Running the lakefrontRiverrun Trail Series

Come and enjoy one of Wanaka’s stunning tracks: the Hawea River Track, the Upper Clutha Track, the Damper Bay/ Waterfall Creek Track and the Outlet Track

Spectacular scenery, exciting trails that wind their way alongside the region’s most stunning waterways and races that appeal to all abilities – the Riverrun Trail Series.

The Riverrun Trail Series allows competitors to explore four of the region’s recently developed tracks.  The tracks are all lakeside or riverside and all are challenging in their own respects and will provide a memorable experience for athletes, from first timers to experienced runners.

The Riverrun Trail Series begins 1^st October 2011 and concludes on 19th May 2012 with four races making up the series. There are prizes for place getters and plenty of spot prizes to ensure everyone’s in with a chance of winning.

Enter one or enter the whole Series – the overall winner of the Series will earn the John Pawson Trophy, named after inspirational local John Pawson who was a dedicated advocate for the environment and the development of the trails.

For more information visit www.trailseries.co.nz or email event@trailseries.co.nz

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.

Hawea to Johns Creek proposed track route

The Trust is pleased to announce that after more than a year of  fund raising we have finally achieved the full budget total of $291,617 for our latest track project.

Our new project is the extension of the track network at both Lake Hawea and at Luggate.

Lake Hawea to Johns Creek.

This new section of track will run connect with the existing track through the the lakeside reserve and then run mostly along the cliff tops to the small settlement at Johns Creek. This will be of a similar standard to the Upper Clutha River Track, and will also form part of the Te Araroa long distance pathway.

Looking towards Hawea from near Johns Creek

Planning for this section has been taking place for some time and we are currently waiting for a resource consent for a small section of track. We hope to start construction of some of this track in the next couple of months.

Red Bridge to the Devils’s Nook and Luggate Township.

This will extend the existing Upper Clutha River Track, downstream along the Clutha River to Luggate Creek where a new footbridge will cross the creek. Once over the creek a track will give access to the Devils Nook, a beautiful feature of the Clutha River and provide easier fishing access downstream.

The Devil's Nook near Luggate

A track will also follow Luggate Creek up the township and the Luggate Pub for those who feel they deserve a drink after completing the track.

Work has already started on constructing the track and bridge and we hope to be able to open this section in June.

New Track near Luggate Creek Mouth

Funding

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.

The first event is on the 17 October, on the Hawea River Track  and offers a 5km, 10 km and half marathon option.

The Riverrun Trail Series will allow competitors to explore three of the region’s recently developed tracks – the Hawea River Track, the Upper Clutha River Track and the Glendhu Bay Track. The tracks are all lakeside or riverside and all are challenging in their own respects and will provide a memorable experience for athletes, from first timers to experienced runners.

The Riverrun Trail Series begins October 2010 and concludes in May 2011 with three races making up the series. There are prizes for place getters and plenty of spot prizes to ensure everyone’s in with a chance of winning.

Enter one or enter the whole Series – the overall winner of the Series will earn  the John Pawson Trophy, named after local John Pawson who was  the first chair of the Upper Clutha Tracks Trust and a driving force behind the creation of the tracks.

More information about the Riverrun Series can be found at www.trailseries.co.nz

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.

Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 14th October

5pm

St Johns Hall

Link Way Wanaka

All Welcome

Wanaka Millennium Track near Glendhu Bay

Work is progressing well on stage 3 of the Millennium Track from Damper Bay to Glendhu Bay. This is an Upper Clutha Tracks Trust project that is being funded and managed by Queenstown Lakes District Council with assistance from the Department of Conservation, and support of the adjoining landowners. This is another link in the Te Araroa long distance footpath.

Stage 3 runs from the small beach near the Mt Aspiring viewpoint on the road close to Glendu Bay,  and a new car park has been built at the start of the track.

A stile on the new part of the track

This part of the track is virtually finished and is able to be used with care. The track is not yet a through route and finishes at Damper Bay from which you have to return the same way. The return walk takes about 3 hours. Part of the track crosses the Damper Bay Bluff and is quite high and exposed.

Safety Rail on an exposed part of the Wanaka Millennium Track

Stage 2 of the Wanaka Millennium Track will run from the current end of the track at Ironside Trig and join up with Stage 3 at Damper Bay. This section is being developed by Otago Regional Council and the contractors Fulton Hogan are currently building the track. It is expected to be opened before Christmas.

View of the route of stage 2 from Ironside Trig to Damper Bay

Stage 1 of the track is currently being upgraded and maintained on behalf of QLDC by contractor John Sutton. If you see him and his colleagues on the track, say hello and tell them what a good job they are doing removing the boggy sections. The track is also being re-routed near Slaughter Creek at the junction with the link track that connects to Mt Aspiring Rd and on to the Mt Roy track. The new route will improve the gradient and provide a better track surface.

The Wanaka Millennium Track Story

Stage 1 of the track from waterfall creek to Ironside Trig was originally developed by Ralph Warburton and was known as the Warburton Walkway. It was later upgraded and renamed the Wanaka Millennium Track by the Otago Regional Council.

The intention was to eventually extend the track to Glendhu Bay and Otago Regional Council commissioned a scoping report to detail the route and costs of the project. The idea was to split the remaining route into 2 parts with  stage 2 being from Ironside Trig to Damper Bay, and stage 3 being from Damper Bay to Glendhu Bay near the Mt Aspiring viewpoint, on the road to glendhu Bay.

Damper Bay Bluff looking north

The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust was formed in October 2006 and one of the early projects considered was the Millennium Track extension. We  soon became aware that Otago Regional Council had set aside funds to build stage 2 to Damper Bay, and we were hopeful that the project would be started soon.

In May 2007 the Trust placed an ad in the Upper Clutha Messenger urging Upper Clutha Residents to make a submission on the Otago Regional Council  Annual Plan in support of allocating funding to build stage 3 of the track from Damper Bay to Glendhu Bay.

The ad produced a great result and more than 150 submissions were sent in support of funding for stage 3 but sadly Otago Regional Council  were not prepared to allocate the required funds although they did assure us that work would commence on stage 2 in the near future.

Near Glendhu Bay

At the time the Trust was mainly focused on the Hawea River Track, but with the assistance of DOC and Trish Wrigley and  Mark Symons, the Queenstown Lakes District Council Project Managers, the Trust and QLDC started planning how we could build stage 3 of the track.

In 2008, QLDC commited funds to the project and a route was marked and construction of the difficult section around the bluffs at Damper Bay was started in the summer. Unfortunately the contractor, John Sutton, was committed to other projects, and once the bluff section was completed,  had to leave the site to meet prior commitments.

Happily John and team have been back on site for the last few months and stage 3 of the track is virtually complete and can be used although it is still a dead end track.

Work has just commenced on stage 2 and this should be finished before Christmas. It will ten be possible to walk and cycle nearly all the way from Wanaka to Glendhu Bay.

The Trust is currently looking at the short and final section from the new car park to the Glendhu Bay camp ground and hope that this can be developed early next year.