The Trust would like to invite everyone to join us to celebrate the opening of the Luggate Creek Track on Sunday 30th May at 10 am at Harris Place in Luggate. Harris Place in is the new subdivision in Luggate and is accessed from Pisa Road. See track map for details.

The Luggate Creek Track is the first part of our current projects to be opened and connects the Luggate Township into the track network. The track also provides access to Luggate Creek and limited access to the Devil’s Nook.  We hope to be able to improve access to the Devils Nook later in the year as a further phase of this project.

The Devils Nook from the Luggate Creek Track

It is now possible to to walk or cycle between Luggate, Wanaka, Albert Town and Lake Hawea completely off road.

In the near future, we hope to include the small community at John’s Creek into the network, and we are also looking at options to fully connect to Hawea Flat. In the longer term, our goal is to creaet a track all the way down to Cromwell and Clyde to connect with the Otago Central Rail Trail and the Roxburgh Gorge Track.

The Trust is a registered Charity and funds its activities from grants and donations and support from the public and local businesses.

The Trust welcomes support either by cash donations or the donations of skills and services and details of what even small donations can achieve can be found on our Help the Trust build Tracks page.

The Trust is grateful for the support of the following groups for their financial support of the project.

Central Lakes Trust $120,000

Otago Community Trust $30,000

The Trusts Charitable Foundation $20,000

Alexander McMillan Trust $10,000

Callis Trust $10,000

Lion Foundation $10,000

First Sovereign Trust $10,000

DOC $43,244

The balance of the funds have been provided by the Trust.

Improving the Upper Clutha River Track

Work is currently underway to improve the surface of sections of the Upper Clutha River Track.

John Sutton, who constructed the track for the Trust has been onsite repairing and improving some problem areas as part of the original construction contract.

He has also been making some minor improvements identified by the Department of Conservation and funded by the Trust, mostly in respect of water tables to improve the drainage of the track.

The Department of Conservation who have taken over management of the track have also been busy gravelling some of the more muddy sections as seen above.

The track has been constructed to a similar standard to the Outlet track between Wanaka and Albert Town. The Trust has taken the decision that it is better to initially build 10km of track that can be used 90% of the time than to build 2km that can be used 100% of the time. The track will t be allowed to settle in and then be reviewed to see what sections may require additional work such as gravelling.

The track is now being managed by the Department of Conservation in Wanaka who are monitoring its condition and will liaise with the Trust in the spring regarding any improvements that are required.

In the meantime – please continue to use the track but be aware that there will be some muddy parts and you may need to walk your bike in those sections.

Hard track construction work ahead at Halliday Bluff Albert Town

The Trust is pleased to anounce that the tender to construct the challenging section of the Clutha River Track below Haliday Bluff has been let to JW & AE Sutton Trading Trust with work expected to start early in the new year.

John Sutton has recently completed the new section of the Glendhu Bay Track from the Mt Aspiring Viewpoint and new car park to Damper Bay and has also done the track improvement work on the Wanaka Millennium Track. If you have walked or cycled along these tracks you will know the care and attention that he puts into his work and the Trust is confident he will make a great job of the Clutha River Track.

The Cardrona River bridge at Albert Town was placed over the river on Wednesday 7th October. The bridge forms a vital part of the Clutha River Track running from Albert Town to near the Red Bridge in Luggate, and has been under construction for the last month. The track will form part of the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway project which will eventually create a track along the Clutha River from Lake Wanaka to the Sea.

A crane lowers the Cardrona Bridge onto its foundations.

The Clutha River Track was planned at the same time as the Hawea River Track, but the Trust focused on completing the Hawea River Track before starting construction on the Clutha River Track.

The construction of the bridge has been greatly assisted by a very generous donation of $25,000 from Meg Taylor, owner of the nearby Riverrun luxury lodge and farm. Meg is the widow of John Pawson, the first chair of the Trust who died last November in a tragic climbing accident, and the bridge will be named in his memory.

Meg Taylor giving Trust Chair Tim Dennis her donation at the Cardrona River Bridge site.

The Track will follow the true right of the Clutha River from Albert Town and this section will finish on Short Cut Road near the Red Bridge, where the Department of Conservation has built a carpark. Two sections of the track have already been marked and opened by the Department of Conservation at a simple marked route standard.

Stevensons Road Access to Clutha River Track

The first of these is the section between the end of  Stevensons Road, just west of Wanaka Airport, to near the west end of Short Cut Road near Luggate.

Access to Rekos Point and Clutha River Track at Short Cut Rd Luggate

This section was assisted by an adjoining landowner Lloyd Ferguson who formed a long section of the track, and by the Clutha Fisheries Trust who had raised funds to mark and fence paper road access to the Clutha River which forms part of this track.

Clutha River Track looking upstream between Rekos Point and Stevensons Road

The other section already opened is a continuation of the track round Rekos Point and back to the Short Cut Road access point.

Heading Upstream on the Rekos Point part of the Clutha River Track

The Trust hope to be able to upgrade these sections of track to make them easier to cycle once the miussing sections of the track have been completed.

The missing sections are between Albert Town and Stevensons Road, and are through the Haliday Bluffs just downstream from Albert Town. This section is the most challenging section of the track to build and it is currently being tendered,

Hard track construction work ahead at Halliday Bluff Albert Town

The other missing section is from the Rekos Point track to the new carpark on Short Cut Rd near the Red Bridge  and Luggate.

Route of missing link from Rekos Point Track towards the red Bridge at Luggate

The Trust is also working on extending the Clutha River Track on to the Devils Nook, and up Luggate Creek to the Luggate Township.