Gibbston, near Queenstown, is looking better every day with the help of offenders on a community work sentence. Susan Stevens, chair of the Gibbston Community Association, is very happy with the work they have been doing.
Offenders on community work sentences have cleared vegetation and rubbish along the highway, running through the centre of the small community. They have also nearly completed clearing the 8.5km Gibbston River Trail.
Stone hut
Gibbston is best known as the home of the original Kawarau bungy bridge and award winning Pinot Noir. The bridge is where the trail will finish or start, depending on your choice. The other end is located at Waitiri Creek Wines, just one of the region’s many vineyards. This is where the first 1.5 km of the trail was finished and opened to the public in 2007.
A-year-and-a-half ago Community Works reported on the project and the crew’s discovery of a stone hut while clearing the bush.
Susan says, “The first section of the trail is used every day by the public. We also created a rest area along the highway at the centre of Gibbston. ‘The boys’ helped create the rest area and continue to maintain it. It is pleasing to see people eating at one of the picnic tables or reading one of the information signs.”
Nearly ready
The work parties have nearly finished clearing the remaining 7km of the Gibbston River Trail. In October they finished clearing the spur track that will connect the trail from the river to the car park at Peregrine Wines. This is near the centre of the river trail.
“We started building the car park at the bungy bridge trailhead in October as well,” says Susan. “We hope to finish building both the section behind Peregrine and the section near the bungy by the end of the year. Even though they don’t yet connect to each other or to the section at Waitiri Creek Wines, people can still use them because there is parking available at all three sections of the track.
“Because we will be turning the track over to the Department of Conservation for ongoing maintenance, they had to approve the trail alignment. We will also require an authorisation from New Zealand Historical Places Trust (HPT) before we can begin actual construction as the trail crosses a number of archaeological sites from the gold mining era.
"We’re hoping for a quick approval because we took HPT’s advice to bridge all of the archaeological sites. All going well, there will be nothing stopping people from checking out new sections of the track this summer.”
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ISSN 1178-1327