A little different

13 July 2014

Team: Just me. (Not even me and my ipod since it died between charging and trying to use!)

City to Sea Walkway, Bolton St to Aro St section

The weather looked pretty dismal, and the report was not entertaining reading either - we were on day 2 of what promised to be at least 10 consecutive days of coll temperatures, southerly breezes and showers around the city. I had suggested to a fitness group I am in that we start doing regular walks, and the date of this one unfortunately coincided with the middle of school holidays, so a few people were away. I suspect some others were put off by the fact it was a long walk if we went the whole distance (even though there are hundreds of "jump points" along the way where public transport is right there).

 

Anyway, 9:30am on a Sunday, I had dropped Mark to work, Spike was with his grandparents and I was standing around on Bowen St outside MBIE, waiting to see if anyone turned up, when I discovered my ipod had no battery. Stupid thing, I hadn't used it since I had charged it last the other week! A couple of minutes after scheduled departure, I went with the decision that no-one was coming and started off.

I was expecting to find this much harder than I did. I was sure last time I did any of these bits of track I found them difficult. Perhaps though, the fact of simply doing it at my pace, and not having to maintain a conversation made it easier? Perhaps it was the fact I was carrying a light pack - only a pump water bottle, my camera with its 50mm lens, 2 slices of pizza, cellphone, wallet, keys and one spare warm layer. I was never intending to go beyond Brooklyn, so I would always be within a couple of hundred metres of sustenance and shelter.



The climb up through to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden is the usual route, nothing spectacular, but once you get up towards the metservice offices in the upper gardens, you start being sent off on trails I had never been on before. It was quite neat to be somewhere a little different. Before I knew it, I had popped out the top at the Cable Car. This seemed not only much faster, but also less steep than other paths I had taken between the two points.



From here the track dropped down (again through some unusual zig-zagging) to the university and a trail down under Kelburn Park, around the back of the gym and into its carpark before dropping into the bush again, to appear on Salamanca Rd about 100m city side of the driveway. Climbing back up Mount St to the cemetery seemed pointless when I knew I wanted the Boyd-Wilson Field down Wai-iti St, but I did it anyway, and was astounded to discover just how large the Mount St Cemetery actually is.



Seeing the new(ish) hall of residence above the field close-up was quite overpowering. It is a big, ugly building. It stands out like a sore thumb from the city, and from close up? Well, I wouldn't want that as a neighbour. Wandering down to Aro Valley was a doddle, and the cute path past the council flats was something I had never known about before.



Unfortunately, at Aro Park I took a wrong turn (I didn't have a map with me). The sign-post seemed to indicate turning left, so I did. But it actually meant cross the road and continue up Aro Valley a bit. So instead I got to Willis St, saw the bus go past, realised I had lost the trail and missed a half-hourly bus and decided that was enough for the day.

It took me about an hour from Bowen St to Aro St, including several stops for water, photos and route finding, and my pace was leisurely. Definitely keen to do this portion again, and include the rest of the track through to the south coast. I took a slow walk back to the car on Bowen St via the CBD, and the round-trip took just under 2 hours (including a stop at the bookstore).