2009. Bivvy Track carpark, Summit Road. Mt Herbert & Mt Bradley backdrop
I parked my car next to a Gold Band taxi, at the grassy carpark by Summit Road, opposite the end of Kennedys Bush Track. I wanted to walk down steep Bivvy Track, loop along Kanuka Track, then climb Crater Rim abyss via a track I hadn't walked before.
2009. Start of Bivvy Track below Mt Ada, Port Hills, Christchurch
It was a sunny autumn midday with cloudless views of Mt Ada on my right, and Mt Herbert in the distance beyond <- BIVVY TRACK wooden sign, which had a red aluminium sign stating: NO BIKES. Despite midday heat, track grass was wet, and I slipped even before I reached OHINETAHI RESERVE info board.
2009. Ohinetahi Bush Info Board, Start of Bivvy Track, Port Hills, Christchurch. Mt Herbert & Mt Bradley backdrop
In Ohinetahi Bush, on a whiteywood trunk a black and white handwritten sign stated:
POISON LAID
ADJACENT TO BIVVY
& O'FARRELLS TRACKS
DOGS ON LEASH
POISON CHOLECALCIFEROL & BRODIFACOUM (To kill possums).
2009. Bivvy Track view of Mt Herbert & Mt Bradley
2009. Poison Dispenser, Bivvy Track, Port Hills, Christchurch
Behind the whiteywood a white, plastic poison dispenser was attached to another trunk. I would pass several poison dispensers on my way down Bivvy Track, which was hazardously slippery, while picking my way down stone steps, slimy leaf-litter, mossy rocks, mud and slippery roots.
If I'd tried to go down Bivvy Track in the recommended time of 30 mins I'd've broken my neck. I grasped black matipo Pittosporum tenuifolium trunks and whiteywood Melicytis ramiflorus trunks and branches to slow me down. Despite that, I fell twice on rocks.
2009. Bivvy Track Undergrowth, Port Hills, Christchurch
Down the steep bush gully, I passed flaky trunks of tree fuchsias Fuchsia excorticata, nettles and ferns. Big, red dots were painted on trunks down Bivvy Track - which was easy to follow, without the pimples.
Through a break in the bush, I had a good view of Mt Ada, Governors Bay, Head of the Bay, Mt Herbert and gorse on my right, with the steep bush gully on my left.
2009. Fantail, Bivvy Track, Port Hills, Christchurch
I heard bird calls on Bivvy Track. Lone fantails fluttered around, satisfied their curiosity, then fluttered into the gloom. I coolpixed a fantail on a twig.
Below a rockface, I found two black and blue, plastic tarps, under branches - rubbish after someone had "gone bush." Further down Bivvy Track, a dead tree had fallen, squashing smaller trees, letting light into the canopy, and forming a circle of whiteywoods and pittosporums, like lemonwood, Pittosporum eugenoides.
2009. Fallen Tree, Bivvy Track, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. Bivvy Track / Totora Log Track Junction, Port Hills, Christchurch
I crossed dappled BIVVY TRACK / TOTARA LOG TRACK junction. I descended Bivvy Track accompanied by lone fantails. Slipping downwards, I passed red mapou, Myrsine australis and shaggy trunks of kanuka, Kunzea ericoides, with their tiny, soft leaves.
It took me 1 hour 15 mins to slither down Bivvy Track to O'FARRELS TRACK, where I sidled right to loop down KANUKA TRACK.
2009. Bivvy Track start by O'Farrels Track, Port Hills, Christchurch
For about 20 mins I dawdled Kanuka Track, drier and less slippery than Bivvy Track. Kanuka Track also had big, pimply dots painted on trunks, as well as triangular, red plastic arrows nailed to trunks. The red pimples and arrows distracted from dappled greens and browns of kanuka.
2009. Young Macrocarpas, Kanuka Track. Mt Herbert & Mt Bradley backdrop
Kanuka Track descended to a rocky stream-bed with pools of still water. Across the stream were more poison dispensers attached to tree trunks. Through a bush-break, on my right I saw a plantation of young macrocarpas with a view towards Mt Bradley.
At the KANUKA TRACK / BUSH ROAD TRACK / O'FARRELLS TRACK junction, I sidled back along O'Farrells Track to scoff trackside blackberries, and snap Mt Ada bush spur and outcrops. Hoof-prints and horse-dung showed horses had recently passed. Slipping into the abyss was easy, climbing out was hard.
2009. O'Farrells Track: Ohinetahi Bush abyss view of Mt Ada Outcrops, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. O'Farrells Track, Ohinetahi Bush below Mt Ada. Coopers Knobs backdrop, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. Blackberries, O'Farrells Track. Mt Herbert & Mt Bradley backdrop
So far, Bivvy Track, Kanuka Track and O'Farrells Track had been shady and cool. I didn't ascend Bush Road Track or Watlings Track, which I'd climbed before, but continued northwards along O'Farrells Track towards Governors Bay.
2009. Abyss view of Ohinetahi Bush. Mt Ada backdrop, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. Ohinetahi Bush hiding Watlings Track in gully. Hoon Hay Hill bluffs on right, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. O'Farrels Track southwards view: Coopers Knobs & Cass Peak, Port Hills, Christchurch
Northwards along O'Farrells Track I passed more poison dispensers. Birds called while I passed through Ohinetahi Bush in a gully below Hoon Hay Hill. Beyond the bush gully, I passed a wooden sign:
TO BUSH ROAD TRACK
AND SOUTH BOUNDARY
Further along O'Farrells Track I pulled out of the bush and saw Banks Peninsula, Governors Bay, Diamond Harbour and Lyttelton Harbour on my right, with looming Hoon Hay Hill crags on my left, view spoilt by trackside gorse. I dodged horse poo too.
2009. O'Farrells Track Gorse, Ohinetahi Bush. Coopers Knobs & Cass Peak backdrop, Port Hills
2009. O'Farrells Track Stoat Trap. Mt Bradley backdrop
2009. O'Farrells Track northwards view of Governors Bay & Lyttelton Harbour
I passed an open gate with a black, plastic stoat trap beside it, and a view of Mt Bradley. I passed NGAIO TRACK junction, where the track went up grassland towards Hoon Hay Hill and down grassland towards Governors Bay.
I passed TITOKI TRACK junction, and went through a gate with a black and white sign:
LLAMA
TRAILS (Picture of two black llamas).
2009. O' Farrells Track, Lama Trail. Lyttelton Harbour backdrop
A red, black and white Dogs Forbidden picture-sign was also on the gate, with a view over Governors Bay. I went through two more gates each with a sign:
PLEASE
SHUT THE
GATE
2009. O'Farrells Track view: Governors Bay & Lyttelton Harbour
Behind on a grassy ridge, I saw 13 elderly hats-packs-an'-sticks ramblers. I found a nameless grassy fork, and took the upper prong towards Sugarloaf and northern Crater Rim. I coolpixed trackside llamas. On the steep lower slope, I watched a huge crane lifting material for housing development at the end of Governors Bay.
2009. O'Farrells Track Llamas. Mt Bradley backdrop
2009. O'Farrells Track Llamas. Hoon Hay Hill outcrops, Port Hills, Christchurch
I hopped over a locked gate and began ascending FAULKNERS TRACK up Hoon Hay Hill. I passed FAULKNERS TRACK / SOUTH BOUNDARY junction. On a nearby pole, two small aluminium signs:
GOVERNORS BAY ->
<- SUMMIT ROAD ->
2009. Bottom of Faulkners Track, Governors Bay
2009. Faulkners Track view: Governors Bay & Lyttelton Harbour
2009. Faulkners Track Crags. Governors Bay, Quail Island, Diamond Harbour, Banks Peninsula behind
2009. Faulkners Track view: Governors Bay, Quail Island, Banks Peninsula
2009. Faulkners Track northwards view: Crater Rim, Port Hills, Christchurch
I zigzagged up Falkners Track, the best maintained track that afternoon. While looking at Port Hills crags above, with a clifftop farmhouse near Summit Road, I thought of Tennyson's poem "The Eagle:"
"He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands...
And like a thunderbolt, he falls."
The giant eagle Harpagornis moorei had slipped into the abyss forever, after Maori settlers had fired its habitat and eaten its moa prey.
2009. Faulkners Track view: Governors Bay, Quail Island, Lyttelton Port
2009. Faulkners Track view: House behind Marleys Hill. Sugarloaf backdrop, Port Hills, Christchurch
Far below I saw a house with a turret. I coolpixed Sugarloaf, northern Crater Rim, Lyttelton Harbour, Diamond Harbour and Governors Bay.
While criss-crossing a fence through bush, I crossed two stiles, then sat on a rock. A woman wearing striped T shirt, shorts and boots passed. She pointed to my jandals.
I followed her, her hands on her hips.
Far above Governors Bay, near the top of Faulkners Track I passed a wooden lookout bench. I saw 10 students standing on top of a crag on Hoon Hay Hill. Later on, I saw them walking down Faulkners Track from whence I'd come.
2009. Faulkners Track: Students on a crag, Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve, Port Hills, Christchurch. Mt Bradley backdrop
An adult couple wearing Panama hats passed me on their way down to the lookout bench.
2009. Faulkners Track top view: Quail Island, Diamond Harbour, Mt Herbert, Mt Bradley, Banks Peninsula
2009. Faulkners Track top view: Governors Bay & Lyttelton Harbour
While I stood on tuff at the top, coolpixing views of Lyttelton Harbour, the woman passed me going down, her hands on her hips.
On top, in Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve I passed another OHINETAHI RESERVE info board. More signs:
NO BIKES
<- LOOKOUT GOVERNORS BAY
<- TRIG V
BUSH TRACK ->
2009. Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve, Port Hills, Christchurch
2009. Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve, Port Hills. Hoon Hay Valley & Canterbury Plains backdrop
I crossed a stile and coolpixed sheep in a paddock overlooking Hoon Hay Valley and Canterbury Plains. I joined CRATER RIM WALKWAY going southwards through Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve back to my car. While passing gorse, bracken and native plantings, ahead I saw southern Crater Rim, including Mt Ada, Cass Peak and Coopers Knobs.
2009. Crater Rim Track, Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve view: southwards along Crater Rim - Mt Ada, Cass Peak, Coopers Knobs, Port Hills, Christchurch
I passed a TRIG V -> sign, and crossed a stile leaving Hoon Hay Scenic Reserve.
Along Crater Rim, I snapped <- WATLINGS TRACK sign, with a POISON LAID sign attached, pointing into the abyss and OHINETAHI RESERVE. I passed <-BUSH ROAD TRACK sign pointing into the abyss. I walked over large lumps of Port Hills basalt covered in lichen.
Back at my car, after my 4 hour circular walk, the taxi was gone, replaced by a new white minibus with a mauve door sign: CASHMERE HIGH SCHOOL LEADING LEARNING. Must've been the students I'd seen on the crag by Faulkners Track.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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