News and media
Otago's new track
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The 11-kilometre Hawea River Track opens on Sunday, 2nd of August. Workers are now putting the final touches to a $155,000 river bridge across the river near Albert Town, and the opening will take place at the bridge in what’s being called a “community celebration.”
As well as being a standalone track between Hawea and Albert Town, the track completes Te Araroa’s link between Hawea and Wanaka townships.
The new track runs south from Domain Road Hawea, crosses the Hawea River near Albert Town and enters the township across the SH6 Clutha River Bridge.
It’s the work of the Upper Clutha Tracks Trust (UCTT) – what trust chairman Tim Dennis describes as “a steep learning curve, with 3 years work and a few frustrating moments . . . but the finished track makes it all worthwhile.”
“The trust is proud also to be part of the Te Araroa project. The creation of a long-distance pathway in New Zealand is a great public resource.”
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Tim Dennis said former chairman John Pawson was the driving force behind the trust choosing the Hawea River Track as its first task. John was killed in a climbing accident on Mt Aspiring, 27th November last year. He was vice-chairman of Otago Federated Farmers and ran a lodge in Wanaka with his wife Meg Taylor. He was formerly a co-founder of the outdoors adventure chain Kathmandu, and was the UCTT’s chairman at the time of his death.
Tim Dennis said the UCTT was presently considering what form its memorial to John Pawson would take.
The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust was supported in its work by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) staff and councillors, by Wanaka Community Board members, by the Otago Te Araroa Trust and by some extraordinary generosity from adjoining landowners. The track was built with funding and support from the New Zealand Transport Agency, the Department of Conservation’s Te Araroa Fund, DOC itself, the Central Lakes Trust, and the Otago Community Trust. QLDC project managers Trish Wrigley and Mark Symonds, QLDC Managers Paul Wilson and Denis Mander, also DOC Wanaka Area office staff, were particularly active and deserve a special thanks.
More detail at www.uppercluthatrackstrust.org.nz
