WaitekohekoHe RECREATIONAL PARK OFFICALLY OPENS
The Waitekohekohe Recreational Park located on Thompsons Track, 15 minutes south of Katikati, officially opened on Saturday March 4th 2023, six years after a concept for a park comprising of horse riding, mountain bike trails, and bush walks was initially proposed.
The park is a council owned reserve in the upper hill slope catchments of the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park, covering an area of 87.982 hectares and includes an estimated 5 km of the main Waitekohe Stream margins.
In 2017 the previously leased forestry block returned to Council ownership at the same time as local horse riders were looking for alternative spaces for horse riding. Jacqui Knight, manager of Katch Katikati, called a public meeting to gauge interest in building horse trails in the forestry block. “We had about 80 people attend and half of them were mountain bikers. From this meeting we formed a small committee to start making plans,” says Jacqui.
These plans were eventually adopted into the Western Bay of Plenty District Council Long Term Plan, which came into effect in 2021 when the funding was also available to start the development of the reserve.
The development to date includes five mountain bike tracks, an equestrian area where existing forestry tracks have been cleared and new trails created offering about two hours of riding, along with a jumping alley and galloping track. The mountain bike carpark at 360 Thompsons Track is complete and awaits a toilet and weather shelter, while the equestrian car park at 252 Thompsons Track is finished and includes a toilet, corrals, weather shelter and wash down station.
The project, developed in partnership between Katch Katikati and the WBOP District Council, has involved a large and diverse group of locals. “Our volunteers have put in hundreds of hours marking out tracks, installing signs, and meeting to discuss plans and management issues,” says Jacqui. The Recreational Trails Development Group, a subcommittee of Katch Katikati, consists of Council Reserves staff, representatives from local horse riding clubs, keen mountain bikers and Lawrie Donald, a plant and pest specialist. When needed the group has brought in Brigid Gallagher, local archaeologist, and Tiki Bluegum from the local hapu. Rob Metz, Zerode Founder and a skilled mountain bike rider, built the mountain bike tracks, Fotheringham Contractors constructed the carparks and equestrian tracks and Project Parore have commenced plant and pest control. “We gratefully received funding from Tect and Bay Trust to help with covering some of the admin costs,” says Jacqui.
Future plans for Waitekohekohe Recreational Park include building more mountain bike tracks and an additional equestrian track on the Lund Road side through the pines.
The feedback for this new and exciting development for KatiKati has been extremely positive. “There aren’t many horse riding places in the district and we’ve heard people will be travelling from out of town to make use of the park,” says Jacqui. “The mountain bike tracks offer about an hour of riding on exceptionally good tracks.”
Dog walkers are also catered for with the walking tracks available for walkers and dogs provided they’re under control.
What you can do at Waitekohekohe
There’s plenty on offer for mountain bikers, with five new trails graded two to four (about 1hour of riding).
Horse riders can enjoy over six kilometres of new horse trails, along with jumping and galloping tracks. Facilities also include a toilet, corrals, weather shelter and wash down station.
There are separate car parks for mountain bikes at 360 Thompsons Track and equestrian at 252 Thompsons Track.
There are also shared use walking trails throughout the reserve. Dogs are welcome provided they’re under control.
For more information about the park visit: www.waitekohekohe.nz