Much to the excitement and relief of the Walk Tairua Society, a 21 metre pedestrian bridge is now on its foundations on the Pepe Loop Track.

Getting to this point has been a bit of challenge though, as the recent weather bomb caused much of the material used to support the bridge to be washed away in the high tide levels.

Once the material was retrieved and the water levels returned to normal, a barge carrying a pile driver rammed a total of six piles for the foundation of the bridge. The bridge was floated into position using pontoons guided by two small boats the following day.

It was then anchored so that it hung above the foundations, and as the high tide receded the bridge came to rest on, first one side of the divide, then the other.

The piles for the adjoining wooden walkway have now been driven in and the group will have a wee breather before they tackle the next step.

'At the moment it is the bridge to nowhere,” says Walk Tairua Committee member and project manager Ben Grubb.

'The whole project is looking promising, the next step is to see where our finances sit and then assess how much we will need to raise to start on the walkway.”

The wooden walkway will be laid on the now existing piles and will join to the existing walkway system in the area.

'For the moment we are asking that people stay off the bridge and the wetland until work is completed. We can assure people it won't be long until the bridge to nowhere will become the bridge to somewhere,” he says laughing.

The Pepe Loop Track is being developed by charitable organisation Walks Tairua Society which received a grant last year from the Tairua-Pauanui Community Board to go towards progressing the walk.