Mt Herbert Te Ahu Pātiki via The Monument

Distance: Approx 10.5 km
Time: Approx 3.5 hours (car park to summit: 1 hour and 50 minutes summit to saddle car park via The Monument 'track' 1 hour 30 minutes)

Start: Port Levy Saddle car park
Finish: Same place (it's there and back)

Date: Friday 6th March 2020

YMCA Monument Shelter

We arrived at the Port Levy saddle shortly before 10 am and realised the temperature had dropped and we would need our jackets. So we rugged up and set off over the small hill to the YMCA

Monument Shelter, a tiny tin shed with ancient sack mattress bunks and a dead sheep at the door. There were a few live ones meandering around as well but they scattered in unnecessary panic as we walked along the old farm track up the hill. [2022 update, the track is now rerouted away from the stockyards.]

Nearing the top of the farm track we negotiated a herd of cows.  They must be used to humans because they did not budge off the path and we had to skirt diplomatically around them.

The wind began to pick up and as we approached the saddle it began to alarmingly pick up speed.  We stopped at the windiest point we could possibly find in the howling gale and adorned every stitch of clothing we had with us.  We were probably only about 20 minutes from the summit but after staggering along the ridge for five minutes, leaning into the wind and being buffeted by the gusts, we had a shouting discussion and made the decision to turn back.  This was the worst wind I have ever experienced on the Port Hills.

At about this time we also realised that if one moved five meters off the track down the hill a bit, the wind eased considerably and so the summit was back on, only this time via a slightly off piste route.

Once past the saddle we could get back on the path and the wind wasn't so bad. We were on the summit of Te Ahu Pātiki at 11.40 taking piccies and watching the clouds race by. The views stretched all the way down to Lyttleton harbour to the north, Lake Elesmere to the south and Port Levy to the east. Beautiful!

Te Ahu Pātiki apparently means "shaped like a flounder" and was once the site of a fortified Ngāti Māmoe pā. According to the Christchurch city library website, Chatham Islanders preserve a tradition that their ancestors came from the foot of this mountain. Amazing!

The descent was supposed to be on the lee side out of the wind again but that herd of cows had followed us and were walking exactly where we needed to be so once again we were being buffeted by the gale. At one point the saddle narrowed and it looked like one of the cows was going to charge.  They were a bit freaked by the wind and so were we.

Once off the saddle the wind dropped, the sun shone and it was a different day. We took a route off the farm track towards the fence running underneath the stony outcrop that is called The Monument. The path was a bit vague and scrubby in places, probably used by sheep and rock climbers, but the rocks were nice and the views gorgeous.

We were back at the car at 1pm and then stopped in at the cafe at Diamond Harbour.  The cooking school is no longer there and the place is under new ownership.  The new owners quirkily rearranged the chairs around us while we ate lunch. The coffee was good though!