Cycleway on the right track

ANDREW GORRIE/ The Dominion Post

STRESS-FREE RIDING: : Hawaiian tourist Douglas Rompasky has Airlie Rd, near Plimmerton, to himself.

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Work is yet to begin on the Government's $50 million national cycleway, but one tourist reckons he has found a good place to start.

Douglas Rompasky, from Maui, Hawaii, has been cycling around New Zealand since November and last week rode from Peka Peka to Plimmerton without having to use State Highway 1.

With a bit of signposting, the easy jaunt along coastal side roads and the existing Ara Harakeke cycleway between Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay could easily be turned into one of Prime Minister John Key's "Great Rides", he said.

"Ninety-eight per cent of it is just side roads and then there's a little park [Otaihanga Park, near Waikanae] that you cross through. It's kind of marked on the map, but on the roads it's not really well marked."

He had not taken his bike on the beach but had heard it was possible to ride across the inter-tidal sands between Paekakariki and Paraparaumu Beach. He had enjoyed the respite from state highways.

"I try to stay on the back roads as much as possible. It's a lot less stress, but it's not always an easy thing to do in New Zealand."

If the 2 1/2-hour route was formalised, he thought it would prove popular with tourists. "If it actually came to fruition I might come back to New Zealand just to do it again."

In a pre-Budget announcement in May, Mr Key said $50m would be invested in the cycleway project over three years, to create a network of routes nationwide. The Government had already received 20 "substantial" route proposals and expected to announce the first set of tracks in the next two months.

Last week Wellington City Council announced $4.75m of funding over 10 years for a Wellington walking and cycling network, including a harbour track and a cycle-walkway alongside the Porirua Stream.