Add to my favourite walks
Hello fellow walkers and readers,
With another summer behind us and with no Walking Weekend organised, our trustees have decided it is time to wind up the Mangawhai Walking Weekend Charitable Trust.
The Walking Weekend has been a wonderful event for our community over the years but like many community events, we rely solely on keen volunteers to make this event happen and volunteers are just harder to entice these days!
The residue of funds from the MWW Trust, around $7,000, will be donated to the Mangawhai Tracks Charitable Trust, who have been our main fundraising recipient over the years. Our Trackies are still out there maintaining our beautiful walking trails as well as assisting in many other local projects.
The Walking Weekend started in 1999 inspired by our spectacular Coastal Walkway, still fabulous, and thanks to our enthusiastic Trackies, led to the development of the lush Tanekaha forest and waterfall tracks, opening up an entire new network of walking tracks for all levels of ability.
We expect Mangawhai will be forever a fabulous walking destination. In addition, some tracks now link through the Brynderwyns and the Mangawhai Clifftop Walkway is now part of the Te Araroa Trail. We feel very fortunate to be part of the Te Araroa Trail family and it is a beautiful sight to see these intrepid walkers passing through Mangawhai on their 3000km overland journey to Bluff.
Thank you to Jean Goldschmidt and the many original organisers, their ‘bright’ idea became the Mangawhai Walking Weekend and it has survived for 21 Walking Weekends.
Today we have an extensive choice of beautiful bush and coastal tracks as well as extensive walkways around town.
The Walking Weekend has also led to several well-supported annual events that continue to grow; the Mangawhai Food and Wine Festival, the Art Trail and Garden Ramble; and we have several active walking groups that meet weekly around town.
Thank you for your interest and support over the years, it has certainly been a fun time for us all. Thank you to our community, who opened their farms and properties for us to explore, thank you to the Trackies and the many knowledgeable guides, ‘tail-end Charlies’ and all of you that participated and made this enjoyable event possible.
There are so many great stories about the Mangawhai Walking Weekend and just glancing through Jean Goldschmidt’s book, Making Tracks, is a wonderful reminder of the possibilities when a community grabs hold of an idea and makes it happen.
Happy walking to you all from the Mangawhai crew past and current.
Trish, Belinda and Trevor
Current Trustees
May 2026
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