Sunday 29 December 2019

Leader: Glenda Robb

For years I’ve wondered if it were possible to do this trip in a day as it looked a very long way. Here was my chance to find out with twelve others joining me on the journey.

We travelled into Wellington by car, given the time of year and buses replacing trains. It’s worth noting that car parking in Thorndon Quay was only $6 for the day in a small outdoor Wilson’s parking area and $8 in a covered carpark a little further along – weekends only. We met by the cenotaph outside Parliament and followed the City to Sea route for the first part of the trip – through the Bolton Street Cemetery, the Botanical Gardens and Victoria University – to Aro Street.

A quick duck into the Aro St cafe for coffee for some of us, and the journey continued. Up Aro Street to the Polhill Reserve entrance and from there following the marked wind turbine symbols and skirting the Zealandia fence to emerge an hour later at the Brooklyn wind turbine. The track through Polhill is a nice shady climb through native bush with extra bird song thanks to the proximity to Zealandia.

After a short snack and photo stop at the Brooklyn wind turbine we joined four linked mountain bike tracks: Windmill, Car Parts Extension, Barking Emu and Red Rocks, stopping for lunch in a sheltered spot along the way. Fortunately, not many bike riders on the tracks. Great views out to Wellington Harbour and the city, ignoring the rubbish tip down below! This part was also through bush, reasonably sheltered and a good track.

The journey out to Red Rocks continued with a rising wind thankfully mostly behind us or side on. It took several hours to traverse the ups and downs of the track which lead finally to the beach at Red Rocks where another rest stop in a sheltered sunny spot was welcome before the 4 km beach walk around to Owhiro Bay Road and the bus back to the cars in Thorndon.

A great day trip – about 26 km if you average the GPS’s carried by several people. About six hours walking time, with breaks extra, the round trip took about 8 hours. Varied terrain, different environments and great views so check the photo album for more pics. This was an enjoyable trip on a sunny day. Definitely not a trip to do in a Wellington southerly!

Those on the trip were:

Glenda Robb, Chris Keating, Neville Grubner, Elisabeth Hynes, Patrick Liss, Tony Quayle, Sue Pate, Lisa Call, Graeme Curtis, June Sheldon, Carol Rolton, Susan Robertson, Dave Cox

For some more information about the Polhill Gully goto Polhill Reserve History