Clutha Gold Cycle and Walking Trail. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
It is hoped a new Otago trail extension will get thousands on their bikes and take local communities along for the ride.
The Clutha Gold Cycle and Walking Trail has nearly doubled in length with the addition of about 63 kilometres of track crossing farmland, a viaduct and old railway tunnels.
There was barely a ripple on the lake when the new extension was officially opened in Waihola on Friday under a blue bird sky. The final stretch of the Clutha Gold trail now skirts along Lake Waihola, with boardwalk winding through wetland.
Clutha Gold Trail Charitable Trust Chair Murray Paterson could not wait to see the difference it would make to the small communities along the way.
"It's going to bring a lot of people. A lot of people have already come. This boardwalk ... there's probably been thousands over it already and we're not open. We couldn't keep them back."
It had been a long time coming, he said.
"We started in 2006 and we were going to go from Lake Roxburgh to Milton and we scaled that back a wee bit.
"We've been working on this extension since 2014."
The extension makes it a true multi-day ride, stretching over more than 130 kilometres from Lake Roxburgh to Lake Waihola. Paterson hoped to see 30,000 people a year on the trail, and said the extension would not have been possible without landowners coming on board.
"A lot of people have given access through private properties. There's 50 private properties across through the Clutha Gold Trail.
"People have given that access for nothing and it's very much appreciated."
Waihola residents Dorothy Clark and Jennie McIntosh enjoyed a stroll along the new boardwalk today.
Dorothy Clark and Jennie McIntosh. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
McIntosh thought it would be a great boost for the township.
"It's going to boost the businesses ... but Waihola has grown so much in the last two or three years. Unbelievable, actually. Having lived here for 30 years, yeah, I can't believe what I see now."
Clark agreed.
"It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I think we're very, very lucky having this trail here now."
Grant McDonnell, from community group Waihola Looking Forward, could not wait for the visitors to arrive.
"Just have people, visitors all around from New Zealand or even from the world to be able to come here and experience a piece of this. It just really couldn't be better.
"We just aim to be more than accommodating of everyone who comes to check it out."
The project received funding from the government, the Clutha District Council, Otago Community Trust and private investors.
Local mayor Bryan Cadogan expected the extension would be huge for the district.
Bryan Cadogan Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
"It's just plus, plus, plus for our district and we're so excited, and it also gives an opportunity for anyone with a bit of entrepreneurial skills for accommodation, food, things to enhance the trail on the way so we're just building and building on this initiative."
About 20 years ago, Clutha was in the grips of rural decline with young people leaving and the population dropping. Cadogan said the district decided to pull their socks up and do something about it.
"We are made up of a lot of small communities and that population decline certainly affected the social cohesion, and we're seeing that come back.
"So some people see bricks and mortar, I just see communities that are back and functioning again, and that's what I'm excited about."
With the Clutha Gold Trail at the finish line, he hoped an extension through to Dunedin would be next on the list.
The district also marked the opening of the Te Pou Ō Mata-Au | Clutha District War Memorial and Community Centre on Friday
The facility is a community, business and visitor complex that offers an auditorium, movie theatre, the Clutha iSite, Clutha Development, social and health agencies, as well as community spaces.
Clutha Community Hub Charitable Trust own and manages it.
Chairperson Dale Anderson said there were plenty of exciting potential benefits to the local district.
"It has already had a positive impact within the district during development, we can't wait to see what the community delivers with it being publicly available."
