Time: Evans Pass to Godley Head car park: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Distance: 5.74 km
Similar times and distances (a wee bit longer) on return via the military buildings and the mountain bike tracks.
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 six.
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
The adventure started even before we got to the Evan's Pass car park. We were driving along Humphrey's Drive when the cars in front of us stopped suddenly and Edel applied the brakes on her marvelous new E.V. A karoro (black-backed gull) was sitting in the middle of the road and everyone was trying to avoid driving over the top of it at 70 km/h. It was most definitely a gull on borrowed time. Edel pulled over. I was contemplating a mercy killing but Carolien jumped out of the car and effortlessly scooped it up (legs and wings flapping thank goodness) and put it safely on the grass verge at the side of the road. Bless her. It stayed put as we drove away and the heavy traffic rushed by. Had we possibly saved more than one life on this day???
We stopped at the surf club to wash hands (who knows where that seagull had been) then met Nicole at the Evan's Pass car park. We carefully walked crossed the cattle stop (city girls in action) and headed up the hill on our final leg of the Crater Rim Walkway. Another beautiful Christchurch winters day. A light breeze was blowing and the sun was shining down upon us.
The track goes up hill and down dale all the way to Awaroa (Godley Head). At the top of the first hill, I crawled through the barbed wire fence (no-one followed me for some reason) to reach the Trig at point 328. If I craned my neck and lent out a bit, I could see down the bluffs to the quarry where, according to the warning signs, they are currently doing dangerous dynamiting. All was quiet.
We descended to Livingstone Col before sidling around the hill on the Lyttleton Harbour side to Breezes Col. The harbour was milky blue with a swell hitting the rocks below.
From Breezes Col, more sidling through some picturesque bluffs brought us swiftly to the Awaroa car park. We sat on the large concrete picnic tables with cold bottoms and enjoyed frooze balls and the views. According to Ka Huru Manu (the Ngai Tahu mapping project) Awaroa means "Long River", perhaps a reference to the long harbour below. A coastal defence battery was built during WW2 and military buildings and gun emplacements dot the area. In fact, unbeknownst to the New Zealand government at the time, a German submarine (the U-862) did cruise down the east coast of the North and South Island. My neighbour reckoned they sent sailors on shore to milk cows (presumably they needed fresh milk for their flat whites) but that is a myth according to Wikipedia!
For our return journey, our idea was to try and return in an off-piste manner, but in a straight line back to the car. We started off well but got side tracked at the four ghoulish military buildings. Their floors were littered with sheep skulls and bones and the walls had interesting graffiti. A nearby sheep was scratching its back against a rock. We found this charming until, to our utmost horror, it turned its back to the rock and proceeded to vigorously scratch its anus. Probably worms.
We ended up on the mountain bike track with its ups and downs and twisty turns back to Evan's Pass. Then it was a quick car ride down to Scarborough Fare Cafe in Sumner where we sat outside in the sun, drinking coffee, eating dusty scones and watching the surf and seagulls.
On the way home there was no sign of our stunned kororo. Perhaps someone had taken it to the bird hospital or perhaps a stoat dragged it into the bushes. We hope it recovered and flew away.
