”