A cycle trail expert is applauding a coast-to-coast trail under development in the Far North.
Jonathan Kennett, who designs cycle trails and co-wrote the New Zealand guidebook on them, was in the north recently for a test ride.
After cycling the Ōkaihau to Kaikohe section of the Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast cycleway, he says it's right up there with the Ōtako or Ōtago Rail Trail.
Much of the work on the trail has been done by Community Max workers, who also created the carved pou or totem-like poles along the way.
Mr Kennett says branding the cycleway as a poupou trail will set it apart, and there is no other trail that can present Māori and Pākehā history in that way.