Story Panels For Cycle Trail

Story-telling panels will be installed along the Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

The Far North District Council has secured a $96,000 Lottery Environment and Heritage Committee grant to install interpretive panels along the trail which will be 84km long and join Horeke and Kawakawa when it is completed.

The panels will identify significant historic and heritage sites and tell stories about Tai Tokerau's rich Maori and European history, the mythology and natural ecology of the area the trail passes through and its former use as a rail corridor.

Iwi will be consulted on the cultural content of the panels which will be made from hardwood posts and iron and have a railway design theme.

The first panels will be installed on the Kaikohe-Okaihau section of the trail as soon as the final content of the panels has been determined.

Cycle trail coordinator Adrienne Tari says the panels will give the trail a point of difference with other cycle trails in New Zealand.

"This really is the icing on the cake for the Pou Herenga Trail,” she says.

Quick response (QR) codes could be added to the panels to allow trail users to access online information about the trail and its environs via smart phones.

"This is a huge step forward for the trail. The panels have reignited enthusiasm to get construction completed as soon as possible.”