A new cycling trail built by the fourth-generation owner of a Southland farm will be officially opened next month.
Blackmore Farm owners Tom O'Brien and wife Katie will host the opening ceremony for Welcome Rock Trails at the Southland Ski Hut, near Garston, on December 6.
In what he describes as ''the hardest job I've ever done'', Mr O'Brien built the 28km trail by hand over two years with the help of volunteers.
That meant the trail had ''no straight lines'', he said.
''It's always flowing and changing.''
Trail users could complete the trail in a day, or stay overnight at one of three huts, including Mud Hut, built from clay more than a century ago.
Half the trail's length follows a water race built 110 years ago by Chinese labourers for gold prospecting.
The trail reaches its highest point of 1130m at Welcome Rock, a prominent geological feature on the Slate Range.
