Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 6.6 km
A cryptic message arrived from Carolien: "... Dinesh daken nu keus nu accident...". Oh no I thought - this sounds very bad. I braced myself and expected the absolute worst. But five minutes later, there she was on my doorstep, all bright eyes and smiles and ... a lovely surprise .... with her was our dear friend (and original Friday walker) Frania!! Hugs all round and an explanation of the message (misplaced car keys and a Dutch spell-checker). We jumped in the car and sped to Lyttelton chatting away nineteen to the dozen, catching up on five years worth of goss.
We met Nicole and boarded the 8:50 am Diamond Harbour ferry with precision timing. The water was like a mirror and we skimmed across at high pace and were soon stepping off the boat onto the Stoddart Point wharf. The journey is a bit like going through a wormhole and popping out into another part of the space-time continuum. This coastline always reminds me of Spain - with its pine trees, yachts and flowers.
We were heading to Purau Bay on the Coastal Cliffs Walkway. The track starts virtually off the wharf and heads east. A sweet meander around the headland with fabulous views out to the harbour. The clouds cleared and the sun beat down. We stopped multiple times to admire waterfalls and views and also to shed layers and take photos. The colourful dinghy's lined up at the head of Purau Bay are particularly Instagram worthy. After about an hour we were all sitting at the picnic bench in Purau having snacks.
According to the Christchurch City Libraries website, there is a "long history of Māori settlement" in Purau Bay (although no dates are given). The name Purau refers to mussel baskets used by the early Māori and these people were possibly moa hunters too as there are remains of moa ovens in the area. Unfortunately, the exact locations are not divulged on the website. Settlers came through in waves: Early Maori were superseded by Ngāti Māmoe then Ngāi Tahu then Pakeha. Who will be next?
We finished our paramanawa and headed back to Diamond Harbour via a secret farm track at the end of Waitaturi Lane. It looks like someones driveway at first but veers around the corner and up the hill through the pines. At the end of the farm track we headed west on Bayview Road until the "Purua Loop Track" which lead us down into the native bush, following a stream. A little unexpectedly we found a lemon and heard a frog. The track popped out onto Rawhiti Street and we meandered the small roads back to the quaint historical Stoddart Cottage.
Mark and Anna Stoddart and their six children were early European settlers who lived in the Stoddart Cottage for 15 years from 1862. They owned the surrounding 186 hectares and named the bay Diamond Harbour. These days the cottage has been restored by volunteers and is a museum/art gallery and craft shop.
We had missed the ferry so there was nothing for it but to head to the Diamond Harbour Cafe for coffee. Such hardship! We carped and whinged, lamenting the loss of the former owners who were friendly and ran a superb cafe and cookery school. These days the place has gone to the dogs. Literally because there was dog pooh under the first table we sat down at so we had to move. The staff were not remotely interested in this finer detail.
But once we had recovered from the horrors of that - it was actually pretty nice sitting outside in the sun and drinking very acceptable coffees. In fact, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we nearly missed the next ferry. We bolted down the last of the dry filo and scuttled down the hill at the last minute, at a fast trot and stepped on board with precision timing.
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| I only got the track recorded on the return journey. Bugger. |