Saturday dawned bright and clear and with the forecast of horrible weather on Sunday my friend Jenny and I decided to head out into the hills for a day walk.
I have been making a point recently of exploring the extensive range of hills that surround Wellington. This is an area I have overlooked in the past in favour of the higher and more rugged Tararua and Rimutku ranges. Big mistake it turns out, as the local hills offer a great deal with splendid views and lots of open areas on the hill tops courtesy of the various sheep and cattle farms that cover the area.
The plan for the day was to walk from Porirua to Khandallah via Colonial Knob (468m) and Mt Kaukau (445m).
The route started with a stiff climb of about 40mins up to Colonial Knob. From here we had expected the track to follow the hilltops, but instead it steadily dropped down before entering a large pine forest. The track at this point got rather slippery and muddy and was hard going, but we eventually came out onto a small road. By the way, we had left the map in the car so were very much making it up as we went along and as there were no signs at this point we headed off along the road in what we hoped was the right direction. It turned out it was, though more by luck than judgment. We had been walking along the road for about an hour when much to our surprise we came upon a horse riding school, which even more surprisingly had a café. A quick mochachino was in order and suitably revived we headed off again almost immediately picking up a track heading toward Mt Kau Kau. This was my favourite part of the journey with the best scenery and walking of the day. It also helped that I was back on familiar ground as I have climbed Mt Kaukau many times in the past, albeit not from this direction. An hour and a half and another stiff climb and descent later we reached Kandallah and the end of the trip.
I have been making a point recently of exploring the extensive range of hills that surround Wellington. This is an area I have overlooked in the past in favour of the higher and more rugged Tararua and Rimutku ranges. Big mistake it turns out, as the local hills offer a great deal with splendid views and lots of open areas on the hill tops courtesy of the various sheep and cattle farms that cover the area.
The plan for the day was to walk from Porirua to Khandallah via Colonial Knob (468m) and Mt Kaukau (445m).
The route started with a stiff climb of about 40mins up to Colonial Knob. From here we had expected the track to follow the hilltops, but instead it steadily dropped down before entering a large pine forest. The track at this point got rather slippery and muddy and was hard going, but we eventually came out onto a small road. By the way, we had left the map in the car so were very much making it up as we went along and as there were no signs at this point we headed off along the road in what we hoped was the right direction. It turned out it was, though more by luck than judgment. We had been walking along the road for about an hour when much to our surprise we came upon a horse riding school, which even more surprisingly had a café. A quick mochachino was in order and suitably revived we headed off again almost immediately picking up a track heading toward Mt Kau Kau. This was my favourite part of the journey with the best scenery and walking of the day. It also helped that I was back on familiar ground as I have climbed Mt Kaukau many times in the past, albeit not from this direction. An hour and a half and another stiff climb and descent later we reached Kandallah and the end of the trip.
A fair part of the walk was through pine forest or along the road, which is fairly unusual in this part of the world and at times was more reminiscent of the sort of walks I used to do in the UK. A pleasant surprise and a top trip.
Looking toward Colonial Knob.
A the top of Colonial Knob.
Mochachino and carrot cake heaven.
The weather started closing in towards the end of the walk. If you look closely you can just see the the bottom of the radio mast on the top of Mt Kaukau.
