The secret redwood forest of Gate Pa

Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder in Tauranga’s redwood forest.

Below Gate Pa School is a gully with a small redwood forest tucked away out of sight. Not for much longer.

'It will be a major walkway, part of the Tauranga cycleways and walkways,” says Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder.

During the last 10 years 10,000 trees have been planted by both Gate Pa School and Tauranga Girl's College. The redwoods were planted many years before that.

'This area was a bit of a wasteland,” says Richard. 'So it was developed and planted out, in an attempt to get native birdlife back. It's very peaceful for an inner citybusy Cameron Road Cameron Rd.”

Clearly opening this gully up will offer the whole community a place to enjoy. Biking is becoming more popular as a recreational activity, however the inner city streets of Tauranga are not considered the safest places for families to go and bike together. Around the city are 27km of walk ways that are also cycle-friendly.

In the Gate Pa redwood forest there will be an additional 2.5km of track to add to this, hard-packed dirt and clay-covered with pine needles.

'Staff that have been here for quite some time have always looked at the gully area and tried to think how we could use this area better,” says Richard. 'So when the bikes in schools idea was explored, they thought this would be a great use of the space, and expand it to use as a walkway as well as a cycleway.”

Through the Tauranga City Council's partnership programme, road construction company Higgins has offered machinery, expertise and time to build this second track at the school. Handrails and some fencing will be built across two of the bridges to help make it safer.

'We are really happy to give something back to the community and be part of such a great project,” says Higgins area manager Simon Pollard. 'Higgins is a family business and value the importance of children learning bike skills in a safe environment and enjoying the outdoors.”

Higgins has already successfully partnered with the school to build the top track around the school field.

The lower Pukehinahina track, named after the marae where the Battle of Gate Pa took place, will have some other more advanced tracks looping off it. Due to start in mid-December, once the ground has dried, the plan is to open the track in February with an invitation to all the organisations that have helped with the project.

'For an inner city school to have this magical area is amazing,” says Richard.

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1 comment

Peaceful haven

Posted on 05-12-2016 12:14 | By 1 4 GK

I've been lucky enough to have walked through this glade with school Principal Inder and was amazed to discover this 'treasure" in Gate Pa.It deserves to become a community facility and I'm certain cyclists will fall in love with what's available to them.


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