Te Ara Kahikatea Pathway: 4km around Te Puke

I had been meaning to do this walk for a long time, in fact almost every time I drove through Te Puke on my way to my parents or back I would mentally remind myself to do it.  Today I had a last minute drive to make up to Tauranga for a family emergency, and on the way back I realised I had time on my hands so I stopped and walked this trail.  I probably shouldn't have bothered, as it visits such places as the main road, the cemetery, the sewage works, and the dog pound!

I had researched walks I could do between Matata and Katikati about a year ago, and this one came up in my online searches.  It is relatively short at about 4km, but it was still a trail that I could easily get to.  In a way it fits in with the Bronze Kiwi walk I did in Whakatane, or Ryk's Loop around Katikati in the sense that it is based in and around a residential district.

Today it had been raining (moreso in the morning) and despite NZ being in the second month of autumn, it was extremely humid.  I had not preplanned this walk, so was dressed in jeans, t-shirt with long-sleeved cotton shirt over the top, and Converse hightops - not the ideal walking attire.

The walk starts from Jubilee Park, hidden behind the shops to the East of Jellicoe Street.  Look for the large stone archway on the edge of the car park.  The route itself roughly resembles a backward, and rotated, small letter g (the kind with the tail), with the beginning of the walk at the end of the tail of the letter - c'mon, use your imagination here!

In fact, the walk itself doesn't feel like it starts here, as it meanders across a skate park, through a gap in a fence, alongside the railway, then along a couple of streets before it feels more like a trail, but let's back up and go through all that again, slower, and with pictures.

After passing under the arch, head directly ahead, right through the skate park, and along the stepped concrete slabs.

Cross the grass heading in the same direction until you reach the fence.  Here you have 2 choices, either turn right on the inside of the fence (and exit the park through the gap in the corner), or divert slightly to the left to go through the gap, and then turn right to follow the fence from the far side.

The section of grass on the far side of the fence runs along above the railway, with nothing preventing one from wandering right down to the tracks in the railway cutting.  Head straight ahead until you reach the road (beside the playcentre and scout hall) and carry on along Stock Road.

It veers to the right and joins King Street, where you need to turn left.

At the end of King Street is a bench atop a bank, overlooking Tinkerbell's Garden (which did not seem to be open to the public), with the weird pond circles that must have a purpose - perhaps as oxidation ponds for the nearby sewer works?  LOL.

After exiting the street and taking the path down the slope to circle around and beside the gardens, the path splits, giving one a choice of circumnavigating the rest of the route either clockwise or anticlockwise.  I chose to head right, in an anticlockwise direction, mostly because I wanted to get the section alongside the main road over and done with.

 

Here the path ran along below some houses, the back of some industry, and below the veterinary clinic, alongside a field of grass.  Ahead, in the field, there was some work going on, seemingly consisting of digging and laying drains.  Also, there was a brown dog wandering around off-leash (is it leash, or lead?  My sister says "off-lead") with no one nearby but the 2 men working some distance away.

I ignore the dog (and hope it ignores me) and carry on along the trail, curving around the edge of the field, to the left, and running just below the main road at this point.

After a short section, I cross a quaint little bridge, aptly named the Little White Bridge.  I take photos from both sides, but prefer the one looking back the way I've come (as ahead is a road giving access to some houses and a park).

As I walked up the short section of roadway, a vehicle approached me and slowed, the woman driving asking me if I had seen a dog back along the trail.  When I replied in the positive, she seemed very relieved.  At the top of the slope, I turned left off the road and directly into Te Puke cemetery.

The cemetery was over pretty much before it began, with the trail dropping around to the right (back toward the main road), but not before giving a bit of a view of a field ahead, a tree line, and beyond that the cut through the landscape of the stream we would soon be following.

After another short stint just below the main road, the trail rises quickly up and over some stop banks, then turns abruptly left to follow the aforementioned stream.

At first the stream was not really visible, with a stretch of overgrowth between it and the path, the banks of said stream being rather steep, and the stream being well below those banks.  (I'm saying "stream" as if I really know that it is indeed a stream.  For all I know, it could be a small river, or a large creek).

Heading perpendicular to the road, we've left it behind us to follow the stream/river/creek, shortly I come to a, very low (I almost touched the underside of the rails with my head) underpass, going under the railway line.

On the other side, the trail curved briefly and, had I wanted to, I could have wandered right on to the tracks unhindered.

Still following the stream I passed the local wastewater treatment plant, and noted the pipes that ran from that down to the stream.  I hope that water has been treated well!

The trail veers sharply left and becomes a boardwalk elevated slightly above the paddocks on either side.

At the end of the boardwalk, I passed by the local dog pound, with the requisite non-stop-barking dog in one of the compounds.  There were other dogs in the other compounds, but at least they remained quiet.

Crossing the treatment plant's access road, the trail ran along one edge of a field, before turning left and taking the liberty of another boardwalk to run along the second edge.

After passing a stock race that had evidence of recent usage (watch where you place those Converses), then under the railway yet again, although this time it was much higher above me, a quick right turn returned me to where the trail had branched near Tinkerbell's.

It was a short walk back along the roads and through Jubilee park to get back to the arch.