Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Distance: 4 km
Start: Opposite 7 Nayland Street, Sumner
Finish: Same place (it's a loop)
Date: Friday 26th June 2020
Start: Opposite 7 Nayland Street, Sumner
Finish: Same place (it's a loop)
Date: Friday 26th June 2020
Another wild and woolly Christchurch winters day. 12 degrees - pretty warm comparatively - and mist rolling atmospherically around the hills.
We parked at the base of the Zig Zag Track in Nayland Street Sumner. Even for a hill lover like myself, it was still a shock to launch directly into a vertical climb up into the cloud. This is not called the Zig Zag track for nothing and a couple of low blood pressure stops were required. How do these people get their shopping home?
We popped out onto Clifton Terrace. For the uninitiated it appears the track stops here, but if you cross the road and go up the driveway at number 80 Clifton Terrace, the Zig Zag Track continues halfway up the driveway on the left (unsignposted and nicely obscured from the road) and after a few more minutes you cross Panorama Road to the Brownlee Reserve.
We admired the fog that was hiding the normally spectacular views, then circuited the reserve and Panorama Road before retracing out steps back down the Zig Zag Track onto Clifton Terrace again.
A wee way down Clifton Terrace is Tuawera Terrace and if you head down the driveway between numbers 34 and 36 there is a small public walkway (unsignposted and nicely obscured from the road) running steeply down to Kinsley Road. The fog was clearing now and we had fabulous views of the Southshore Spit (our local) from an angle that we don't normally see.
At the end of Kinsley Road (unsignposted and nicely obscured from the road) is Mulgans Track which weaves its way down to Main Road and Te Ara Ihutai (The Christchurch Coastal Pathway). In the pohutukawa next to the busy road, two bellbirds were bellbirding (as only bellbirds can do) and we stopped and listened for awhile.
The pretty stiff easterly was blowing so we donned those extra layers and walked back along the beach to Nayland Street and the car. Then we hooned back to Rocking Horse Road for a superbly made soy milk latte. V.I.P. phone calls were delayed and we chatted about moko kauae (Q: Should a Pākehā woman get one? A: Yeah Na) and cultural appropriation. Pithy topics for a rainy day.
Postscript: A few weeks later Nicole and Zhanna walked this loop on a beautiful winters day and I just HAD to include some of their photos:
