WELLINGTON looks set for a fine Labour Day weekend, and what better way to celebrate than with a good walk. Capital Times took a look at three top local jaunting spots.
Otari-Wilton’s Bush in Karori is touted on its website as “the only public botanic garden in New Zealand dedicated solely to native plants”. It’s also one of the few spots around where you can find Wellington City Council (WCC)-maintained free gas BBQs. Families can pack a picnic basket and walk for five minutes over a boardwalk that sits at canopy height and past a flowering wall of rata to the grassy picnic area. Burn off sausage-in-bread calories with a walk in the bush.
The Blue Trail is an hour-long return trip that takes walkers through the dense, fungi-covered kohekohe forest that more than 1300 living species call home, to a massive 800-year-old Rimu tree. Native birds like tui, kereru, kingfisher, grey warbler and bell birds can be seen and heard around you.
On the South Coast, park your car near Island Bay’s Shorland Park and enjoy the stunning final half-hour of the city-to-sea walkway. Walk to the very top of Milne Street and enter to Oku Street Reserve. Five minutes of intense stair-stepping cardio are well rewarded with a breathtaking view of Wellington’s South Coast, looking out beyond the airport and round to the South Island. There are a couple of seats here for rest and recuperation from the climb. You can turn back or continue on, walking along the ridgeline and eventually down to the coast again near Owhiro Bay. A gentle walk around the coastline returns you to your vehicle, or to Shortland Park where more free BBQs are waiting to be used.
For those with more time to spare, the Eastern Walkway is a three to four-hour walk that runs along the south side of Miramar Peninsula. Starting at the Ataturk Memorial, walkers head north to the Pass of Brenda and down into Seatoun. Try your hand at spotting the concrete horse trough on the side of the road above Breaker Bay from the days when horses ruled the road. The track then heads to Point Dorset where walkers can see WWII gun batteries and observation posts.