Queenstown’s ‘Twin Rivers’ trail reopens key section after major $360,000 repair

One of the most popular and scenic sections of the Queenstown Trail’s ‘Twin Rivers’ trail alongside the Kawarau River has reopened after a repair program costing $360,000.

The repair work was enabled by support from a range of partners, including a grant of $120,000 from local development company Remarkables Park Ltd.

The balance of the trail repair was jointly funded by Queenstown Trails Trust, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (via the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund), EP Wilding Estate, Air New Zealand Queenstown International Marathon, Craig and Coralie Williams and Wilson Contracting.

It was project managed by Brian Fitzpatrick, Remarkables Park Ltd’s General Manager of Projects.

Commenting on the reopening, Queenstown Trails Trust Chief Executive Mandy Kennedy stated “the Queenstown Trails Trust is exceptionally delighted to be reopening this beautiful part of the Twin Rivers trail which runs alongside the Kawarau River.

“It’s always been a firm favourite with both locals and visitors and has been closed for three years now due to a trail failure.

“We had been considering a variety of ways to enable the work to be undertaken to reinstate the trail and were delighted when our partners banded together to help us.

“We would like to thank all trail users for their patience while the section of trail was closed and very much look forward to seeing them return to the reopened section in this special part of the Queenstown Trail network, we are positive they will enjoy it immensely. “

The Trust also announced a long-term maintenance partnership with Remarkables Park Limited, on which Kennedy commented “the icing on the cake for us is the partnership with the team from Remarkables Park Limited to maintain both the upper and lower trails which run alongside the Kawarau River for a period of 15 years. 

“The Queenstown Trails Trust constantly strives to ensure our trail network is the best it can possibly be and our sincere thanks go to the team at Remarkables Park Limited for investing in the future of our trail network,” said Mrs Kennedy.

Alastair Porter, Remarkables Park Ltd Chief Executive, said the organisation was very pleased to fund maintenance of almost 5 kilometres of trails bordering Remarkables Park.

Porter added “the Queenstown Trails team has done an incredible job of securing Government funding and local fundraising over a long period to deliver a world-class network for walkers and bikers. Their passion and dedication is impressive and we’re delighted to play our part as an ongoing significant sponsor.”

Images: The Trail reopening celebrated by (from left): Queenstown Trails Trust (QTT) Chief Executive Mandy Kennedy, Remarkables Park Ltd (RPL) Director John Porter, RPL Projects General Manager Brian Fitzpatrick, RPL Director Alastair Porter, QTT Chairman Tony McQuilkin, Queenstown International Marathon Race Director Nicole Fairweather, QTT Executive Officer Louise Vicente and QTT trustee John Thompson [top] and a key section of the Twin River Trail repaired and reopened [below].

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