Thwarted access to the hills

In other countries there is a right to roam. On my Scottish OE I enjoyed climbing any hill that took my fancy. In Sweden the allemansrätten ensures you can pretty much walk anywhere you’d like. In New Zealand outside the conservation estate we get a few scraps of land to walk over. When the land was stolen or bought from the Maoris and it was settled and divvied up there wasn’t much thought for the future recreational needs of all New Zealanders. So there is not much right to roam.

I love the fact that all the topo maps are now available for free from LINZ (even if they are the hugest tiff files that slows my computer down to a snail’s pace) and I really like the Walking Access Mapping System that shows all the cadastral boundaries for all NZ and where you can legally walk. Unfortunately it doesn’t show lots and lots of paper roads criss-crossing the countryside. Take the Horowhenua. There’s only a few surprises. The Waitarere-Hokio Road does indeed join up with Moutere Road as a paper road. The Moutoa Floodway and the stopbanks around Opiki are on public land, as is the historic bridge (but there’s no sign to say so near the engineers monument, so everyone thinks they’re trespassing to go down to the old bridge, but they’re not). And there is a paper road through the Tokomaru gorge.

There’s also some paper roads leading off Wallace Loop Road, Potts Road and Heights Road, but they don’t seem to link up with anywhere you could walk, except tracks that cross private land. This is a great shame, as it would open up quite a lot of nice hikes linking through to the Kohitere Forest (which is private, but open for trampers and mountain bikers). It’s this lack of connectivity of the public rights of access which is stopping developing recreational resources for the people of the Horowhenua, and hence also stopping a few visitors from visiting if there isn’t as much for them to do.

Here’s a snapshot from WAMS showing the area I’m talking about. The pink is a paper road, and the orange and white banded road at the bottom is in the Kohitere Forest. Between them are tracks along the ridge line of the first range of hills you can see looking east standing in Levin.

I went for a walk doing the loop in the forest, beginning and ending at the You Are Here, and walking the northern part of a loop on the brown track below to the Arapaepae Lookout and walk the Arapaepae Track back. (It is part of Te Araroa, but it is a bit unique as it as branch off the main part of the Te Araroa Trail, to link through walkers into Levin.) I also thought I’d explore the trails northwards until I came to a big fence or a dumb No Trespassing sign.

I’m much of the same opinion as the late Christopher Hitchens that “faith” is an overrated virtue, if it is a virtue at all, and trespass is a most underrated virtue. (That’s me, that last bit, not Mr. Hitchens) Most often it is just an excuse for a landowner to be a dick and to stop people from walking across their land, which commonly is a low impact kind of thing anyway.

The Kohitere Forest is planted pines with a few covenanted blocks of native forest. It’s a pleasant place for a walk or mountain bike ride.

And the views of the Ohau Valley and onto the Tararuas can be quite pleasant:

The track leading north out of the forest on the ridge line (I dunno if this bit is private or not. There were no signs or gates as such.) The views were fantastic. From Kapiti Island over the Horowhenua and past the Manawatu. The track was a bit overgrown, but would be safe mountain biking (if you’re allowed on it). Here’s the track of unknown legal status:

 

Then there is a locked gate with a sign saying no trespassing, and it does go past some houses. So I turned around and went back the way I came. It is really unfortunate that there isn’t a stile and a right to keep on walking. It is really close to the paper road down to Wallace Loop Road, and really what harm would it be to let people walk over these tracks? The track continues, but is verboten:

The no trespassing sign was a bit rude, with the trespassers prosecuted rubbish that they often have, when really all they could do to a trespasser is to ask them to move on, and if they complain to the police all the police can do is put a trespass notice on you, and then it would be an offence to go back onto the private bit of land in the next two years. But at least it wasn’t as rude and mean spirited as this stupid one near the start of my walk. I’m glad someone has tried to rip it from the tree.

The views from the ridgeline were all pretty nice, but here is the view from the Arapaepae Lookout:

Nice place for a hike. Pity about the lack of legal access.

For a richer New Zealand

Spotted in Levin tonight. For a richer New Zealand.

Back with bicycle related posts after tomorrow’s kerfuffle.

Six Disks Track

Here’s another suggestion for something to do when the rugby is on; The Six Disks Tramp near Levin. Yes a tramp, not a bike ride, but hey I’m branching out.  This post is sponsored by Mountain View Motel, Levin. A Great Place to Stay.

If you thought that any of the tramps near Levin were too short (like Lake Papaitonga), or required way too much commitment (like the giant 3 or 4 day tramps through the Northern Tararuas), and the tramp to Burn Hut from behind Shannon although a nice length is a bit hard to get to with the log trucks messing up the road, then fear not. Try the Six Disks Track. It is a 9.9km loop from Poads Road (off Gladstone Road) in the hinterland behind Levin. Strictly speaking the Six Disks Track is the short connecting track between the Ohau River track and the Waiopehu Track, but I’ll describe it as a clockwise loop.

Admittedly it doesn’t look much on the map, but it is one of those curly, lovely, tree root and mud tramps that the Tararuas is great for. It’ll take about 4 hours or so, so it is worth a stop if travelling through Levin (and worth an overnight stop according to my sponsor).

From the carpark at Poads Road the walk crosses a private farm over some old terraces of the Ohau River.

When it enters the Forest Park there’s a fork in the track, follow the Ohau River one on the left, as later on the Six Disks track is steep and you’d want to be climbing up it, rather than coming down. The track above the river is mostly flat, and quite a nice track, albeit a bit muddy.

The Six Disks track is signposted going straight up a hill shortly before you reach a swingbridge over a small stream after which the Ohau River track climbs the Gable End Ridge. Climb the Six Disks Track. This is the fun bit. It is as rough as guts, and steep as. It’s a whole lot of fun being a 3D tramp which brings out the gibbon in all of us. The track is often at eye level a few feet ahead. At the top where it hits the Waiopehu Track there is this sign. Notice it is only an hour back to the carpark, which is twice the speed that the walk to this point took. This is a function of how easy the tracks are to walk. The walk down isn’t anywhere as hard.

Most of the walk is within forest, but there are a couple of vistas here or there, and the higher peaks still have their snow cover.

A 4 hour muddy steep tramp in the Northern Tararuas sure beats watching men put their heads up each others’ bottoms or whatever rugby is all about.

The still waters of the Manawatu

The Moutoa Recreation Reserve is a bit of DOC land on the banks of the Manawatu River between the river and the flood channel. I had a bit of a leg stretch on that stretch of the river on a sunny still day last week. I thought I’d share a couple of photos.

 

Crossing the Manawatu Safely

The Manawatu River is the biggest obstacle when travelling north-south through the Horowhenua. It can be reasonably safely crossed on the Shannon-Foxton Road, and there is a bridge on State Highway 1 just south of Foxton.

The bridge itself is narrow, and has no verges for cyclists. So if you’re crossing it on a bicycle you look over your shoulder for trucks and cars and pedal like buggery to try to cross the short span before your loved ones receive flowers.

I know according to the NZTA, the New Zealand public and the National-led national government cyclists should cherish every day they are not run over by a truck, but geez it really is a crap situation.

There may be a Dutch influence on the Horowhenua, and it seems there is to be a new Dutch Settlers Museum being built in Foxton, but it hasn’t translated into safe cycling infrastructure.

Here is the dangerous bridge from the underneath on the south side:

And here is the river looking upstream from the same spot:

It seems like a perfect spot to put in a cyclists bridge, or one of these (as highlighted in this post of mine):

Because at the moment here is what the bridge is like (taken from the passenger seat of my car, because it is too dangerous to ride it on a bike taking pictures). This is the southern entrance to the bridge:

And here is on the bridge itself showing a concrete wall to get crushed against:

In contrast to the danger of the bridge the Whirokino Trestle across the Moutoa Floodway immediately north of the river has a safe cycle route across the flood plain:

Riding across the bridge I feel like a

What can be done about it? I know there are plenty of unsafe bridges on the state highway network, and it’s not the only one without a practical alternative route, but the traffic is really heavy, and Levin and Foxton aren’t that far apart. So can we start with providing a safe alternative for cyclists on this bridge please?

We cyclists get a pretty raw deal.

Could the Capital Connection run 3 times a day?

Auckland Trains has been discussing putting rail to Hamilton. It makes a whole lot of sense to have regular rail service between those cities, New Zealand’s biggest, and 4th biggest. The Capital Connection has been doing the same kind of service about the same distance and between smaller cities quite successfully since 1991.

Currently the Capital Connection runs only on weekdays from Palmerston North to Wellington in the morning and in reverse in the evening, but Palmerston North (pop. 75,000) is only 140km from Wellington (pop. 180,000) and it passes through Porirua, Kapiti and the Horowhenua (combined pop. 125,000). It however doesn’t stop at Porirua!!!!

Why does the Capital Connection not stop at Porirua? Even the Wikipedia entry on the Capital Connection shows the train in Porirua. I would use it more if I could get on or off in Porirua. There must be a few people living in Levin and Otaki who work in Porirua who would use the train, and I would hazard a guess maybe even some in Palmie. I’ll send a link to this post to Porirua Mayor, Nick Leggett to see if he agrees.

It is quite a comfortable train to ride on, even if I do have to ride into Wellington, or get off in Waikanae or Paraparaumu to change onto the local train that will stop in Porirua. Here’s a piccie of the train heading north as I was walking to Paekakariki one day.

The Overlander does the trip in reverse, but it is the Auckland to Wellington train and I don’t think Tranzscenic market it as a Palmie to Wellington train at all. It leaves Wellington in the morning at 7.25am, stopping in Levin at 9.05am and Palmerston North at 9.45am. It also will pickup passengers in Porirua and Paraparaumu on the way. In the evening it leaves Palmie at 5pm, arriving in Wellington at 7.25pm. Yet the fare is $31 for a super saver or $54 for a flexi fare. The Capital Connection is $24.50 or $19.80 on a ten trip and there are monthly passes to make it cheaper still.

So branding part of the Overlander trip as Capital Connection and maybe having one of the CC style carriages and charging the same fares (maybe with the scope of stopping additionally at Shannon, Otaki and Waikanae) then there is a second Capital Connection service. At the other end of the line that carriage can come into its own again and similarly provide a Hamilton to Auckland service. 2 birds with one stone, as it were.

And what does the morning Capital Connection train do all day when it is in Wellington? Nothing. It is just stabled. So why not drop the number of carriages by a few, and then make a return run to Palmie and back.Suddenly there are now 3 services in each direction between Wellington and Palmerston North.

A summary timetable would approximately be:

Palmerston North  6.15am  1.00pm  5.00pm  
Shannon           6.38am  1.23pm  5.23pm       
Levin             6.53am  1.38pm  5.40pm
Otaki             7.13am  1.58pm  6.00pm
Waikanae          7.25am  2.10pm  6.12pm
Paraparaumu       7.32am  2.17pm  6.17pm
Porirua           8.03am  2.48pm  7.00pm
Wellington        8.20am  3.05pm  7.25pm

Wellington        7.25am  10.00am  5.15pm  
Porirua           7.42am  10.17am  5.32pm
Paraparaumu       8.20am  10.55am  6.03pm
Waikanae          8.27am  11.02am  6.10pm
Otaki             8.42am  11.17am  6.22pm
Levin             9.05am  11.37am  6.42pm   
Shannon           9.20am  11.52am  6.57pm
Palmerston North  9.45am  12.13pm  7.20pm

All done without any extra infrastructure, or any extra rolling stock, except for maybe an extra carriage on the Overlander. So a thrice daily service for the price of some extra staff, and some diesel.

Apparently back in 1994 extra middle of the day services were tried but were withdrawn because they weren’t being well patronised. It could be different with a 3rd service and it all being well marketed. The midday service to Wellington allows 2 hours and 10 minutes for shopping and running errands. It’d be tempting to ride the train and not drive into Wellington (or more likely not make the trip at all) if you were living in Otaki or Levin.

Did I mention it should stop at Porirua?

Oh and Levin’s plan to build a new station closer to Queen Street could then be well justified.

A cycle ferry across the Manawatu?

Back in January I went on a nice ride between Shannon and Foxton, and wrote about it on my blog as the Heart of Horowhenua which I also mulled cycle routes between Foxton, Shannon, Levin and Palmerston North. I came up with a plan that crossed the Manawatu River north of Koputaroa. A bridge over a big river is big expense, and unlikely to every get built, but I’ve nicked this picture which is mentioned in the comments of this story on the Fietsberaad website.

It is across a canal between Brugge and Dramme, in Belgium.

This makes a route that takes the back roads through the Horowhenua and Manawatu linking Levin and Palmerston North much cheaper. It can use the backroads, and the levee banks of the river and the Mutaroa Floodway. At the river crossings there is one of these little ferries, which need no staff. There are just 3 wheels to turn, one on each side to get the ferry back when it is on the opposite side, and one on the ferry itself. Lighting could be solar lighting, so they could be used at night, and suddenly there are safe and pleasant, commuter and travel routes through Horowhenua and the Manawatu. They might even breathe a bit of economic life into the region if Wellingtonians and Palmerstonians ventured out for the day or the weekend.

Prime Minister Key’s vision for the national cycleway may have stalled (although, in fairness, there is funding for three of the chosen routes in this years budget, so it’s not completely stalled) but some of us still have the dream of a real signposted national cycleway from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

Mangahao Dams (and over the Tararuas!!)

This week I saw an interesting story in the Dominion Post about the Horowhenua Council proposing a part of the National Cycleway go over the Tararuas between Shannon and Eketahuna, and I thought they were crazy. So I dug out my map of the Tararua Forest Park, and well maybe they aren’t so crazy I thought. I planned a weekend drive up to see and a walk on the track that goes to Burn Hut. I thought that maybe the Horowhenua Council wanted to use the valley of the Mangahao River.

Then as luck would have it Bill from Manawatu Trails commented on a post on this blog, and there was all his work going on which I didn’t know about, and submissions of the Whanganui, Rangitikei, Tararua, Wairarapa and Manawatu districts for funding of the National Cycle Trails.  And there it was, the route for between Shannon and Eketahuna and they’re not using the Mangahao River valley, but they’re going over the tops. And on Bill’s site I saw the ride from Mangaore to the Mangahao Dams and I changed my plans to do that ride.

It was drizzling all morning, but I got sick of waiting for it to clear so I started in the rain from the carpark of the whitewater kayaking course. The road is a gravel road heading up the hills that then drops into the Tokomaru Valley. I couldn’t see anything as I rode up. I couldn’t see the hills, so I had no idea how long the climb was. I just thought that whatever I climbed I’d have fun coming back down again later in the day. After about a 6km climb I entered the Tokomaru Valley. Here’s a photo of the vista with waves of rain floating over it.

A quick descent leads to the first dam. It’s an old hydro scheme (The history of it is available from Bill’s site) and this is the first reservoir, No 3.

Across the dam is the start of the tramping track to Burn Hut. It looked pretty inviting, and rainforests always look their best in the rain.

The road (it is a road, I saw 3 vehicles) climbs a little to get from the Tokomaru Valley to the valley of the Mangahao

and then drops down in a series of switchbacks to the Mangahao River and the second dam. I noticed that the narrow valley downstream from here, and where I thought a bike trail to Eketahuna might go, would be a major undertaking to design and build. i.e. not a good idea. It had stopped drizzling by the time I got to the switchbacks.

The 2nd reservoir. The road continues around the true left side of the reservoir, to the right in this picture:

And this is the 3rd reservoir, called No 1. You can clamber over the dam to the other end of the Burn Hut Track here and there is a tramping track onto the Mangahao Flats Hut and into the heart of the Tararuas. (You could walk to the Pakuratahi entrance all the way away in Upper Hutt). There also is a marked track called the Puketurua Track, which is also marked overgrown on the map which heads to Putara and Eketahuna (but it goes high, and it’d be hard, and Horwowhenua Council can’t be serious, can they?)

I had a bit of a rest and then headed back. I didn’t see this sign on the way up. I have a friend who when his kids misbehave he threatens to take them to a SLOW CHILDREN sign and take their photographs with it. Well I’m not a child anymore, but I couldn’t resist.

and on the way back the blue sky appeared. I was walking the bike by now up this hill, I was tired.

And I got to the lip of the valley and I had the 6km descent down to the Mangaore Power Station and Whitewater Kayak course. It was a glorious descent and a great way to finish a great ride and one I’d definitely do again. Thanks Bill for the tip.

National Cycleway from Otaki to Levin – The Power Pole Route

There is a big gap in the safe cycling route north between Otaki and Levin. The only route, State Highway 1 with the tens of thousands of vehicles a day and the verge-less bridges over the railway line and stream add up to the 5th most dangerous section of road in New Zealand (as measured by fatalities. It was actually Paraparaumu to Levin, but let’s not quibble). I have written a little bit about this section before in both of my posts A ride between Otaki and Waikawa Beach and in the Heart of the Horowhenua.

Note also that this cycle route as proposed will also be usable as a safe lowland walking route by the Te Araroa national walkway, instead of the high Tararua route.

Here is where I’m talking about:

So the route out of Otaki is described in the Waikawa Beach entry.(Although it is probably worth noting that the roads over the Waiohanga Road bridge up the Otaki Gorge almost meet the end of Rahui Road).

And I make the comment that a new cycle path could come off the road near the junction of South Manakau Road and Corbetts Road and follow between the power poles northwards. It looks like this:

These old pairs of power poles are a constant of the route heading north. Enough to suggest to me the marketing name for this cycleway between Otaki and Levin – The Power Pole Route.

I went for an explore in the Manakau Crown Forest, which is open to pedestrians, but not vehicles. Back at the Waikawa Stream Recreation Area (the entrance to the pine forest) I left some 4WD morons doing mud churning burnouts ad nauseum in a wanton act of motor-droning vandalism. Their stupid revving engine was a constant for the first part of my walk. I climbed the hill and worked out that it probably isn’t a good idea to route the cycleway through the forest. I had good views eventually down on the valley with the power poles running through it.

This is looking south towards where the first photo above is looking north from. The way doesn’t go close to any houses, but it is through some farmers paddocks. Any cycleway improvements through here should be able to be used by farm vehicles, and any fencing needed by the new track should be of benefit to the farmers too. The land around the cycleway should still be grazed like it currently is.

The route passes mainly through the flat valley, but there is a small rise to negotiate before it hits the Waikawa Stream:

Once it hits the stream it’ll need a small bridge, and then up to North Manakau Road the roadway leading to the Waikawa Stream Reserve could be used. This is currently a bit of a rough and ready picnic and camping ground.

Across the road the cycleway route would continue near the power poles northwards to Kuku East Road. Here is from North Manakau Road looking north:

and here is from the southern end of Kuku East Road looking south:

The cycleway would then follow Kuku East Road north and follow the gravel road alongside the power poles:

but then it’d have to cross fields, and the Makorakio Stream before hitting Tangimoana Road or the Muhonoa East Road. Here’s a view looking south from the end of Tangimoana Road. The power poles come through the low valley in the right of shot:

The cycleway would then continue up Florida Road:

which runs along the southside of the Kimberley Reserve, which is however a wall of trees. There are no visitor facilities to the reserve on the south side of the Ohau River.

And here is the river from the south side off the side of Florida Road. It would require a bridge just downstream from here to take travellers into the Kimberley Reserve and its campground.

Here’s the river from the north side (completely unnecessary for the commentary, but a good shot):

And then from the top of Kimberley Road a link would have to be found through to Gladstone Road. This is the top of Kimberley Road. It’s only a couple hundred metres through paddocks to Gladstone Road. (An alternative would not to link the Kimberley Reserve into the cycleway, but to have the bridge over the Ohau directly between Florida and Gladstone Roads and open up the Gladstone Reserve to cyclist and walker based camping)

Here is the river from the Gladstone Reserve:

From Gladstone Road the hikers can head up to the start of the Mangahao Makahika Walkway, and the cyclists can head down to Queen Street East and into Levin.

It’d be great if a project like this got up someday soon. The route would be useful for the National Cycleway and the National Walkway. It’d cross a bit of private land, but make use of quiet rural roads that are almost untrafficked. The alternative of getting run over by a truck on the state highway means that I (and lots of others) wouldn’t ever cycle to Levin. It’s quite a direct route, about 27km long I’d guess from town to town, and hardly hilly. It goes via a couple camping grounds, and interesting unhurried bits of the landscape. It would attract a few locals, and it wouldn’t be unfeasible to commute between the two towns. But it really is the essence of what I think the National Cycleway should be. Safe, unhurried and interesting.

A ride from Otaki to Waikawa Beach

On a recent sunny day, I thought I’d have a bit of a bicycle-based explore north of Otaki. I’d be too scared to ride the verge of State Highway One with it’s 100km/hr plus traffic and it’s narrow bridges, so I thought I’d head north up the Waitohu Valley Road a bit east of the highway.

It’s all very pleasant. The road is quite quiet, with the odd bit of horse traffic. The road itself has only one gentle hill up to the boundary of the Kapiti and Horowhenua districts:

and a nice glide down the other side:

Through the Waitohu Valley is the route I’d advocate for the route north out of Otaki for the National Cycleway. I went for a ride up Corbetts Road. I reckon a new cycle route should be built through the paddocks from the start of Corbetts Road northwards towards  the pine forest accessible from North Manakau Road (and onwards to Levin as hinted to in my post Heart of Horowwhenua). I’d put it along the line of the power poles here:

It may be a bit of a difficult exercise to push accessways through the foothills of the Tararuas as the Te Araroa Trail people have found out with uncooperative landowners. The Trust gave up and tried to get a new route through the Oriwa Ridge in  the Forest Park instead, but were thwarted by tramping club purists who convinced DOC not to cut a new track, leaving the walking route to go into the high Tararuas via Dracophyllum Hut, a major undertaking. So the National Cycleway here, if pushed through, could happily be a safer route for the Te Araroa trail. If the landowners remain uncooperative then the National Cycleway should be considered to be in the National Interest and pushed through regardless.

I headed down South Manukau Road and on a hunch (and the absence of a No Exit sign) thought there must be a new route through the Manukau Heights subdivision, not yet marked on the road atlases or even Google Maps, into the village. And it was a pretty good guess. A small hill descent dropped me into Manakau village.

It was a bit of a whim to cross the highway and head down to Waikawa. Even the smallest section of State Highway One was enough to remind me of why I don’t like riding along the highway. It’s noisy as.

The road down to the beach is flat until it gets to the dunes:

There are a few baches at the beach, but no shops. The Waikawa Stream enters the sea at a nice little park with a footbridge over. It used to link up with the Ohau River in a lagoon, but an 1855 earthquake changed the course of the stream and drained the lagoon. The beach here is big like a lot of the west coast beaches. If there was any hard packed sand to ride along it was past a lot of soft sand to get there, so I didn’t find out.

Then I turned around and rode the same way back enjoying the clear views of the Tararua Range:

A nice way to spend a couple hours. There’s a dairy on the SH1 at Manukau, and a pub. It’s roughly about 17km one way to Waikawa Beach from Otaki via the Waitohu Valley.