This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, no 10, November 2024
Banks Peninsula and beyond
5-13 October 2024
The main purpose of this trip was to walk the private Banks Track. We signed up as soon as the season opened and booked out the track. We drove down a day earlier and spent the next day in Akaroa on a very interesting walk to Newton’s waterfall, continuing up to the Misty Peaks track. Lunch was on Flag Hill in perfect weather with great views everywhere. We then returned via the Stony Bay Road, and did last-minute food shopping before everyone met up to catch the 5:15 p.m. bus to the first hut.
There was some scepticism that three days of trudging over farmland could be fun but we had a great time. The walk is very well planned and there is plenty to see along the way. Perfect weather certainly helped. The last day is out through beautiful forest, including a section of very mature fuchsia. We detoured up Purple Hill for a truly magnificent view of Akaroa Harbour from the rocky outcrops. We thoroughly enjoyed the Banks Track. Twelve people signed up and, in fact, many more wanted to come, so a rerun of this trip is definitely possible. We had a few more days to fill in so the club van took ten of us through to Orohaki Education Centre, just out of Oxford. From there we climbed Mt Richardson, with some continuing on along the Blowhard Track and then back on the Bypass Track. The next day we went south of Oxford and took the long way into Ryde Falls, an impressive three-tier waterfall, before returning via the Korimako and Link tracks. The perfect weather continued.
Back in Christchurch, we had planned to do the full Crater Rim Walkway from Godley Head to Ahuriri Reserve. This would have been a big day of over 25 km, so no time to dilly dally. The sun continued to shine and once the decision was made to explore the WWII site at Godley Head, the plan was abandoned. Instead we cruised along the Crater Rim tracks just enjoying the spectacular views of Lyttelton Harbour and eventually out over Christchurch. It was not worth a mad rush to complete the walk, given that no one had done any of it before. And maybe we were getting a little bit tired after seven days of relentless travel and walking. We got as far as the Rāpaki Track quite content with our day, and finished up at a pub on Saturday night for dinner - but left before the band started up!
- Party members
- Peggy Munn (leader and scribe), Karen and Kevin (non-member) Baker (Banks Track only), Lois Buckrell, Tricia French, Susan Guscott, Tim McGuinness, Chris Munn, Sieny Pollard, Jo Poole, Janette Roberts, Cathy Wylie.