Gibbston river trail gets boost

The Gibbston River Trail had a big tidy up over the weekend.

“B & A Digging donated a day of digger time on Saturday to re-form the 1.5km of the trail that we opened to the public last March. Brandon took such care to make sure that the trail was flat and level. We’re very lucky,” said Gibbston Community Association Chairman Susan Stevens.

The small community on the eastern edge of Queenstown Lakes District plans to build a further 7kms of the trail stretching along the true right bank of the Kawarau River from the Kawarau Bungy Bridge to Waitiri Creek Wines.

“DoC has filed the application for archaeological authority with New Zealand Historic Places Trust to form the car park at the Bungy trailhead and A J Hackett Bungy has very kindly donated the money that we need to build it. With any luck, we could start construction in April,” Stevens said.

A professional trail design company puts the total cost of the trail at nearly $1.4million.

“We’ve been doing the work little by little with smaller donations of money, supplies, labour and digger time like B & A Digging this past weekend. We’re absolutely thrilled that Wakatipu Trails Trust has just made a big funding commitment for $120,000,” said Stevens.

Dunedin based archaeologist Peter Petchey, who donated his time to assist the group, recently reported his findings for a 1km section of the trail near Peregrine Wines. Ten new archaeological sites were recorded with NZ Historic Places Trust as a result.

“That particular section of the trail is particularly rich in archaeological sites, so it is going to be quite tricky to build the trail. We hope to give the public the opportunity to see and learn about the history of the area, but at the same time protect and preserve the sites,” Stevens said.

For now, the group must wait for NZ Historic Places Trust and DoC to consider the archaeologist’s report and schedule a trip to Gibbston to visit the site.

They are also awaiting word from four charitable trusts that are considering grant applications from the community group to fund further trail construction.

“We’ll know next month whether we’ll receive any further large grants. In the meantime, our next fundraiser is the PBT Gibbston Harvest Festival on March 15th. We’ll receive all of the money from our ticket sales, so we’re hoping lots of people will turn out to support the trail and to enjoy the food, wine and entertainment,” said Stevens

The 1.5km of the trail that is currently open to the public is accessible from the Waitiri Creek Wines car park.

“Just look for the sign on the fence and follow the mowed track through paddock toward the river. You can refresh with a wine at Waitiri Creek Wines when you’ve finished. Try their 2006 Pinot. It has won heaps of awards,” suggests Stevens.