2009. Packhorse Track and Mount Bradley Summit, Banks Peninsula

2009. Top of Gebbies Pass view of Mount Bradley, Banks Peninsula

I drove up Dyers Pass and along Summit Road in the Port Hills, while morning fog rolled westwards from Lyttelton Harbour over Sign of the Bellbird. Late winter high pressure systems left Christchurch under smog, leaving Leah wheezy and me with weepy eyes and rhinitis.

We didn't have those respiratory ailments before settling in Christchurch. In winter whenever I climbed or drove up Port Hills, I saw chimney smoke and fires on Canterbury Plains together with vehicle exhaust fumes pluming into a toxic haze over Canterbury Plains as far as the Southern Alps.


2009. Top of Gebbies Pass view

I parked my car at the top of windy Gebbies Pass as I wanted to walk Packhorse Track to Packhorse Hut on the saddle below Mount Bradley, then climb to the top of Mount Bradley (855m). By Gebbies Pass, four signs hung on a dirt track gate:


2009. Wind Turbine Sign, Gebbies Pass, Banks Peninsula

1. WINDFLOW TECHNOLOGY LTD. NO PUBLIC ACCESS TO TURBINE...

2. NO DOGS ALLOWED...


2009. Cyanide Poison Sign, Possum Control, Gebbies Pass, Banks Peninsula

3. WARNING POISON. CYANIDE POSSUM CONTROL...

4. MOUNT HERBERT WALKWAY... CLOSED FOR LAMBING between 1st Aug and 16th Oct...


2009. DOC Walkway Closed For Lambing Sign, Gebbies Pass, Banks Peninsula


2009. Road to Radio Mast, Packhorse Track, Gebbies Pass

The 4th, a Department Of Conservation (DOC) sign, was ambiguous and confusing, as Packhorse Track, Packhorse Hut and Mount Bradley were a long way before Mount Herbert (920m). A week before, I'd seen an identical, ambiguous, DOC sign at the Kaituna Valley Carpark.

I crossed a stile and walked the dirt track towards a radio mast with Mount Bradley in the distance on my left and glimpses of the wind turbine behind a hill on my right.


2009. Packhorse Track view of Mount Bradley


2009. Packhorse Track view of Pine Forest near Gebbies Pass

Packhorse Track was well marked with small direction signs on fences and poles. At a pine shelterbelt, I crossed another stile into pine trees, Pinus radiata, and was relieved to get out of Gebbies Pass wind.

After crossing a ridge and going along the edge of the forest a bit, Packhorse Track went up another ridge. Along the way I saw Port Hills silhouetted by the morning sun. Looking back I saw the radio mast and whirling wind turbine by Gebbies Pass.


2009. Packhorse Track, Gebbies Pass view of Port Hills


2009. Packhorse Track, Gebbies Pass view of Port Hills


2009. Packhorse Track view of Gebbies Pass area & Port Hills. Wind Turbine on skyline left

In the windy valley between ridges I had glorious views of Lyttelton Harbour and Coopers Knobs in the Port Hills. Beyond prickly gorse in a paddock I crossed another stile into the pine forest again, and continued climbing ridges in the pine forest for another hour.

In the forest I passed through a patch of Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and passed several <- GEBBIES PASS / PACKHORSE -> direction signs.


2009. Direction Signs, Packhorse Track


2009, Waiake Forestry, Packhorse Track

In a firebreak I saw a jet vapour-trail in the blue above. I passed a WAIAKE FOREST LTD sign and a foresters' hut by a pond, surrounded by native bush plantings. Near the hut by the pond boardwalk, I found a temperature, rain gauge and wind chill apparatus on a pole for foresters' entertainment. A gate sign stated:

McQUEENS FORESTRY
KEEP OUT


2009. Foresters Hut & Pond, Packhorse Track


2009. Rain Gauge, Temperature & Wind Chill Apparatus, Foresters Hut, Packhorse Track


2009. McQueens Forestry Sign, Packhorse Track


2009. Packhorse Track Forest view of Lyttelton Harbour & Port Hills


2009. Packhorse Track Forest view of distant Port Hills

I had Packhorse Track to myself, but saw horse hoofprints and MTB tracks in the mud. Along the way, I had glimpses of Mount Bradley ahead and glimpses of Port Hills peaks through pines on my left: Mount Vernon, Witch Hill, Mount Cavendish with the gondola station on top...

After zigzagging through pines up the side of the steepest ridge, I crossed a stile and left the pine forest. On a pine trunk by the stile another sign stated: WARNING POISON. POTASSIUM CYANIDE...


2009. Cyanide Poison Sign, Packhorse Track

As I'd seen so many bright, plastic poison dispensers and poison warning signs on fences, gates and trees during my walks, I wondered why academics and conservationists at DOC, Lincoln University and University of Canterbury weren't producing biological controls for vermin?

And why were DOC conservationists, farmers and foresters allowed by the government and legal establishment to pollute the environment with poisons and plastic?

No way would I ever wash my face or hands in toxic streams or ponds I passed. I wondered how much cyanide and 1080 and cholecalciferal and gorse spray residues were trickling down streams to the Pacific?

The argument that gorse was a protective nursery plant for native seedlings was hogwash, as I couldn't see how gorse infestation on Mount Bradley could possibly protect grass and grass seedlings?


2009. Packhorse Track view of Lyttelton Harbour & Port Hills

Beyond the pine forest, Packhorse Track climbed the side of the ridge through tussock grassland to Packhorse Hut. On my left, I had great views of Lyttelton harbour, Port Hills' tuatara back, smoggy Canterbury Plains and snowy Southern Alps floating above the smog.


2009. Remarkable Dykes, Packhorse Track below Packhorse Hut

I passed Remarkable Dykes, two parallel walls of trachyte going down the ridge side and crossing Packhorse Track. Remarkable Dykes were about 20m apart with native bush and a rocky stream between. Near Packhorse Hut I passed an unambiguous sign on a pole:

TRACK CLOSED
DURING LAMBING
AUG 1st UNTIL
16th OCT 10 DAYS BEFORE LABOUR
DAY IN OCTOBER


2009. Packhorse Track below Packhorse Hut view of Mount Bradley


2009. Lambing Season Sign, Packhorse Track near Packhorse Hut


2009. Packhorse Hut window view of Lyttelton Harbour & Port Hills


2009. Direction Signs near Packhorse Hut

That unambiguous aluminium sign should also have been on Gebbies Pass. It had taken me 2.5 hours to cross several ridges and the pine forest to vacant Packhorse Hut below Mount Bradley, where I had a quick lunch of buns and CocaCola. I texted Leah before trekking up Mount Bradley.


2009. Southern Ridges to climb before Mount Bradley Summit


2009. Lancewood Gully & Bluffs to climb below Mount Bradley Summit


2009. Lancewoods below Mount Bradley, view of Kaituna Valley & Pacific

I walked north-eastwards beyond Packhorse Hut through tussock grassland below Mount Bradley, with Kaituna Valley on my right. By a palisade of lancewoods I crossed a stile, then walked through two bushy gullies. In one of the gullies I saw two feral sheep with long fleeces, which hadn't been sheared for years. No other sheep were in sight.


2009. Ridge Track below Mount Bradley, view of Kaituna Valley, Lake Ellesmere, Pacific


2009. Mount Bradley southern ridges view of Gebbies Pass, Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley ridge view of Gebbies Pass, Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley ridge view of Gebbies Pass, Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury Plains


2009. Mount Bradley south ridge view of Kaituna Valley, Lake Ellesmere, Pacific


2009. Some southern Bluffs below Mount Bradley Summit

I climbed a huge zigzag up the side of a grassy ridge to bluffs below Mount Bradley summit. I was aiming for a pyramid mound on top of Mount Bradley. The stony track continued as small, steep zigzags through bluffs, then went below an unbroken cliff towards Mount Herbert.

I passed prickly bush-lawyers and flax by trickling streams, and pushed through spiky, overgrown gorse along the stony track, with steep ridges and gullies dropping on my right to Kaituna Valley. At a break in the cliffs, by a summit slope on my left, an aluminium sign on a pole stated:

MOUNT HERBERT & OPEN SHELTER HUT ->
<- MOUNT BRADLEY


2009. Direction Signs, southern track below Mount Bradley Summit

Leaving the main track, I climbed a grassy path infested with gorse to Mount Bradley's stony summit. Below was the pyramid shaped mound at the western end of Mount Bradley. Eastwards a huge mound rose still higher to the 855m top of Mount Bradley, wherever that was in summit gorse?


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Lyttelton Harbour, Port Hills, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Lyttelton Harbour, Port Hills, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Port Hills, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Gebbies Pass, Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Lake Ellesmere, Kaitorete Spit, Pacific


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Kaituna Valley & Pacific


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Kaituna valley & Banks Peninsular Peaks


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Kaituna Valley Head & Banks Peninsula Peaks

I sat on rocks enjoying the cool wind, while quaffing CocaCola and admiring views of Lyttelton Harbour, Port Hills, smoggy Canterbury Plains and distant snowy Alps. Westwards I saw Lake Ellesmere, Kaitorete Spit and the Pacific. South-eastwards I saw the head of Kaituna Valley, Banks Peninsula peaks and the Pacific.


2009. Mount Bradley southern abyss & eastern view to Mount Herbert & Banks Peninsula


2009. Lancewood Gully near Packhorse Hut, Mount Bradley,

I texted Leah from Mount Bradley summit. On my way down, two male joggers wearing day packs went past.


2009. Packhorse Hut in Mt Bradley Saddle, view of Canterbury Plains & Southern Alps


2009. Packhorse Hut, Mt Bradley Saddle

Back at Packhorse Hut I texted Leah again, signed the DOC Visitors Book giving my route and comment. In the book I saw that the joggers were airways employees, exalting in Mount Bradley's fresh air, away from confined aircraft. They were the only people I saw on Mount Bradley that day.


2009. Packhorse Track wintry western view of Lyttelton Harbour & Port Hills

Back at Gebbies Pass, timing of my 7 hour trek up Mount Bradley:

* Gebbies Pass to Packhorse Hut - 2.5 hours.
* Packhorse Hut to Mount Bradley summit and return to Packhorse Hut - 2.5 hours.
* Packhorse Hut to Gebbies Pass - 2 hours.


2009. Gebbies Pass eastern view of Mount Bradley


2009. Gebbies Pass north-western view of Lyttelton Harbour & Port Hills

Timing of my 7 hour trek included coolpix and rest stops, but excluded relaxing and scoffing in Packhorse Hut and enjoying views.

Hill walking fitness required. Rockfall hazards from Mount Bradley bluffs.


2009. Mount Bradley Summit view of Lyttelton Harbour, Port Hills, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps

Coda: Sitting on top of Mt Bradley admiring Lyttelton Harbour, Port Hills, Canterbury Plains & Southern Alps views, it was impossible to predict that in 2010-2011 the earth would convulse in a series of quakes, devastating Lyttelton, Christchurch & nearby towns like Darfield, Hororata, Kaiapoi.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.