New Zealand’s Newest and 10th Great Walk/Ride
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
We were engaged by DoC to form the first 150 metres of track from the Blackball end – the introduction to the rest of the trail. Spring on the West Coast is notorious for wet, inconsistent weather that is changeable from one day to the next and multiple times throughout the day – our 2 week stint on the track turned into 3 weeks of “mud-track grubbing”, water management, track surface transport and creative thinking to produce an end product worthy of being on a Great Walk.
Huge thanks to Jane and Pat, our fantastic hosts, at Blackball’s Inn. Great accommodation, food and hospitality. Also to our late call-up Canadian chippie, Steve Dewit, for the endless hours on the powerbarrow, shovelling tailings, brewing coffee, putting with the West Coast weather and everything else that goes with working in challenging environments! Happy travels, Steve…
T5 Contracting 