{{Short description|Cycle trail in New Zealand}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox trail | name = Great Taste Trail | photo = Great Taste Trail 027.JPG | caption = The Great Taste Trail in [[Richmond, Tasman|Richmond]] | map = {{Maplink|frame=yes|type=line|plain=yes|zoom=8|frame-align=center|frame-width=270|frame-height=270|stroke-color=#0000ff|stroke-width=2}} | map_caption = Interactive map of the Great Taste trail | location = [[Tasman District]], New Zealand | designation = | length = {{convert|200|km|abbr=on}} | trailheads = | use = Cycling<br>Walking | elev_gain_and_loss = | elev_change = | highest_m = | lowest = | difficulty = | season = Year round | months = | sights = Coastal scenery, rural scenery and rivers | hazards = | website = {{URL|heartofbiking.org.nz/tasmans-great-taste-trail/}} }} The '''Great Taste Trail''' is a cycle trail in the [[Tasman District]] of the [[South Island]] of New Zealand. This trail is one of the Great Rides of the [[New Zealand Cycle Trail]] project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tasman's Great Taste Trail Great Ride |url=https://www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your-ride/23-great-rides/tasmans-great-taste-trail/ |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=[[New Zealand Cycle Trail]] |language=en-NZ |archive-date=24 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250524094535/https://www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your-ride/23-great-rides/tasmans-great-taste-trail/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The trail is around {{convert|200|km|abbr=on}} long.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tasman's Great Taste Trail |url=https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/tasmans-great-taste-trail/ |access-date=23 July 2025 |publisher=Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust |archive-date=14 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250614172111/https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/tasmans-great-taste-trail/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Route == The majority of the route is a loop from the coast at [[Richmond, Tasman|Richmond]], travelling inland through [[Wakefield, New Zealand|Wakefield]] and Kohatu to [[Tapawera]], and then back to the coast at [[Riwaka]], returning along the coast, via [[Motueka]], [[Lower Moutere]], Tasman view lookout, [[Māpua, New Zealand|Māpua]] and [[Moturoa / Rabbit Island|Rabbit Island]], and then back to Richmond. The loop can be cycled in either direction. There is an extension from Riwaka to [[Kaiteriteri]] and a spur from [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] connecting to the loop. The trail commences from three starting places in Nelson: on the [[Maitai River]] path in central Nelson, on Beach Road in [[Tāhunanui]], and at [[Nelson Airport (New Zealand)|Nelson Airport]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Rides – Great Taste Trail |url=https://greatridesapp.stqry.app/1/tour/9994 |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=greatridesapp.stqry.app/1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sabin |first=Brook |date=31 August 2020 |title=Nelson Tasman's Great Taste Trail: A journey through New Zealand's lost tunnel |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/nelson-tasman/122614832/nelson-tasmans-great-taste-trail-a-journey-through-new-zealands-lost-tunnel |access-date=23 July 2025 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |archive-date=11 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111164030/https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/nelson-tasman/122614832/nelson-tasmans-great-taste-trail-a-journey-through-new-zealands-lost-tunnel |url-status=live }}</ref>
The route uses parts of a historic Nelson railway corridor. The [[Nelson section]] was an isolated government-owned railway line between Nelson and Glenhope in the Tasman District. While part of the New Zealand Government Railways, the section was never connected to the national railway network, although there were plans to do so. The line operated for 79 years between 1876 and 1955. Sections of the Great Taste Trail that use the old rail corridor are: the Railway Reserve on the route out of Nelson city, an alternative route through [[Stoke, New Zealand|Stoke]], the route between Richmond and [[Hope, New Zealand|Hope]], Tunnel Road and Spooners Tunnel through to Tapawera.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railway to nowhere |url=https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/accommodation-and-more/trail-stories/railway-to-nowhere/ |access-date=23 July 2025 |publisher=Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust |archive-date=23 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250523142232/https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/accommodation-and-more/trail-stories/railway-to-nowhere/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== History == The initial idea for a cycle trail in the Nelson-Tasman area was conceived by a small group of cyclists in 2007. The original concept was for a cycle path from [[Picton, New Zealand|Picton]], and through Nelson to [[Murchison, New Zealand|Murchison]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who built the Great Taste Trail? |url=https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/accommodation-and-more/trail-stories/who-built-the-great-taste-trail/ |access-date=24 July 2025 |publisher=Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust |language=en-NZ |archive-date=14 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250614173607/https://www.heartofbiking.org.nz/accommodation-and-more/trail-stories/who-built-the-great-taste-trail/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2009, central government was interested in the idea of a national cycle trail, and this was promoted by the then Prime Minister [[John Key]]. The national project ultimately became the [[New Zealand Cycle Trail|New Zealand Cycle Trai]]l – a network of 'Great Rides' that were dedicated cycleways, mostly off-road and in particularly scenic locations.<ref name="CONCRETE">{{cite news |author=Gower, Patrick |date=11 March 2009 |title=Concrete plan for Key's bike route |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10560999 |accessdate=30 October 2011 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]}}</ref><ref name="GETS50">{{cite news |author=Daniels, Chris |date=14 May 2009 |title=Cycleway gets $50m – now a series of 'Great Rides' says Key |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/small-business/news/article.cfm?c_id=85&objectid=10572247 |accessdate=30 October 2011 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |archive-date=23 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323173420/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/small-business/news/article.cfm?c_id=85&objectid=10572247 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="PAPER">''[http://tourism.govt.nz/Documents/Policy%20Website/Documents/CyclewayProject/CyclewayCabinetPaper.pdf Investment for the Development of the New Zealand Cycleway Project]'' – Cabinet Paper, Ministry of Tourism, May 2009</ref> In response to the government initiative, the Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust was registered in July 2009 to promote the development of a tourist cycle route in the Nelson-Tasman region.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust |url=https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/mynzbn/ |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=New Zealand Business Number |language=en-nz |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200605052147/https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/mynzbn/nzbndetails/9429035669487/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
By October 2011, the route of the cycle trail had been constructed across Rabbit Island, and the Māpua cycleway ferry had been launched to provided a means for cyclists to cross the Māpua channel. A route had also been completed from Nelson city to Richmond and [[Hope, New Zealand|Hope]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ley |first=Dugald |date=27 October 2011 |title=Tasman's Great Taste Trail – Update |url=https://www.tasman.govt.nz/document/serve/RESC11-10-13%20Tasman%27s%20Great%20Taste%20Trail%20Update.pdf?DocID=16738 |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=[[Tasman District Council]] |archive-date=21 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221145024/https://www.tasman.govt.nz/document/serve/RESC11-10-13%20Tasman%27s%20Great%20Taste%20Trail%20Update.pdf?DocID=16738 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first section of the trail, from Nelson city to Māpua, was officially opened by Prime Minister John Key on 4 July 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 July 2013 |title=PM launches Great Taste Trail |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |pages=1 |id={{ProQuest|1384984506}}}}</ref> The Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust reported that 200,000 riders had used the trail in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2017 |title=Great Taste Trail enhancing access to Tasman's outdoors |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |pages=3 |id={{ProQuest|1875423551}}}}</ref> A report commissioned by the Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust estimated that the total spend by visitors to the Nelson Tasman region who travelled specifically to bike the trail was more than $34 million for the year ending June 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hampson |first=Matthew |date=18 March 2024 |title=Great Taste Trail generates more than $34m over year |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350216419/great-taste-trail-generates-more-34m-over-year |access-date=24 July 2025 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]}}</ref>
During the [[Winter 2025 New Zealand floods|severe flooding in June-July 2025]], around {{convert|30|km|abbr=on}} of the trail was damaged. Some sections of the trail fell into the [[Wai-iti River|Wai-iti]] and [[Waimea River (Tasman)|Waimea]] rivers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 July 2025 |title='Gut-wrenching' damage to Great Taste Trail |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |pages=2 |id={{ProQuest|3225845073}}}}</ref> The trail was closed, with estimates of the cost of repairs exceeding $2M.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herbert |first=Delphine |date=16 July 2025 |title=Storm damage closes Tasman's Great Taste biking trail until further notice |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/567028/storm-damage-closes-tasman-s-great-taste-biking-trail-until-further-notice |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=[[RNZ]] |language=en-nz |archive-date=16 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250716045039/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/567028/storm-damage-closes-tasman-s-great-taste-biking-trail-until-further-notice |url-status=live }}</ref> Some sections of the trail were re-opened in mid-July.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 July 2025 |title=Great Taste Trail partly reopened |work=[[The Press]] |pages=9 |id={{ProQuest|3230512278}}}}</ref> In September, Government funding of $1.6M was provided for rebuilding of damaged sections to allow the majority of the trail to be repaired by December, restoring the full loop.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Flood hit Tasman Great Taste Trail bounces back|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/572927/flood-hit-tasman-great-taste-trail-bounces-back|website=[[RNZ]]|date=12 September 2025|access-date=1 December 2025|language=en-nz|first=Samantha|last=Gee|first2=|last2=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Section of Tasman's Great Taste Cycle Trail set to reopen|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/580533/section-of-tasman-s-great-taste-cycle-trail-set-to-reopen|website=[[RNZ]]|date=1 December 2025|access-date=1 December 2025|language=en-nz}}</ref>
== Features == [[File:Spooners Tunnel - MC.jpg|thumb|Spooners Tunnel – western portal]] === Spooners Tunnel === {{Further|Nelson section}} Spooners Tunnel was constructed as part of the Nelson section railway, and was opened in 1893.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Gee |first=Samantha |date=19 March 2016 |title=Spooners will be longest tunnel |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |id={{ProQuest|1774328961}}}}</ref> The {{convert|1352|m|mi|adj=mid|-long}} tunnel passes through the Spooners Range between Belgrove and Tapawera.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spooners Tunnel |url=https://www.livingheritage.org.nz/Schools-Stories/Tapawera-community/Spooners-Tunnel |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=www.livingheritage.org.nz |archive-date=24 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250324200538/http://www.livingheritage.org.nz/Schools-Stories/Tapawera-community/Spooners-Tunnel |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=Note|Sources vary in describing the length of Spooners Tunnel. The length is stated as 1,352 m on signage at the tunnel entrance. However, the length is described as 67 chains in accounts from 1892 and 1897, and this converts to 1,347 metres.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/IT18920315.2.10|title=Midland Railway works at Belgrove|date=15 March 1892|work=Inangahua Times|volume=XVI|issue=271|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18970204.2.48.1|title=A long tunnel|date=4 February 1897|issue=5788|work=[[The Star (Christchurch)]]|page=4}}</ref>}} Following the decommissioning of the Nelson railway in 1955, railway enthusiasts had kept the tunnel open for guided tours, but it was closed in 2002 for safety reasons and because of the loss of road access.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 January 2002 |title=Spooners Tunnel closed |work=[[The Press]] |pages=4 |id={{ProQuest|314437702}}}}</ref> On 17 April 2016 the Spooners tunnel was permanently opened to the public as part of the Great Taste Trail.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kidson |first1=Sally |date=18 April 2016 |title=Trip through Nelson's Spooner's Tunnel 'like biking through space' |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/79023021/trip-through-nelsons-spooners-tunnel-like-biking-through-space |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref> It is claimed to be the longest cycle tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref name=":0" />
=== Lord Rutherford Memorial === {{Main|Ernest Rutherford memorial}} The route of the Great Taste Trail through [[Brightwater]] passes by a memorial to [[Ernest Rutherford]], the [[physicist]] and [[Peerage of the United Kingdom|British peer]] who was a pioneering researcher in both [[Atomic physics|atomic]] and [[nuclear physics]]. Rutherford was born at Spring Grove near to the Brightwater. The memorial is a statue of Rutherford as a boy, and includes a mound surrounded by terraces with plants and trees from places where he worked: Canada, England and New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ernest Rutherford memorial, Brightwater |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/ernest-rutherford-memorial-brightwater |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=New Zealand History |archive-date=9 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809022832/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/ernest-rutherford-memorial-brightwater |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lash |first=Max |date=2001 |title=Development of the Rutherford Memorial |url=https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20210104000423/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NHSJ06_04-t1-body1-d6.html |journal=Nelson Historical Society Journal |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=34 |via=[[New Zealand Electronic Text Collection]]}}</ref>
[[File:Lublow's Leap 28.jpg|thumb|left|Cycle and pedestrian bridge over Baton River]] === Lublow's Leap === Lublow's Leap is a rest stop and honesty shop on a remote section of the trail between Tapawera and [[Ngātīmoti]]. It is located on Baton Valley Rd, adjacent to the suspension bridge across the [[Baton River]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kepes |first=Ben |date=5 February 2025 |title=Getting out of the way of visionary initiatives |url=https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360570364/getting-out-way-visionary-initiatives |access-date=24 July 2025 |work=[[The Press]]}}</ref> The facility was built by Fiona and Richard Lublow on a section of land that they gifted to the trail.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Maxine |date=22 January 2024 |title=Cycling oasis opens on Tasman's Great Taste Cycle Trail |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/350152209/cycling-oasis-opens-tasmans-great-taste-cycle-trail |access-date=24 July 2025 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Providing some R&R – Lublow's Leap, Tasman |url=https://www.batonvalley.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/250/2024/06/2246_GP_MAY-MAILER_SHED-PROFILES_V3.pdf |access-date=24 July 2025 |archive-date=30 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240830072941/https://www.batonvalley.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/250/2024/06/2246_GP_MAY-MAILER_SHED-PROFILES_V3.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 May 2024 |title=A Cycling Adventure with a Conservation Twist |url=https://www.tet.org.nz/tet-projects/a-cycling-adventure-with-a-conservation-twist/ |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=Tasman Environmental Trust |language=en-NZ |archive-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250421165322/https://www.tet.org.nz/tet-projects/a-cycling-adventure-with-a-conservation-twist/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Māpua ferry === The Māpua ferry forms part of the Great Taste Trail, and provides a connection from the wharf at Māpua across the narrow channel to Rabbit Island. The cycleway ferry service was officially opened in October 2011. The vessel, known as the ''Flat Bottom Fairy'', has 15 bike racks and can carry 50 passengers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 2011 |title=Trail Opening Big Day for Mapua |url=https://www.coastalnews.online/CoastalOct11.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328233744/https://www.coastalnews.online/CoastalOct11.pdf |archive-date=28 March 2024 |work=Coastal News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cowdry |first=Alice |date=3 October 2011 |title=1000 passengers thrilled by cycleway-ferry service |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/5723815/1000-passengers-thrilled-by-cycleway-ferry-service |access-date=24 July 2025 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |archive-date=6 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106061949/http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/5723815/1000-passengers-thrilled-by-cycleway-ferry-service |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2014, the Nelson Cycle Trail Trust reported that 16,000 cyclists had used the Māpua ferry.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murdoch |first=Helen |date=4 April 2014 |title=Alarm at costs for bike trail upkeep |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |pages=1 |id={{ProQuest|1512619464}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sivignon |first=Cherie |date=5 June 2019 |title=Mapua Ferry service may go to tender after two hard summers |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113244156/mapua-ferry-service-may-go-to-tender-after-two-hard-summers |access-date=23 July 2025 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |archive-date=20 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520054140/https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113244156/mapua-ferry-service-may-go-to-tender-after-two-hard-summers |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sivignon |first=Cherie |date=6 December 2019 |title=Business as usual for Mapua ferry after contract awarded |work=[[The Nelson Mail]] |pages=2 |id={{ProQuest|2321712341}}}}</ref>
=== Waimea Inlet === The Great Taste Trail crosses over the [[Waimea Inlet]], a shallow tidal lagoon that is the second-largest estuary in the South Island, with an area of {{Convert|3,462|ha|abbr=on}}. A large barrier sand island, Moturoa / Rabbit Island, separates the estuary from [[Tasman Bay]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waimea Inlet |url=https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/tasman-region/estuaries/waimea-inlet/ |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=Land, Air, Water Aotearoa |archive-date=27 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250427065746/https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/tasman-region/estuaries/waimea-inlet |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|group=Note}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Great Taste Trail}} * {{Official website|www.heartofbiking.org.nz/tasmans-great-taste-trail/}} * [https://www.nzcycletrail.com/inspire-your-ride/tasmans-great-taste-trails-must-dos/ Tasman's Great Taste Trail's must-dos] * [http://www.mapuaferry.co.nz/ Māpua ferry] * [https://www.batonvalley.co.nz/lublows-leap-shop/ Lublow's Leap]
{{New Zealand Cycle Trail}} {{Tasman District}} {{coord|41|20|S|173|11|E|region:NZ|display=title}}
[[Category:New Zealand Cycle Trail]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in the Nelson Region]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in the Tasman District]]