Te Ahu a Turanga (new Manawatu Gorge highway)
6 of us arrived at the western end of the new highway, and managed to find spaces for our 2 cars in the very full car park.
After queueing for the loo, and looking at the route map we started our walk by crossing the Manawatu River on the beautiful curving Parahaki Bridge. There are many information panels on the bridge and at intervals along the shared biking and walking track, covering Māori history and legend, details of the route design, and how they dealt with the many small streams in the area by creating wetlands. The highway gets its name from a particular rock on one of the hills above the road.
The highway gets its name from a particular rock on one of the hills above the road.
Thousands of flax, toi toi, manuka, grasses and other plants line the sides of the road and track, mostly still quite small. The rock faces have been coated with Pro-Granite, a sprayed medium that encourages vegetation growth, secured with netting to hold the surface while vegetation establishes. It all looks pretty good now, but will eventually be quite beautiful and bushy.
The views along the track are stunning, but overall the hard walking surface, traffic noise, and lack of any toilet (or big enough bushes!) en route detracted from our enjoyment, and mean that the track is far more suited to cyclists than walkers.
Nevertheless, there were quite a few other walkers, including a party from Whanganui Tramping Club.
We walked past the halfway point, had lunch, and returned to the cars after an 11.41 km walk, with an ascent of about 356m, duration just under 4 hours.
It was a hot day, and we were very pleased to discover a small café selling coffees and ice-creams!
The Tramping Club welcomes new trampers! Phone or email Ed and Juliet Cooke, 06 304 9497 or efjac@xtra.co.nz. Check out our website and Facebook page.
