Time: 2 hours
Distance: 8.5 km
Start: 32 Settlers Crescent, Ferrymead
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 16th July 2021
We parked on Settlers Crescent (semi-industrial) nearish number 32 where a small unmarked track leads through to the river and the Heathcote Towpath Track. This is a good walk to do if there is rain forecast and it's the day after you have fallen down the stairs and have a bruised coccyx and are feeling a bit ginger. A flat loop, plonked in the middle of the city.
I extricated myself slowly from the car and we set off along the riverside track. The Heathcote river was once (150 years ago) 4-5 meters deep in places and ferries (hence Ferry Road) used to transport goods along it into the city. Since then it has silted up and suffered the consequences of urbanisation and pollution. But local community groups are trying to tidy it up. Best walked at low to mid tide, it is surprisingly lovely with an array of birds flitting about. We had walked for about 60 seconds and could already hear a korimako (bellbird) above and see a white-faced heron up ahead.
The roar of traffic on Ferry Road got louder as we approached the round-about and the bridge. I had planned for us to cross the bridge at this point but it is devoid of footpaths and positively dodgy. A passerby saved us from certain death by recommending that we take the path under the bridge (caution: could be possibly slippery and/or underwater at high tide) and continue a couple of hundred meters up the road to a footbridge. We followed this wisdom, crossed the footbridge and then doubled back on the other side of the river to join the Opawaho River Track.
We were heading south towards the Ferrymead Historic Village I think. The track petered out though and suddenly we were off piste. Luckily, the consequences of this were not severe. We crossed the train tracks and picked up a walking track of sorts around the Matuku Lakes. A bunch of old codgers were racing miniature yachts. A spoony swam past (a.k.a. Australasian shoveler duck or kuruwhengie). Across the way, a rare and endangered kÅtuku (white heron) was meandering about. Random fact: they are not native but blew across from Australia a couple of hundred years ago.
We looped back to Bridle Path Road and then crossed the busy Ferrymead Bridge and back to the car. I lowered myself gingerly into the passenger seat and we drove a few hundred meters around the corner (why?) to ten27 cafe for rehabilitation caffeine and shared kai. Nice!
