This article will be published in Tararua Tramper, July 2025
Skyline Track - Johnston Hill - Te Ahumairangi - Trelissick Park
M - Wednesday 7 May
Last year, to get ahead of the game I asked our coordinator (Joan) if I could lead this tramp in the first, instead of the second, half of the year in order to avoid the worst of the spring winds which regularly beset the Skyline part of the expedition. So here we were in autumn - the cool calm season of the Wellington year - 11 of us setting forth from the Ngaio Town Hall expecting to return on a good hair day.
We started on the Northern Walkway Track behind the library which took us to Awarua St. Then it was up Bells Track to a dismayingly windier-than-expected Skyline. What a stoic team! Not an unkind word was said (or at least heard) as we struggled along the track, eventually conquering the worst of the north westerly at about a third of the way to Johnston Hill. But not before the leader was knocked horizontal by a vindictive gust.
On the plus side, there was no rain and it wasn’t cold. After a necessarily brief gathering at the summit, we made our way down through the pines and into Karori Cemetery. We may not have felt the wind to the same degree as we descended, but we certainly heard its effects on the pines as they bent and groaned under its strain. What a racket! The cumulative effects of the day’s winds and those of the recent red-alert storm were also observable in the amount of fallen branches and other foliage. Significantly more debris than I have ever seen before. So much for my request to bring the tramp forward in order to avoid the spring winds. It was something of a relief to reach the cemetery, cross Ian Galloway Park and head up the Albemarle Track to Te Ahumairangi lookout and lunch. Here we farewelled Marilyn (and Bruce who had come to meet her with the dog).
After lunch we descended Weld St - initially via a hitherto unknown (to me) track (thanks Rachel and Peter) and entered Trelissick Park via Hanover St. It’s always pleasant to walk along beside the stream and hear the birds sing as we cross five bridges named, somewhat prosaically, Bridge 1 to Bridge 5, the former being closest to our exit from Trelissick Park. Leaving the bush, we accessed Heke Reserve via a walkway off Thatcher Crescent, coming out on Collingwood just above the Ngaio Town Hall. The tramp took us just over 5.5 hours and, as always, was an enjoyable day thanks to the great company.
Linda Beckett (leader and scribe), Alistair Beckett, Judy Burney, Rachel Fry, Andy Leslie, Peter Morten, Mary Perkins, Marilyn Richards, Angela Vanderpoel, Ann Walker, Helena Weller-Chew.