🌟🚵 WHAKA WEEKLY 🚵🌟
- Tony Knauf
- Jan 15
- 6 min read
15 January 2026
What an EPIC fortnight in the forest! Over 349 hours of absolute graft, and we need to shine the spotlight on the legends who make this place what it is – the volunteers and trail adopters!
These are the people who don't get paid a cent but show up week after week, year after year, because they genuinely LOVE these trails. This place is run on hard mahi:
🦸 VOLUNTEER & ADOPTER HEROES
Let's celebrate the incredible humans who poured their hearts into the forest over the past two weeks!
🛣️ Ovata Road
All day on New Year's Day there were incredible folk out there clearing trees. While the rest of us were nursing hangovers and contemplating life choices, volunteers were out there clearing trees for an entire day! That's not just dedication – that's pure love for the forest and everyone who uses it! Then it was Ovata the RTT crew who spent another FOUR hours split between blowing and vegetation work on the horse trail. Some say that's too much work, we say Neigh!
⛰️ K2
SEVEN hours from trail adopters across FIVE different sessions! One hour of vegetation on New Year's Day, one hour vegetation on Tuesday, THREE hours on Wednesday, one hour surface repairs on Friday, and another hour vegetation on Monday! That's dedication at its PEAK! Get it? K2? Peak? We'll see ourselves out... 🏔️
🐉 Dragon's Tail
One hour of blowing on New Year's Day! Starting 2026 and we aint dragon our feet! 🐲
🏔️ Mini DH
NINE hours from the trail adopter on Friday 2nd January! Four and a half hours on vegetation work and four and a half hours on surface repairs! Starting the new year with a BANG! The adopter knows every inch of this trail and it shows in the attention to detail! Mini DH is running like a dream!
🌲 Fern Drive
Two hours of volunteer tree clearing on Friday 2nd January! Quick response keeping this road accessible for everyone, stella job team. 🌿
💍 Ring Road
And round the corner on Ring Road they did two hours of volunteer tree clearing on Saturday the 3rd of Jan from the legends of the forest!
🌿 Lentil Link
After going round clearing up Ring Road the volleys linked up with Lentil to clear more trees. Super duper effort!
🌊 Creek
Keeping the flow going, the crew then headed to Creek to nab another tree, then came back a few days later to smash back the vegetation. When trails need help, this crew doesn't creek under the pressure – they rise to the occasion!
🎭 As You Do
They have been doing lots of work on the staples of maintenance, drains and vegetation. The adopter really treats this trail like their own backyard – because that's exactly what it is to them! As you do... and boy, do they do it well!
🐦 Box of Birds
Here’s one the tweet about: The adopter has spent more than four hours in the last two weeks keeping this trail in primo condition, its a box of fluffies.
🐷 Pig Track
Right, enough on my nonsense, time for a poem from the Pig Track Adopter!
“New year same jobs
Like clearing bits of fallen pine
Trimming vegetation
So riders’ views are fine.
New year same jobs
Like clearing the odd blocked drain
Even though it’s hot today
Who knows when it will next rain.”🐷
🐷 Piglet
One hour of vegetation work from the trail adopter on Tuesday 6th January! Even the little trails get big love! Piglet is looking as good as Pooh's best friend!
🆕 New Exit
As we all know, this trail is basically brand new thanks to the adopter's relentless dedication! Every time anyone rides New Exit, they're experiencing the love that's been poured into it! Exit stage left? More like exit stage EXCELLENT!.....sorry, Chat Gpt wrote that one….wont happen again.
😜 Mad If You Don't
Despite all the road thinning going on, these volunteers are absolutely OBSESSED with keeping this trail open and rideable! The dedication is unreal! You'd be mad if you don't appreciate this effort! 🤪
🧠 No Brains
The No Brains crew never stops showing up! After all those epic working bees and the Christmas Eve session, they're STILL out there keeping it mint! Thank you team.
🏃 NGT
One HQ adopter spent an entire day out there making sure NGT is absolutely perfect for some mad summer laps! When adopters drop full days like this, it's pure passion! NGT = Next Generation Trailwork! 💪
🏗️ Corridor Rebuild
This trail has changed hands, with a buddy taking over from another buddy who is stepping away for a minute. Chur Chur for all your hard work over the years mate, and welcome new adopter, already out there making sure Corridor leads you down the best possible path!
🌋 Tarawera Return
And to wrap it up, Tarawera Return has been getting some love from the volly cew! Woohoo! Underestimated track this one that sees alot of traffic from the running, walking and biking community. Thanks heaps for the mahi!!
🔧 RTT CREW CRUSHING IT
While the volunteers and adopters were doing their thing, the RTT crew was out there smashing through a MASSIVE workload! Over 261 hours of work across the fortnight!
Big Jobs:
🍃 Arepa (Alpha) 1 - This trail got absolutely 100% thoroughly de-veged over multiple sessions with every single cutting tool imaginable. Epic effort.
🚶 Hemo Gorge Trail/Walking Track - We heard ya folks, Hemo got in a bit of a state! Soon as we could we got out the digger, got stuck into the surface repairs, gave it a good blowing, and massive vegetation clearance! Our walking whānau are going to absolutely love this! CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: This was EVERYONE pitching in from volunteers, to Mountain Bike Rotorua, it has really been a team effort.
🏁 Challenge Roadside - Big big effort on this trail getting it all polished up.
🏘️ Out of Office - Six hours of surface repairs Thursday! No out-of-office replies from this crew!
🌳 Forest Loop sections - Multiple sessions on Te Kōtukutuku (9 hours blowing!), Te Ara ki Tumunui (9.5 hours total!), keeping the new loop pristine!
1️⃣ Tahi - We noticed that there was a bit of a difficult section that was a bit challenging for our younger micro riders, so we got in there with the digger and chilled it out a bit eh. Did you know that Tahi is Māori for "one"? Now this trail is NUMBER ONE!
And more including….
🦁 Lion Trail, 🪨 Rockdrop, 💎 Minerals, 🏔️ Boulderdash, 🏁 Challenge DH, 🐍 Sidewinder, 🐷 Piglet, 🔥 Te Ahi Manawa, 🚗 Tank To Town, 🎸 Riff Raff 🏔️ Tuhoto Ariki, ⬇️ Double Down, and SO many more!
The RTT crew hit trails across the entire forest – from tree clearing to digger work to vegetation management to surface repairs. Every corner of the forest got attention!
Walking/Horse Trails Getting Love:
🚶 Redwoods Memorial Grove Walking Track
🛣️ Tikitapu Road
⚫ Whakarewarewa Track (Black)
🛣️ Whare Flat Road
🛣️ Indirect Road
📊 BY THE NUMBERS
💪 349 hours of trail work over the fortnight 💰 $19,478 value delivered to the forest 🙌 45 hours from incredible volunteers 🌟 43 hours from dedicated trail adopters 👷 261 hours from the RTT crew
Task breakdown:
119 hours vegetation work (sight lines for days!)
104 hours tree clearing (keeping access open!)
58 hours blowing (clean trails!)
31 hours surface repairs (smooth riding!)
14 hours drains (water management!)
9 hours digger work (the big jobs!)
8 hours sign installation (finding your way home!)
4.5 hours hand building (crafting trails!)
1 hour non-trail work
Trail Adopter & Volunteer Highlights:
24 hours on Ovata Road (New Year's Day marathon!)
9 hours on Mini DH from adopter
8 hours on Mad If You Don't from volunteers
8 hours on NGT from adopter
8 hours on Corridor Rebuild from adopter
7 hours on K2 from adopter (across five sessions!)
Multiple sessions on As You Do, Creek, Box of Birds, and more!
💚 THE REAL TALK
Let's be honest – volunteers and trail adopters are the BACKBONE of this entire operation.
And here's the thing – we need MORE of you! If you've been thinking about becoming a trail adopter, or joining a working bee, or just grabbing some secateurs and trimming back vegetation on your favourite trail – DO IT!
The community needs you, and you'll find a family out there who shares your passion! https://www.rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz/adoptatrail
Why did the trail adopter bring a ladder to the forest? Because they wanted to take their trail maintenance to the next level! 🪜 (Okay, we'll stop with the dad jokes now... but only if you make a donation to make me stop!)
💰 FUNDING UPDATE
The donations keep rolling in! We're sitting at over $3,700 for January already! If we can keep this momentum going, trail refreshes and new builds are absolutely on the cards!
Remember: $2 per meter per year keeps trails mint. We've got 300km of trails. You do the math! (That's $600,000 annually for those playing at home!)
$10/month = half the price of Netflix and WAY better for you!
Set up a recurring donation and be part of keeping these trails world-class! Every dollar goes directly into maintaining, building, and improving the trails you love!
Why did the trail adopter bring a ladder to the forest? Because they wanted to take their trail maintenance to the next level! 🪜 (Okay, we'll stop with the dad jokes now... but only if you make a donation to make me stop!)
See you out there! 🚵♂️❤️
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