The Old Ghost Road has put a little-known part of the country onto the holiday wish-list of adventurous travellers, both from New Zealand and around the world, and boosted the region as a result.

Jessica and Jesse Paley-Atkins run Gentle Annie Seaside Accommodation, a campground and cabins at the mouth of the Mōkihinui River some 10km from the end of the Old Ghost Road (OGR). 

Jesse’s parents started Gentle Annie in 1976, and he was raised on the property. Few people knew where Mōkihinui was in those days, he says, but the OGR has given the area a new identity.

“Besides the substantial volume of people it has attracted, it has created an awesome profile for the area,” Jesse says. “It has made the region a destination for people to come and experience our beautiful outdoors.”

That reputation has even gone global. Geoff Gabites runs Christchurch-based Cycle Journeys, which last year began operating a shuttle service from Nelson to Westport to support the OGR. 

He says the OGR is New Zealand’s first multi-day trail to gain an international reputation: “We often talk about New Zealand having ‘world class trails’, but often we mean world class in New Zealand – the standard isn’t quite there. The Old Ghost Road truly is world-class. It has become one of the trails on the to-do list for serious mountain bikers from overseas.”

Gabites says it’s not only the standard of the track but also the facilities that have put the OGR above the rest: “The huts are really exceptional.” 

He describes the trail as the ‘anchor tenant’ in what’s become a vibrant West Coast cycle scene, which includes the Paparoa and Heaphy Great Walks, the West Coast Wilderness Trail, and shorter rides like Westport’s Kawatiri Coastal Trail.

“If you’ve got something as good as the Old Ghost Road and build these experiences around it, you create a cycle hub – and that’s what’s happening in northern Westland.”

Jesse Paley-Atkins is working with Mōkihinui-Lyell Backcountry Trust trustee Glenn Irving; the Buller Cycle Club, the Kawatiri Nature Environment and Communities Trust (KNECT), trial builder Hamish Seaton and with the support of local businesses and volunteers to develop a network of mountain-bike trails in the hills behind Gentle Annie campground and says, “It was a natural step to add to what’s in the region.”

Tramping businesses are also experiencing a boost from the trail. Angus McKenzie bought guided walk business Southern Wilderness in Nelson in 2014 and says the opening of the trail the following year helped to establish the new venture. 

About 40 per cent of his business is now for walkers on the OGR.

“It’s been amazing,” McKenzie says. “It has really bolstered our Heaphy guided walks and has become a huge part of our business.”