Creating magic this Halloween will be nothing new for Pāpāmoa Unlimited event organiser Julia Manktelow.

Faced with the uncertainties of Covid-19 restrictions, Julia and her team have pulled all their tricks out of the hat to come up with a contactless, zero waste, socially distanced digital Halloween event this Sunday – the like of which has not been seen in New Zealand before.

The focus of the hocus pocus will be a spook-tacular fun bicycle ride and scavenger hunt along Pāpāmoa's popular cycleways.

They'll be ghosts, ghouls, angels and dinosaurs, clowns, cowboys, fairies and zombies - not to mention pirates, Spider-Man, Cruella De Vil, Baby Yoda and space cowgirls. They'll all be on bikes, within their own family or individual bubbles, and spread out across an eight hour period.

The ghostest with the mostest and every other type of fang-tastic creature can show off their boo-tiful costumes.

'We're going full Pap style and looking for the best-dressed Halloweeners out there on the trail,” says Julia.

Everyone who participates in Pāpāmoa's Powerco Pedal and Pump event will follow the unique Halloween theme with plenty of opportunities to win bikes and prizes. They will be able to upload their own best-dressed photo to the event's Facebook page, with the online judging to take place at the end of the day.

There will be prizes for best-dressed boy, girl, dad, mum, grandparent, group and family.

'We know how epic you are at this, so we'll make sure the prizes match your efforts!”

The fa-boo-lous day, designed to lift everyone's spirits, takes place along the Pāpāmoa walkway, which is a series of pathways that follow the Pāpāmoa stormwater reserves, providing a walking and cycle link from Pacific View Road to Wairakei Reserve.

The socially-distanced digital scavenger hunt will include what Julia says are ‘wicked' prizes including four new kids' bikes thanks to Powerco, Pāpāmoa Unlimited, My Ride Mt Maunganui, Vivo, Pāpāmoa Warehouse, Secret Spot Hot Tubs and Onewave NZ.

There will also be spot prizes along the way.

'We'll be working within the parameters of the new Covid-19 restrictions,” says Julia. 'So rather than having you all together at once, we'll have the track open from 9am-5pm.

'I'll hold a live prize giving on Facebook at 6pm to let our lucky ghouls know who won big.”

The event, subject to Covid-19 regulations, will be held between 9am-5pm on Sunday, October 31.

And because we can't help bust out one more pun....it's probably good that it's a scavenger hunt and not a skeleton hunt, because ....otherwise ... nobody would win.