The first trail
We drove through the road in the mountain near all those houses to get to the carpark
Oh no! Dangerous! LOL
Kayaker down below
The trail we walked on carved out of the mountain
More of the trail
The lonely tree
Steep but worth it
The bird was totally unfazed by us
What a view? This is truly God's land! Ocean, snow-capped mountains...what else can you ask for?
View and more trail you can see in the mountain.
Trey almost at the top!
Love this sign!
YAY!!!
View from our tunnel walk
The tunnel/cave - look to see the light on the other side.....
More views from tunnel hike
Inside the tunnel - flash makes it look a lot brighter than it was
Holding up the cave with super powers!
Trey in one of the light ways in the tunnel
The other side of the tunnel
Happy couple at end of tunnel
View from where we ate lunch at the top
He was a very friendly and very loud sheep! BAAAHHH!
Black sand beach
Saturday was our first real hiking trip in the nearby Port Hills and it was a lot of fun.
We packed a backpack with snacks, lunches, extra clothes, and lots of water in preparation for a full day hike.
Although the start of the hiking trail was only 12 miles from our apartment it took us about 45 minutes to drive there.
This is because the last 3 miles or so is on a very narrow and steep road that winds its way up and down a Cliffside.
I took the road pretty slow but it was crazy how fast some people took the blind turns.
Once we got to the car park right next to the beach we started out on our first hiking trail “
Taylor’s Mistake.”
Legend has it that the area got the name
Taylor’s Mistake because in the 1800’s a ship captained by a Mr. Taylor, turned into this bay thinking it was either
Lyttleton Harbor or
Sumner Bay.
The mistake proved costly when the ship ran aground.
The first part of the trail let us up into the foothills along a cliff right above the ocean.
As you can see from the pictures we were surrounded by beautiful views of the ocean, beach, hills, cliffs and snow capped mountains in the distance.
One of the questions Jocelyn had before the hike was what is the difference in a walking trail and a hiking trail.
About 1 mile into the hike she got the answer as the trail left the ocean side and turned into a moderately steep climb to the top of the hill.
About half way up this climb we were both getting a little tired and took a short water and snack break.
We then finished the climb reaching the top of the hill about 1.5 hours after we started.
At the summit, approximately half a kilometer higher elevation than the beach where we parked the car, we were able to see sweeping views of the coast line and Port Hills.
This was the perfect place to stop and have the picnic lunch that we packed.
And of course like anywhere in
New Zealand, we were joined by a few sheep!
A little history of the Port Hills is that they are actually the northern rim of one of two ancient volcanoes that make up
Banks Peninsula near
Christchurch.
Also the particular hill “Godley Head” we were on was part of
New Zealand’s coast defense system in WWII.
Where there were two 15 mm guns stationed at the summit with duty of protecting
Lyttleton Harbor from any possible naval attacks from the Japanese.
This leads us to the next hiking trail we took called the “Tunnel Path.”
This path was part of the military installment during WWII and first took us past the plotting room and engine room for the compound.
The path then made a very steep and a little bit muddy descent towards the ocean.
As we neared sea level we found out why it was called tunnel path.
The last part of the descent took us through a 110 meter long tunnel/cave through the cliff side.
The only means of lighting inside the tunnel was via 4 holes carved from the cliff side to the tunnel allowing sunlight to leak in.
After the tunnel we were right on the ocean where there were two military installments that used to house large searchlights that would scour the waters for enemy vessels.
It was now getting later in the day so we headed back through the tunnel and up the path we had come down.
We were able to do the steep climb back to the top of the hill in a little under thirty minutes but this tired us both out a lot so once were at the top we figured it was best to start the hike back.
For the way back we started on the “Crater Rim Path” which travels along a very steep and rocky hill side that was actually the inner crater rim of the ancient volcano.
This part of the hike I think gave Jocelyn a little bit of vertigo because during the hike you can see the moving water below!
She said it was a really off sensation.
We then met a few more sheep and like I said, they are everywhere just roaming around.
We turned on to the last trail of the day “Godley Head Pathway.”
This trail differed from the paths we were on before because it is shared between hikers and mountain bikes.
Neither Jocelyn nor I liked this much because the mountain bikes make a small rut in the middle of the trail so it feels like you are walking on a curved pathway.
Also you have to keep a look out for bikers speeding down the trail.
I think it is smart that most of the paths in the Port Hills are divided for either only hikers or only mountain bikes.
This path led us down back to the ocean and the beginning of
Taylor’s Mistake.
We stopped here at a bench on top of a cliff overlooking the bay and beach and had our last snack as we enjoyed the scenery one last time before walking down to the beach.
The beach itself was quite a site to see since the sand was very fine but black in color.
I assume this coloring is due to it being right next to the old volcanoes.
We also went and felt the temperature of the water and although it was cold it was not too bad considering this is still just the end of winter here.
All in all we walked about 9km/6miles!
We then headed back to our apartment where we took showers and then headed to a nearby pizza place to grab something to eat.
It was not pizza like we know it in
America but it was decent.
We also got potato wedges and Jocelyn found her new favorite combo: sour cream and sweet thai chili sauce on the potato wedges.
Over all it was a very fun but tiring day.
I think Sunday we will enjoy a full day or relaxing!
