Walking track to open this Sunday

Walking up the new Luggate track which will be formally opened on Sunday are (from left) Upper Clutha Tracks Trust trustees John Wellington, Grant Fyfe, Rachel Brown and Stu Thorne. Photo by Marjorie Cook.

The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust project has been done in consultation with the Luggate Community Association, Department of Conservation, Wanaka Community Board, Contact Energy and other groups.

It is an extension of the Upper Clutha Track that begins at Albert Town.

Walkers and cyclists can now travel below the Luggate Red Bridge to the Nook, across a new bridge over the Luggate Creek and up to Luggate township, finishing a short distance from the Luggate Hotel.

"It's now truly pub to pub," trustee John Wellington said of the trust's trail network, which also includes Wanaka, Albert Town, Cardrona and Lake Hawea.

With Luggate now on the trail, just Hawea Flat and Makarora are out of the loop.

But the trustees said they were trying to think of ways to eventually link those townships to the network, plus extend the Luggate track down to the Queenstown Lakes District Council boundary at Queensberry.

Mr Wellington said the idea for the Luggate Creek extension was formed before the Upper Clutha Track between Albert Town and the Luggate Red Bridge had been completed.

Initially, the trust had wanted to cross the bridge and continue the track downstream on the Tarras side of the Clutha River.

That changed when the trust and association met to discuss access to the Nook, a whirlpool in a bend in the Clutha River.

Central Otago track advocates are also working on trails with the goal of a track all the way to Cromwell, Mr Wellington said.

Another Upper Clutha Tracks Trust concept is to complete a loop back from the Luggate Red Bridge to Albert Town on the true left of the Clutha River.

Mr Wellington said the trust was in the very early stages of developing that proposal and had to first negotiate with landowners, including Contact Energy.

"There is public land all the way up but we will have to also talk to neighbours," Mr Wellington said.

The Luggate Creek Track has cost about $100,000 to build so far, with the Department of Conservation and contractor John Sutton contracted to do parts of it.

That is not a final figure because the extension below the Nook has not been completed.

There is a new bridge across the Luggate Creek near the Nook.

The opening of the track will be celebrated at 10am on Sunday. Signposts explaining how to get to the track will be put on State Highway 6 at Luggate.