User:Johnragla/Pou Herenga Tai – Twin Coast Cycle Trail

Pou Herenga Tai – Twin Coast Cycle Trail is one of 23 Great Rides in New Zealand. It is an 87 km cycleway (also used by walkers) in Northland, North Island, fully opened at the end of 2016.

Route
Much of the route is a rail trail, using the trackbed of the former Opua and Ōkaihau Branch railways.

The central point is Kaikohe, from where the trail descends to the twin coasts, east and west. The Ōkaihau to Horeke section is grade 2-3. Most of the trail is off road, with some quiet country roads and a short section on State Highway 1, through the centre of Kawakawa. The western entrance at Baffin St, Opua is 4.4 km from the train section at Te Akeake, where a train runs to Taumarere, 3.2 km from Kawakawa. When the train isn't running there is a temporary 17.7 km alternative route (see below). The trail runs beside the railway from Kawakawa to Taumarere. Horeke's 1.2 km boardwalk is the longest on any of the Great Rides. Dogs, horses and motor vehicles are banned from some of the trail. The trail is described as 4 sections -

Opua-Kawakawa
Opua-Kawakawa (11 km) is Grade 1 easiest, marina, mangrove, estuary and crossing rivers, Taumarere station toilet and picnic spot, Hundertwasser architecture at the toilets in Kawakawa. The cycle trail starts at the end of Baffin Street, Opua. Kawakawa has cafés, supermarket, museum, art gallery, craft and gift shops.

Kawakawa-Kaikohe
Kawakawa-Kaikohe (34 km) is Grade 1 – 2 easiest-easy, a 300m on-road detour between Kawakawa and Kaikohe, twin suspension bridges at Tuhipa, Orauta Stream, rural scenery cycling through farmland, Kaikohe Aerodrome, Hundertwasser toilets. There are cafés, a small supermarket, museum, art gallery and plenty of craft and gift shops. Leaving Kawakawa from just behind the railway station, the trail takes you past the back of Moerewa, passing a disused wood mill and other industrial areas, there is a public toilet, a bakery, a small supermarket, butchery and a takeaway. The next 25km of the trail is a gradual climb to Kaikohe, passing the northernmost operational point of the railway at Otiria. waterfalls. Kaikohe Aerodrome built in 1942 as a US Marines bomber base, is the largest grass strip in the Southern hemisphere used now by general aviation. Kaikohe Pioneer Village, 200 metres off the trail is a 5 acre outdoor museum, Ngapipito Road between Otiria and Kaikohe has an on road section for about 500m before re-joining the formed trail.

Kaikohe-Ōkaihau
Kaikohe-Ōkaihau (14 km) is Grade 1 – 2 easiest-easy. Kaikohe is approximately the middle of the cycle trail. 7 ch long curved tunnel built in 1915 at the 280 m summit of the trail, with views of Hokianga Harbour sand dunes and Mount Hikurangi. Lake Ōmāpere Northland’s longest lake and also significant in Maori mythology. A ford close to Ōkaihau can be cycled through, or there is a bridge. Kaikohe has cafés and supermarkets and Ōkaihau a café, takeaways and a supermarket.

Ōkaihau-Horeke
Ōkaihau-Horeke (28 km) is Grade 2 – 3 easy-intermediate and ends at Māngungu Mission Station of 1838. Storyboards on the Settlers Way / Horeke Road, views of Puketi Forest through the valley of the Utakura River, picnic spot, Lily Pond beside the trail. Passenger and cycle ferry between Horeke and Kohukohu (4km) and cross to Rawene on Tuesdays around midday. There is accommodation in Kohukohu and Rawene, churches and the war memorial gates all with storyboards, view down the Utakura Valley, heading down the trail via a series of switchbacks, trail beside the Utakura River surrounded by bush. Coming out of the farmland the trail is by the road to a 1.2 km boardwalk through the mangroves to Hokianga Harbour. At the old Horeke Fire Station the trail shares the road for approx 3 km to the end. Horeke is a small town, cell phone coverage is patchy, 12 Km from Ōkaihau or 16 kms from Horeke is a river picnic spot with toilet, tables, old tractors, roosters and chickens, a detour on Horeke Road follows the road for approx 500m before re-joining the formed trail. Most common route is from Horeke (or the wharf at Mangungu Mission) across to Kohukohu at noon on Tuesdays and Fridays.

History
The Great Rides were proposed by John Key after a 2009 jobs summit, but this one was a surprise 21st item. Between 2010 and 2023 $8,272,028 was spent on the trail. Far North District Council (FNDC) opened Kaikohe-Ōkaihau in 2013 and Taumarere-Opua in 2014. By 2016 the Kawakawa-Horeke section was open, but 2 bridges on Ngapipito Road, Tirohanga bridge, Horeke boardwalk and 2 truss bridges were being built and the section near Kaikohe Aerodrome was being designed. Taumarere-Kawakawa was built beside the railway, but re-piling of the Long Bridge took longer than expected, originally expected to be completed in June 2014. At the end of 2016 the trail fully opened to Horeke, after missing a mid-2016 deadline and concerns, in 2015, it might never be finished. The Ōkaihau-Horeke section was officially opened on 18 March 2017. Otago Rail Trail was said to be a river of gold, especially needed for, "the poorer west where few visitors venture and where jobs are scarce". Long Bridge-Te Akeake closed after BoIVR used $5.59m provided in 2020 by the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to reinstate rail lines buried beneath the trail.

Temporary Opua-Taumarere on-road cycle trail
In 2022 FNDC decided to develop a temporary Opua-Taumarere on-road cycle trail in place of the railway corridor, which would revert to rail as the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway (BoIVR) extended from Taumarere to Opua. As a member of the Northern Adventure Experience (NAX), FNDC worked with BoIVR and the Cycle Trail Trust to ensure that Opua and Kawakawa are joined by a scenic railway and a cycle trail. The intention was to build a new cycle trail alongside the recovered Opua-Taumarere section of the railway. However, the council says design complexities, extra safety requirements and inflationary pressures on construction costs have made this option unviable. Because of this, FNDC decided to develop a temporary 17 km cycle trail between Opua and Taumarere via Oromähoe and Whangae roads. It involves hill climbing and is more than twice as long as the 7.6 km railway route. FNDC also temporarily withdrew from NAX, which was formed to co-ordinate the extension of the railway and development of a new cycle trail within the rail corridor on a similar timeline. Mayor John Carter said FNDC reassessed the time frame for a cycle trail alongside the Opua-Taumarere section of the railway. FNDC also arranged with the trust to allow cyclists to take their bikes on trains from Kawakawa to Opua when BoIVR is complete. By 26 December 2022 BoIVR and FNDC cleared weeds and improved Whangae Tunnel overpass to reopen the Te Akeake-Opua section for cyclists and walkers and allow them on Te Akeake-Taumarere BoIVR trains for a gold coin. In 2023 safety for cyclists and pedestrians at the junction of Franklin Street, English Bay Road, Oromahoe Road, and State Highway 11, on Opua Hill, was improved with a 60 kph speed limit and cyclist/pedestrian activated safety signs to help with crossing SH11.

Future plans
FNDC also began negotiations with KiwiRail in 2022 for a long-term lease to allow a permanent Opua-Taumarere trail alongside the reinstated railway, with $13.2m for the project. It was expected a permanent trail beside the Opua-Taumarere railway would be built when the BoIVR Colenso Triangle project was delivered.

Colenso Triangle terminus
The Baffin Street entrance to the trail is about 750 m from the original site of Opua station. On 28 August 2017 BoIVR got a resource consent to build a station, café, function room, bike hire shop, water tower and locomotive turntable at Colenso Triangle and promised to build a cycleway alongside the railway. However, having the cycle trail end at Colenso Triangle does not align with the Northland Walking and Cycling Strategy, nor NZ Cycle Trails Great Rides requirements, as it isn't a high quality destination. The Minerva steam ferry is planned to allow trail users to reach Waitangi. Construction of maritime servicing area in Kawakawa River South, is under Waitangi Treaty Claim and once Treaty settlement occurs there will need to be agreement between mana whenua and the Cycle Trail Trust for use of the cycle trail. The land has been landbanked for settlement with no Cultural Impact Assessment prepared to support the application.

Pou Herenga Tai - Twin Coast Cycle Trail Trust
Pou Herenga Tai - Twin Coast Cycle Trail Trust manages the cycle trail, including maintenance, marketing and future development, to create jobs and provide for tourism with grants from FNDC and NZ Cycle Trails.

Administration of the trail is divided between trusts covering - Taumarere-Opua, Waipuna, Kawakawa-Taumarere, Moerewa, Otiria and Ngapipito Valley and Waipuna, Rakautao, Lake Omapere-Kaikohe, Ōkaihau, Utakura, Māngungu and Horeke.

Trail use
Trail counters in the year to 28 February 2020 recorded 68,817 pedestrian and cycle trips. At least 3,600 rode the whole trail. The Opua end had over 5 times the cycle counts of the Horeke end, but Horeke had the largest number of walkers; at a bridge a few kilometres south of Horeke 21,332 (11,733 people) walked and 4,721 (4,155 people) cycled. Pedestrians walked out and back, but most cyclists went to Horeke. It may be the least popular section for cycling, though cyclists using the quiet country road alongside aren't counted. 2,542 (1,907 people) walked and 6,333 (5,636 people) cycled 2 km out of Ōkaihau, at Macadamia Farm entrance. 2 km north of Kaikohe, between a mountain bike track, a tunnel and a café at Ōkaihau 7,207 (4,324 people) walked and 11,633 (8,725 people) cycled. 2 km west of Moerewa, where, apart from the historic railway bridges, there is no strong destination for there-and-back trips, 3,857 (2,893 people) walked and 7,857 (7,071 people) cycled. The trail is downhill from Kaikohe to Moerewa. 400 m west of Kawakawa 9,300 (5,580 people) walked and 12,924 (9,693 people) cycled, showing use by local commuters. 500 m from Opua carpark 14,228 (9,960 people) walked and 26,432 (19,824 people) cycled. Walkers and cyclists do out and back trips for the scenery and level trail. In 2021 figures were 35,668 pedestrians, 30,949 cyclists and in 2022 29,269 pedestrians and 33,395 cyclists, a total of 62,665, a drop of 6% to 2022, compared with an average 10% growth in use of all the Great Rides.

add Category:New Zealand Cycle Trail