Whaka Terrace Walking Track Loop
Time: 2 hours and 10 minutesDistance: 8.36 km
Start: 6 Whaka Terrace
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 20th August 2021
The Whaka Terrace Walking Track starts at the end of the rather steep Whaka Terrace and is really just a connection consisting of steep steps and small paths through suburbia to Huntsbury Avenue and the Port Hills beyond.
Whaka Terrace itself is a small, easy-to-miss side street off Centaurus Road near the shops. We had pre-arranged to meet close to the turn off - outside Number 6 in fact. Despite traffic jams, tea spills and train crossings, we all arrived in a wonderfully timely fashion, keen as mustard to step out into this rather grey Christchurch winters day.
It's uphill right from the get-go and a bit of a shock to the system. Nevertheless we were soon puffing at the top of Vista Place and then marching on through the drizzle (with a quick stop to feed the horses) to the end of Huntsbury Avenue. Here suburbia abruptly stops (thank goodness) and the aptly named Huntsbury Track continues up Huntsbury Spur all the way to Summit Road.
The plan was to take the first obvious path westwards and downwards to the Bowenvale Valley. Asking directions from a passer-by resulted in negative enlightenment (i.e. confusion) most likely because there is no obvious path down to the valley until much further up the hill. I had forgotten this detail and so we eventually decided to go across the 'bridge' on the mountain bike path which ran disturbingly parallel to the Huntsbury Track along the spur almost to Summit Road. The others were fabulously keen to go off-piste, this being a feature of many of our wanderings, but I had a vague memory of bluffs below so we stayed put.
Finally we came to a "Mountain Bike Track Closed" sign heading in the right direction. This was promising and such signage has never stopped us before so we proceeded, zigzagging pleasantly down the hill. We seemed to initially be on a looping farm track of sorts - a bit muddy and slippery in places but we had soon descended to the bottom where it was a simple matter of following the wide gravelly Bowenvale Valley Track to Bowenvale Avenue.
To complete our loop we returned to Centaurus Road and Whaka Terrace where we changed shoes, jumped into the car and headed to Fava Cafe [Ed's note: sadly closed in 2024] for coffees and muffins.
