Unloved section of Southland’s Great Ride may be rerouted
A desire to reroute an often criticised section of Southland’s only Great Ride has resulted in informal discussions kicking off the process.
The Around the Mountains Cycle Trail’s 30km gravel road section from Mavora Lakes to Centre Hill gets “quite a lot of negative feedback”, Southland District Council deputy mayor Christine Menzies said at a council meeting last week.
One of the country’s 23 Great Rides, the 186km trail starts with a boat ride from Queenstown to Walter Peak, at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu. It takes in Mt Nicholas Station, Mavora Lakes, Centre Hill, Mossburn, Lumsden, Athol and Garston and ends at Kingston.
It can be ridden from either end, while many people ride and walk different parts of the trail.
Figures showed the number of cyclists riding the full trail continued to rise year on year to about 7200 in the 2023-24 financial year. Those surveyed gave it an 8.5 out of 10 overall satisfaction rating, slightly lower than the 8.8 out of 10 average rating for the 23 Great Rides combined.
A survey of 300 riders that was shown to district councillors last week showed praise for the scenery, history information panels, camping spot at Mavora Lakes and well-placed shelters and water tanks.
But they believed it could be more enjoyable with a dedicated cycle path from Mavora Lakes to Centre Hill, and more choices of cafes and accommodation.
The 30km section from Mavora Lakes to Centre Hill was on a gravel road, which was often dusty and failed to make the most of the landscape. Some tour operators skipped that section, instead putting their clients’ bikes onto vehicles at Mavora and driving them to their accommodation for the night, in Te Anau or Mossburn, before dropping them off at Centre Hill to restart the ride the next morning.
Nicola Wills, who chairs the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail Trust, said a key aim was to get the trail off that gravel road.
Owners of land beside the road had been spoken to informally about their appetite for putting the trail on their properties, Wills said. There was one significant landowner, she said.
“It has to suit those people that are impacted.
Those conversations are at an early and informal stage.” The discussions had been positive so far, but plenty more needed to be worked through, she said.
A feasibility study would begin this year to gain an understanding of the scope and cost of any planned work on the landowners’ properties, and formal engagement would take place with those landowners and other stakeholders.
“It would completely enhance the trail. It would be wonderful to take it off the road ...
It would give it a different look in terms of landscape.” If the trail ended up on farmland, it would be well away from the road but also away from the Ōreti valley, she said.
The Ōreti valley route would not be considered after Fish & Game won a court case that ensured the trail would not run beside the upper Ōreti River, a popular trout fishing river.
Wills said an aim of the trust was to enhance the trail experience and increase rider numbers, so rerouting the Mavora to Centre Hill section was part of that.
More people riding the district council-owned trail would mean new money coming into the economy and more businesses benefiting, she said.
Menzies, the council’s representative on the trail trust, and trail manager Susan Mackenzie updated councillors last week, saying the trail website had been redeveloped, 89% of surveyed trail riders were visitors to the area, and the September flooding had required trail repairs.
They also said a bridge would be built at Station Creek in Von Valley, with funding applications submitted. The creek became a torrent in heavy rainfall and was a risk to cyclists, Menzies said.