Time: 1 hours and 15 minutes (one way); 2:30 return
Distance: 3.7 km (1 way)
Start: Sign of the Kiwi, Summit Road
Finish: Mount Vernon summit
Date: Friday 19th February 2021
The 20 km Crater Rim Walkway (CRW) goes all the way from near Gebbies Pass to Godley Head, sidling along the edge of the now extinct Lyttelton Volcano. This volcano complex was formed 11-6 million years ago (pretty specific) and Lyttelton Harbour is what is left of the crater. Our plan is to walk it in six sections (see below), today being section three.
CRW 1: Ahurihi bush to Sign of the Bellbird
CRW 2: Sign of the Bellbird to Sign of the Kiwi
CRW 3: Sign of the Kiwi to Mt. Vernon
CRW 4: Mt. Vernon to Mt. Cavendish
CRW 5: Mt. Cavendish to Evan's Pass
CRW 6: Evan's Pass to Godley Head
At the top of Dyers Pass Road, the Sign of the Kiwi cafe car park is limited to 60 minutes, but you can drive up the road a few hundred meters to a small lay-by on the left. We parked there and set off on the CRW Track which took us directly back past the Sign of the Kiwi. We crossed the road (carefully) and, following the CRW markers, we continued onto Mitchell's Track.
This is a really lovely section of native bush, interspersed with stunning harbour views. A typical Port Hills experience. Once out of the bush we were on the ridge with a superb 360 panorama. South: the harbour. Westward, we could see across the city to the Southern Alps. North-east was the beautiful Pegasus Bay and the azure blue of the Pacific Ocean. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind. Fab.
The track is well marked and sidles above the road. After an hour there was a final puff up the hill and we were standing amongst the boulders of Mt. Vernon.
We decided to take a different route down to Summit Road, less steep and kinder to the knees. There was also the possibility of taking a slightly different route back: a shared mountain bike path (walkers give way). This was slightly nerve-wracking because bikers were approaching us from the rear like stealth bombers. Luckily there weren't too many bikers about - but I can imagine a weekend walk might be fairly alarming (Andree can attest to this).
Just before Sugarloaf the track splits and instead of taking Mitchell's Track we branched off onto Gilpin's. This runs parallel to Mitchell's but at a slightly higher altitude. You could probably take a detour here and summit Sugarloaf but coffee was beckoning.
Sign of the Kiwi was buzzing with fine upstanding Cantabrians, everyone enjoying the weather. We sat outside and admired the views and enjoyed our coffees. A beautiful day.
Crater Rim Walkway 1: Ahurihi bush to Sign of the Bellbird
Crater Rim Walkway 2: Sign of the Bellbird to Sign of the Kiwi
Crater Rim Walkway 3: Sign of the Kiwi to Mt. Vernon
Crater Rim Walkway 4: Mt. Vernon to Bridle Path
Crater Rim Walkway 5: Bridle Path to Evans Pass
Crater Rim Walkway 6: Evans Pass to Godley Head