Home assignment - part 4

The final two weeks of my trip back home were annual leave. The goal: be refreshed (and maybe even a little bit bored) by the time I went back to PNG.

I had various ideas about what I could do... book a holiday house somewhere for a week and make a start writing my novel... do a section of the Te Araroa trail... do some day walks, maybe some of the 'Mount X's around Wellington (Kaukau, Climie, etc.)

In the end, I decided to stay local and use the time to do things that I can't do in PNG, primarily bush walks and bike rides on my own.

Mount Lowry

An easy one to start with! My entry point was the top of the Wainuiomata hill road.

The sign says it's a 'Mount'...

Not much of a view, but I found the survey marker

Mount Ken

I don't know if this is the official name, but I've read it somewhere before. (In other places I've seen it referred to as Mt Fitzherbert.) Anyway, it's the highest point at the back of Naenae with a transmitter tower at the top.

The weather was sunny but quite windy, so I opted to do this one as a bike ride rather than walking up Mt Climie, which is a little more exposed. I went up the Te Whiti riser, along the firebreak to the top, then back down the Summit Rd firebreak. It was a good afternoon out!

View of Mt Ken from the top of the Summit Rd firebreak

Tower and trig at the top of Mt Ken

View of the Hutt Valley from Mt Ken

Paekakariki Escarpment Track

This one didn't include a 'Mount' anything, but when the forecast for Saturday was for light winds, I couldn't pass it up. I've done this track twice before, once when it was windy and once when it was very windy, and I can say it's not much fun in the wind. But the views are stunning!

I parked the car at Pukerua Bay and took the train to Paekakariki, walking from north to south. There are a bazillion steps up and down, but going from north to south the stairs going up are a little more spread out.

Looking north

Some of the bazillion steps

A tui enjoying the flax flowers