Mangapurua Track upgrade

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 542, 28 June 1994, Page 16 (Supplement)

Mangapurua Track upgrade

Bridge construction recently completed on the Kaiwhakauka/Mangapurua Track has aimed to make the track safer and eliminate some difficult creek crossings. The Department of Conservation's Whanganui and Taumarunui field centre staff working with contractors and a volunteer have replaced one bridge on a dangerous crossing and built three new ones. The new ones cross creeks which previously required trampers to climb down into them and wade through the water before scaling the bank on the opposite side. One of the creek crossings was particularly difficult, especially in wet weather. Work supervisor Dave Brockway says the work is part of a long term DOC plan to return the historic track to the original roadline. Along the track there are various remnants of old abandoned homesteads which have since succumbed to nature. The work to restore the route is an ongoing project with the work just finished having been completed in the Andersons and Johnsons area of the track. The Mangapurua Track goes from Whakahoro on the Whanganui River, across the Mangapurua Track to the Bridge to Nowhere and out to Mangapurua Landing further downstream. Most people take the jet boat down to the Mangapurua Landing and then walk back to Whakahoro. It's about a three night tramp. There are no huts on the track and none are planned. Trampefs need to camp out. The track is an easy climbing track although muddy at times.

The recent bridge work took seven people about two weeks to complete and more work is planned before Christmas. __