Author: T5 Contracting

The trail is still taking shape and the officially opening of the whole trail has been delayed until Autumn 2020…in the meantime…

We are honoured to have played a part in creating this iconic trail. The Paparoa Trail is a 55km multi-use track that traverses between Blackball and Punakaiki on the South Island’s West Coast. This is the first Great Walk that has been built from scratch with walking AND biking in mind. The track incorporates the Pike 29 Memorial Track (under construction until December 2020) – a track created in memory of the 29 miners who died at the Pike River Mine disaster in November 2010.

Check out this link for more info on the track on the DoC website…

Read more here on our time spent toiling the soil on this iconic trail…

Scott Walker of T5 Contracting is the first person ever to drive a digger the entire way through the Wharfedale Track, from Townshend Bridge to View Hill. Quite the feat considering it goes 1.8km an hour!!!! He has said he probably wouldn’t do it again… (the whole drive thru, I mean, not the project!)

So, this means that the final stage of the Wharfedale Track project has been completed. Many a root ball removed, trail re-aligned where necessary, drain cut, warratah removed, wasp stings all in the name of trail fun…grins and giggles! We’ve received some fantastic on the work we have done over the last few years in there, it has been awesome to be a part of it.

HUGE THANKS must go out to North Canterbury Cycling Club for ther energy and time in the background for making this happen, DoC for giving us Jim Henderson (!!), Trail Fund NZ/New Zealand Community Trust and The Southern Trust for their assistance with funding…and to everyone who has been a part of the project with us!

If you’ve ridden the Wharfedale over recent years, you will have come across  one of a couple of significant (unrideable, for the majority) bluffs. This week we’ve changed that…

We’ve gone through the middle of the, first of two, bluffs and now made it rideable with less risk of that “certain injury or worse” fall on the other side. A big part of our work in the Wharfedale, as much as maintenance, has also been about working on areas with a steep drop-off and endeavouring to keep people on the trail as much as possible!

Check it out:

We have loved being involved in the ongoing maintenance and work on the Wharfedale Track over the last couple of years…and now we are on the final stage of works sorting out some tricky bits between View Hill and the Saddle and general maintenance from wear-and-tear and storm damage. You can check out our progress on this stage here

Yesterday was the start of our trail building for the Spring/Summer 2016/17 and also our involvement in the Christchurch Adventure Park (CAP)! We are stoked to be involved in the Park and it’s great to know that CAP are keeping it local with getting local businesses involved in, what is going to be, a real draw card for our city.

We are working on the uphill trail from the base area to allow keen beans, who want to stretch their legs a bit more, to access the downhill trails. It will be a low-gradient trail following the contours of the hill with a few switchbacks to spice things up a bit!

Stoked to be involved!

Less than 100 days ’til opening…

T5 Scott doing what he does best…

Digger finish switchback…not bad!

Digger finish with a rake over…sweeeet!

The Mt Grey zig zag track on the front face got a bit of T5-lovin’ recently…

Over time, some of the steps on the track were undermined and starting to take the natural course downhill…what better way to sort them out than by getting rid of them altogether?!!

Check it out here

Yip, you heard it here, first new MTB track on “public land” of the Port Hills of Christchurch for 10 years! We are currently working on this new trail, in conjunction with Christchurch Singletrack Club, over Winter…so good to be back and to be a part of the trail development on the hills of home.

Pretty sweet office…this is why we live here!

Mmmmmm, freshies!

Man and his tools

Best office in town…

This one didn’t quite make it!

Wharfedale Track Stage 5 is now complete…go check it out, the riding is flowy, fun and fast! Bogs up to the Saddle are gone, top zig zag has been put back to where it originally was and now your bike stays dry and clean from the last creek to the Saddle.

Big grins all round…happy trails!

Check out our latest update and photos here

Our latest foray into the Wharfedale Track has taken a large section of “on again, off again” riding to 100% rideable – all the way from the Wharfedale Saddle, down to the Townshend Hut site and back again! And it flows exceptionally well… The feedback we have had already has been really positive and it sounds like people, riders and walkers, have been making the most of the good weather on the weekends and getting out onto the trail to check out the progress.

We’re back in this week and next week for a few days, so more  updates and photos to come soon…

Check out photo updates here.