36 | Department of Conservation: Paparoa Great Walk T T Virginia Wright Paparoa track a unique experience “Like every Great Walk it’s unique, designed to offer a good back-country experience without being too hard and with good facilities.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Sam Symonds has worked for the Department of Conservation (DOC) for most of the last 27 years, having first cut back-country tracks as a volunteer in 1999. Since a restructure last October, he has been principal ranger heritage and visitors in the Mawhera Greymouth District. For the three years before that he was supervisor for the Paparoa Track, the 10th of New Zealand’s Great Walks. “I’ve been involved with the Paparoa Track ever since, now at the management level, but as the supervisor I was closely associated with it, and the Pike Valley, and the Pike29 Memorial Track.” Over the years, Sam has worked around the country, including in Whangarei where he looked after smaller reserves, with a lot more community work and working closely with iwi. “It gave me a really good understanding of how we can all work together. We just have to understand each other and find a common goal.” That understanding has been an essential part of working with the tight community of Pike River. “The only reason we have the Paparoa Track is because of the Pike Mine disaster in 2010. Cabinet decided in 2015 to recognise the struggles and efforts of the community in the wake of the tragedy by building the track and creating a memorial for the men in the Pike Valley,” explains Sam. The Pike29 Memorial Track, which was built at the same time as the Paparoa Track, links up to the Paparoa, five kilometres east of the Moonlight Hut, and offers an important additional element to this Great Walk. As a grade 4 mountain bike it’s one of the few dual-use tracks in the country. The need for berms to allow bikes to corner meant they used a shape and swale system to move the (copious) rainwater around, rather than side drains and culverts. It all contributed to the desired effect of a track that sits lightly within the environment, designed to look like it’s always been there, part of the landscape. “Like every Great Walk it’s unique, designed to offer a good back-country experience without being too hard and with good facilities,” says Sam. “You’ve got cookers, and there’s toilets and people in the huts to look after you, water provided and good signage and interpretation boards. The Paparoa takes you from rainforest to alpine tops and gives some spectacular views, and the Pike29 Memorial Track leads to the site of the former Pike River Mine.” The Paparoa and Pike29 Memorial Track experience will be added to when the Memorial Pavilion being constructed for the families up at the portal, the sealed-off entrance to the former mine, is completed. “You’ll cross a bridge from where the Pike29 track comes out and walk about a kilometre west up the valley to the Memorial Pavilion. It’s a horseshoe-shaped shelter facing the sealed-off opening to the mine, being built with wood from the valley itself, with 29 beautifully sculptured fins with the men’s names on them, and you’ll be able to sit there and soak up some quiet and contemplate,” says Sam. It’s expected to be a unique addition to what is already a beautiful place to visit – a poignant reminder of what happened within the majesty of the surrounding bush, which reaches up to the track above: a deeply considered memorial to those who lost their lives. Laying track corduroy on the trail during construction of the track, age old techniques were used alongside more modern track construction methods. Photo: Neil Silverwood Simon & Debbie Lawn: 027 228 4385 Agricultural Services General Aerial Services Hunting & Fishing 03 732 3668 | office@ahaurahelicopters.co.nz 96 Ahaura-Kopara Road, Ahaura, West Coast
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