Recovery works on the summit track of Mauao are complete, but a timeline for reopening has yet to be determined.

Tauranga City Council recovery manager Charlie Rahiri said the works on the Mauao summit Motukauri 4WD track were now complete, and repair work had started on the base track, Te Ara Tūtanga.

Severe weather hit the region in January with 274mm of rain falling in 24 hours.

A council assessment found more than 40 landslides on the 232m mountain after the storm, which took six lives when one of the slips hit the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park on the morning of January 22.

Geologists and geotechnical engineers found 42 landslides on Mauao’s three main walking tracks, including 24 severe enough to require more than a simple clean-up to reinstate the track.

Remediation work on the Motukauri (summit 4WD) track. Photo / Tauranga City Council

WSP NZ, the company contracted to assess the damage, told Local Democracy Reporting earlier that the hardest-hit tracks were the base track, Te Ara Tūtanga, with 31 areas affected, and Te Ara Motukauri, the 4WD summit track, with seven.

The damage included debris covering sections, undercutting and complete/partial loss of track width, over-steepened slopes, and debris blocking drainage channels.

The wooden steps on the connecting track were badly damaged, and the steps near the campground on the northern side of Mauao were destroyed by a landslide.

Rahiri said the council did not have a timeline for the reopening; however, the coming months would be important in the recovery journey.

Mauao recovery manager Charlie Rahiri. Photo / Ayla Yeoman

“Any decisions about reopening tracks will be informed by an assessment of landslide risk and the safety of visitors to Mauao.

“As contractors continue remediating and repairing tracks, signs of progress will become easier to see and timeframes will become clearer.”

He said access to Mauao would need to return gradually and carefully.

Rahiri said the base track was a complex and high-hazard environment because of the size and scale of the landslides.

“Work is now underway to enable access to the landslides, which includes clean-up of the track and beach areas, so remediation work can start.”

Some areas would remain under active restoration and closed to public access, while others would reopen when it was safe to do so.

“This is not just about restoring access to tracks, recovery is about people, place and connection, and we are restoring connections with Mauao for our community.”

Ayla Yeoman is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.