New Bridge - Lower Mangatawhiri

Extreme weather knocks out old bridge

The Hunua Ranges has sure taken a beating over 2017!

Several extreme weather events has seen a lot of water fall in the ranges (good for the dams providing water to Auckland!) and one of those events saw the Mangatawhiri River running so strongly that it took out a bridge - the bridge crossing the river at the Lower Mangatawhiri Campground used by hikers of the Te Araroa Trail.

One can imagine the power of the water once it reaches a certain height.

This washout closed the trail whilst plans were made to strengthen the foundations of the bridge. The result is pictured here - a pretty good effort by all involved due to the tough access to this area.

This picture was taken in July of 2017 - the river was flowing quite strongly after a night of rain. Let's hope this new version can hold up to all that the river and Mother Nature can throw at it.

The Te Araroa Trail remains closed due to other issues with the trail condition beyond this point, something we at Friends of Hunua Ranges plan to address with some Working Bees and continued communications between Auckland Council, the Te Araroa Project and other interested parties.

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Our intrepid on-bike reporter Gabb also noted that some of the cool composting toilets we are seeing around Regional Parks have been installed alongside the campground (pictured in the 180 degree picture below), a welcome sight for users of this campground.

On his way in Gabb also got to see much of the damage caused by all the water including the picture below of a slip on the Valley Loop of the mountain bike network of trails. This is just before the entry to the Kauri Trail, one of the many slips contractors had to traverse before getting to the Lower Mangatawhiri Campground location..