Tarawera Trail treks to the tourist future

The Tarawera Trail – a proposed multi-day walking track around Lake Tarawera – can be a vital component in the Rotorua tourism industry and an important key to unlocking the aspirations of the hapu groups whose land the track will traverse say project partners Anaru Rangiheuea of Tuhourangi and Department of Conservation conservator Henry Weston.

Anaru Rangiheuea – Tuhourangi kaumatua
For Tuhourangi, June 10 is a day of sadness on which we recall the devastating effect of the 1886 Tarawera eruption on our people.
But in 2008 on this date the proposed Tarawera trail also gives us hope for our future in this area.
For us there is one constant: Tarawera – the lake, the mountain and the relationship of Tuhourangi to that place.
Before 1886 Tuhourangi pioneered a vibrant tourism industry based around the pink-and-white terraces, Te Ariki and Te Wairoa (now the Buried Village). While the eruption drove us from our land and killed many of our ancestors, we have never turned our backs on our whakapapa at this place.
We have never ceased to care for it, nor abandoned our obligations to manaakitanga.
This is why Tuhourangi view a proposed world-class walking experience in this special place as an extension of that obligation and a return to the industry we gave birth to more than 122 years ago.
A new trail across this magnificent landscape will re-open the sites and experiences, the history, and the legends, to a world-wide audience hungry for authenticity and connection with real people who understand the places they belong to.
It will expose the beauty of the lake and the mountain as the visual highlights of a visitor experience flavoured by a rich cultural history.
It will also provide a path for Tuhourangi to carve a new future; providing for ourselves, using our own land and efforts.
By showing visitors the hospitality that tikanga demands, seeing them welcomed, fed and hosted, and returned safely to their homes, pride will flow to the hapu who are opening their doors and their hearts to those who come in the same spirit.

Henry Weston – Bay of Plenty Conservator, Department of Conservation
The Tarawera Trail can only be achieved through a genuine partnership between Maori and the Department of Conservation, but it will be for the benefit of all New Zealanders.
The trail will create a new generation of advocates for our natural and cultural environment – connecting people with special places and enabling them to understand their cultural significance. It will show why Tarawera is so important, and must be looked after.
In tough economic times, conservation can be seen as ‘nice to do’. However the proposed trail will combine conservation with positive social, cultural and economic outcomes for the wider community, and those hapu and landowners of Ngati Hinemihi, Tuhourangi and Ngati Rangitihi whose generosity will be essential to the project.
A feasibility study of the concept concluded the trail would enhance the Rotorua tourism spectrum, and have sufficient mana to support vibrant new businesses catering to a wide range of visitors.
The residents of Tarawera are rightfully protective of the place in which they live. Everyone involved in this project shares those protective views. Our commitment is to the highest environmental standards in developing and maintaining the quality of the Tarawera Trail experience for everyone who chooses to travel it. Doing anything less is simply not an option.
At 42km the proposed trail will not be built in a day, or even a year. It will be built when, and only when, the project partners are ready.
Tuhourangi have waited 122 years to re-enter tourism. With stage one planned to go from Te Wairoa to Te Ariki, that wait is nearly over. A new era in Tarawera Tourism is ready to dawn, for iwi Maori, for New Zealanders as a whole and for all those who come to this magnificent place.