Te Hangāruru Opens
Horopito
This Matariki, we mark a new beginning on our whenua. On 19 June 2025, Te Korowai o Wainuiārua joined with whānau, tamariki, schools, and partners to open Te Hangāruru, a new section of the Mountains to Sea – Ngā Ara Tūhono trail that runs through the heart of our rohe.
Gifted its name by Uenuku, Te Hangāruru remembers a time when the skies above the Waimarino forest were filled with manu, when the ngahere provided kai, and when our people walked with the rhythms of the land.
“It’s a place where once the sky was black with birds, where trees stood for thousands of years,” said Aiden Gilbert, Chair of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua.
“This trail honours that memory. It reconnects our people to our whenua, and shows our tamariki where they come from.”
Te Hangāruru is more than a cycle trail. It is a living story, an invitation for whānau, locals, and visitors to walk, ride, and learn through the landscapes that shaped us.
The new 9km southern section connects Horopito to Pōkākā Road, weaving through regenerating bush, historic tramways, and a waterfall formed from the 1950s SH4 diversion. It complements an earlier 9km section through the restored Marton Sash & Door tramline.
It also takes us one step closer to completing the Mountains to Sea journey, from maunga to moana, from Mt Ruapehu to the Tasman Sea, a vision first imagined in 2009.
“We joined this kaupapa not just because it’s a trail,” said Gilbert.
“It’s about wellbeing. It’s about identity. It’s about manaaki and reconnecting with the whenua our ancestors walked.”
The whenua traversed by Te Hangāruru holds deep ancestral significance. These were once tracks used to cross from Manganui o te Ao Valley to Rotoaira via Puketiti, where the titi would lay their eggs.
“When you walk that land, you can hear the water running under your feet,” said Gilbert.
“There are caves and rivers under the rock. It was a highway for our people, and now it’s being walked again.”
“That whenua has stories. Some were urupā. Some were kai gathering places. Some were places where our people hid, survived, even fought. Our job now is to protect those stories while opening space for learning and healing.”
At the opening, tamariki from Raetihi Primary, National Park School, and Waimarino Village School joined the hīkoi and celebration, a powerful moment of intergenerational connection.
“That’s what made it,” said Gilbert. “Seeing our kids ride that trail, seeing them connect to where they’re from. That’s what matters. Not all schools offer that kind of education, but they should. Our whenua is the best classroom we have.”
The trail has been made possible through partnership and persistence, led by Te Korowai o Wainuiārua, Ngā Ara Tūhono Charitable Trust, Ruapehu District Council, DOC, local contractors and engineers, and Crown support via the Provincial Growth Fund (MBIE – Kānoa).
“It’s taken years of planning, funding negotiations, environmental consents and community mahi,” said Gilbert. “But now we have something to show our tamariki, our manuhiri, and ourselves.”
Looking Ahead
One final section remains: a 225-metre suspension bridge over the Makatote River. Once completed, Te Hangāruru will fully connect Horopito to Waimarino National Park Village, and bring the vision of a continuous trail across the rohe even closer.
“We’ll keep going,” said Gilbert. “We’ve come this far together, iwi, community, council, schools. This is a legacy project. It’s about thriving whenua, thriving tamariki, thriving futures.”
We welcome our whānau and manuhiri to walk this trail, to reconnect, to remember, and to journey forward, together.
