A 2 minute video ride along the Newcastle Track
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AGM – 17th October 2012
Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
Six years of achievement
The Devil's Nook - Luggate Creek Track
Our annual general meeting will be held at 7.pm on Wednesday 17th October at the Print It Community Room on Brownston St Wanaka.
Everyone is welcome to join us as we celebrate six years of achievement and discuss ideas for new projects.
Our current projects the Newcastle Track and the Luggate Creek Track – stage 2 are both expected to be completed and open by Christmas, and the Trust is now reviewing ideas for new projects.
We will have a range of ideas available for discussion and would welcome any ideas that the public may have.
Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there on 17th.
Luggate Creek Track Official Opening
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
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 Devil's Nook - 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.
New Projects Fully Funded
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Gladstone Track at Lake Hawea
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.
View from the Gladstone Track
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 Devils Nook from the Luggate Creek Track
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.
Luggate Creek Bridge
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.
Clutha River Track News – December 09
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Work To Start Soon At Haliday Bluff
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.
Clutha River Track News October 09
Monday, October 12th, 2009
Cardrona River Bridge & 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 14th October 2009
Monday, October 12th, 2009
Upper Clutha Tracks Trust
Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 14th October
5pm
St Johns Hall
Link Way Wanaka
All Welcome
Wanaka Millennium Track News September 09
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Millennium Track Update 11 September 2009
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.
Tracks Trust News July 2009
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Hawea River Track – Official Opening – Sunday 2nd August
Hawea Bridge From Butterfield Reserve 9th July
The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust
is thrilled to announce the official opening of
The Hawea River Track
a fantastic project only made possible through the generous help and support of
Central Lakes Trust, Otago Community Trust, Queenstown Lakes District Council,
Department of Conservation, Te Araroa Trust, NZTA, Lakes Environment Services Ltd
Peter & Dawn Ward, Forest Range Farms Ltd and many others,
so
please come and join us
to celebrate this already highly popular addition to our track network
1pm Sunday 2 August 2009
at the new Hawea River swingbridge
Vehicle access from the eastern side of the Albert Town bridge
Come prepared to walk or ride some of the track as a community celebration
Hawea River Track
Work continues on the Hawea Bridge as contractors Fulton Hogan prepare it for the official opening celebration on Sunday 2nd August. The bridge underwent a “load test” on Thursday 9th July which is a crucial stage in preparing it for public use. One of the ways the bridge was tested was by placing a large “balloon” on the centre of the bridge and pumping it full of river water – approximately 3 tonnes!
Hawea Bridge undergoing a Load Test 9th July 2009
The bridge passed with flying colours and there are only a few finishing touches required. These works should be completed by the end of next week (17th July).
The Trust hope that there will a good community turnout for the official opening to help us celebrate the completion of of our 1st major project.
The Hawea River Track was one of the “missing links” in the Te Araroa long distance track that will run from Cape Reinga To Bluff. The Te Araroa Track is scheduled to open in 2010 and the Tracks Trust is very proud to be associated with the project and to be able to complete the missing link.
Millennium Track
The Millennium Track is being extended from Ironside Trig to Glendhu Bay in 2 stages.
Stage 2
This is the section from Ironside Trig to Damper Bay and is being funded and managed by Otago Regional Council. The tender for this work was advertised a few months ago, and the Trust has been advised that subject to some further information being received, Otago Regional Council hope to let the contract in the next couple of weeks. It is anticipated that this section will be finished in early summer.
Stage 3
This is the section between Damper Bay and Glendhu Bay, and is being funded and managed by QLDC with assistance and support from the Tracks Trust and Department of Conservation. From a construction point of view, the hardest part of this track around the Bluffs at Damper Bay has already been completed and the rest of the track is currently under construction. It is hoped that this will be finished by early summer.
Track Under Construction At Damper Bay Bluffs
These two stages are also “missing links” in the Te Araroa Project, and again the Tracks Trust is proud to be able to be a part of the national project.
Albert Town to Luggate Track
This will run from Albert Town to Luggate on the true right of the Clutha River and cross the Cardrona River on a new bridge a few hundred metres upstream from the confluence of the Cardrona and Clutha Rivers. The bridge plans are completed and all the resource consents are in place. The project is being managed on behalf of the Tracks Trust by the Department of Conservation, and the tender to construct the bridge should be advertised later this month.
The challenging part of the track to build is just downstream from Albert Town at the Haliday Bluffs, but a track line has been identified through this terrain and continues close to the river until an easier route is available on the river terrace upstream from Stevenson’s Rd.
Hard track construction work ahead at Haliday Bluff Albert Town
The route from Stevensons Road to Short Cut Rd was marked with warratahs and signposted by DOC about 18 months ago and passes the Reko’s Point historic gold workings. This section will be upgraded later as part of the project.
Track from Stevensons Rd To Reko's Point
Carparks at Albert Town and near the Red Bridge have already been created for the track.
New car park at Albert Town
New car park Shortcut Rd Luggate
Clutha River near Shortcut Rd
NEW TRACK IDEAS
The Trust is always looking for suggestions for new tracks from the public. If you have any ideas or suggestions please contact Tim Dennis on
Upper Clutha Tracks Trust
03 443 5733 (evenings only)
PO Box 713, Wanaka
Support Us
We are a Registered Charitable Trust (1898188) and are registered with the new Charities Commission (CC38956). We welcome financial donations or donations of skills and services to assist us develop new walking and cycling tracks.
Tracks Trust News June 2009
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
The Trust has been busy for the last 3 years working on several projects.
Working together with QLDC, DOC, Te Araroa Trust, Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, adjoining landowners and with additional funding from Central Lakes Trust, Otago Community Trust and NZTA, and the Wanaka Walkers the Trust has achieved the following
Albert Town to Lake Hawea Track (part of the Te Araroa long distance Track)
Heading towards Lake Hawea
The first part of this track south from the bridge at Camphill Rd to the bridge site near Albert Town has been completed and opened. Although this is currently a dead end track, it is a very popular walk/cycle ride already.
The rest of the track from Lake Hawea to Camphill road has been completed and the bridge over the Hawea River at Albert Town is expected to be finished by the end of July.
Hawea bridge under construction 23rd June 2009
An official opening of the track is being organised and details will be posted shortly.
Albert Town to Luggate Track (part of the Clutha Mata-Au long distance track)
The first part of this track from Stevensons Rd to Short Cut Rd near the Red Bridge, has been opened as a simple poled track. This is also gives access to the old mine workings at Reko’s Point.
A bridge design to cross the Cardrona River has been prepared and will be put out to tender shortly.
Planning and track line ideas for the Haliday Bluff section have been investigated and work is expected to commence on the remaining section in the next few months.
Millennium Track (part of the Te Araroa long distance Track)
Millennium track extension under construction near Glendhu Bay
Work has started on the final stage of the track from Damper Bay to Glendhu Bay and this section should be completed by late winter. The link between Ironside Trig and Damper Bay has been committed to by Otago Regional Council, and the Trust is encouraging them to get this section completed as soon as possible. A tender for the works has been advertised and bids received.
Millennium track extension under construction near Damper Bay
You can support this project by lobbying your ORC Councillors to finish the track.
Duncan Butcher dunmore7@xtra.co.nz
Gerrard Eckhoff mtbenger@nettel.net.nz
Millennium/Mt Roy Link
This short track links the Millennium Track to Mt Aspiring Rd approx 300m from the start of the Mt Roy Track. This means that it is possible to walk from the centre of Wanaka to The top of Mt Roy and only have to use a road for 300m. It also allows easier access to the lakeshore between Waterfall Creek and Glendhu Bay
Albert Town to Dublin Bay
A route along the true left of the Clutha River from the Albert Town Campground to Dublin Bay has been marked and signposted, using existing 4 wheel drive tracks. The Trust is investigating the idea of a new purpose built track that will run closer to the river
NEW TRACK IDEAS
The Trust is always looking for suggestions for new tracks from the public. If you have any ideas or suggestions please contact Tim Dennis on
Upper Clutha Tracks Trust
03 443 5733 (evenings only)
PO Box 713, Wanaka
Support Us
We are a Registered Charitable Trust (1898188) and are registered with the new Charities Commission (CC38956). We welcome financial donations or donations of skills and services to assist us develop new walking and cycling tracks.