A chief executive left tetraplegic after a mountain bike crash wants New Zealand's next Great Walk to be wheelchair friendly.
Lake Waikaremoana is one of the Great Walks - New Zealand's premier hiking tracks. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Andrew Leslie, the head of Recreation Aotearoa, learned to walk again after his spine was crushed in a serious mountain bike crash in Wellington last year.
He now wants to use his influence to make sure the country's public walking tracks are accessible to people of all levels of mobility.
Andrew Leslie told Morning Report access to the New Zealand's premier hiking tracks was important as it impacted on the overall wellbeing of New Zealanders with disabilities.
"It's important to me both personally and professionally, but if you think about it one in four New Zealanders have a disability to some degree," he said.
"Getting out into the outdoors is really beneficial for people not only physically but mentally and spiritually. So, there are loads of people who would be getting so much benefit if these were more accessible."
He said of none of great walks accessible, although the hiking track facilities at Abel Tasman had trialled a "chair raider" product a number of years back - a specialised chair that made it easier to get around. But he said more needed to be done and it didn't need to be costly or high tech.
"The notion of accessible track also needs to be looked at and in fact with the standards as they are at the moment an accessible track has to accommodate for a wheelchair. It has to be very high spec and high cost.
"But the way people are accessing the outdoors at these days is changing and the technology available is changing as well. So it doesn't necessarily need to be built to that high spec level and does need to take into account different ways of allowing people to access the outdoors."
"It could be simple things, like better track maintenance" - Andrew Leslie, Recreation Aotearoa
Ways of easily making a difference included just basic maintenance by the Department of Conservation.
"It could be simple things, like better track maintenance. Just looking at myself - I can walk on tracks with walking poles, but if I come to a set of stairs where the beginning of the stairs is washed out a bit, that first step is a bit of a challenge if I was by my self I wouldn't take it on, I'd have to have someone with me.
"So there could be a maintenance initiative. Another example is gates that are used to prevent motorbikes going on cycle trails - they often prevent people who are trying to access that trail on a hand cycle. So it could be changing little things that could make a big difference."