Worsley Spur Track and Marleys Hill

Time: 2 hours
Distance: 5.9 km
Start: At the end of Worsleys Road, Cashmere
Finish:  Same place, it's there and back
Date: Friday 31st May 2024

The Worsley Spur Track is one of the more well-known walking tracks in the Port Hills of Ōtautahi/Christchurch. Also slightly notorious because, not only is it a bit of an uphill slog on a veritable highway (i.e. a wide gravel farm track), it was also pretty much ground zero for both Port Hills fires of 2017 and (beyond coincidence???) 2024. 

From the base of the Port Hills in Cashmere, we drove up the steep Worsleys Road (yes, that's "Worsleys" with an "s" and no apostrophe) through the clusters of new multi-million dollar homes, and parked at the top near the sign that says something along the lines of "No parking beyond this sign". A few years ago, it was mostly paddocks up here but these days the subdivisions are creeping higher and higher.  

We grabbed our walking paraphenalia and set off in earnest - five of us today - deep in conversation - discussing the benefits of lentils. The walkway starts as a sealed road/driveway which soon morphs into a well-maintined muddy/gravel road. This is the Worsley Spur Track (yes, that's a "Worsley" with no "s") which ascends without undulation all the way to another Worsleys Road at the top.  I suspect they are one and the same - with the Worsley Spur Track linking them. 

 The track is lined initially with gorse which soon gives way to pine on one side (the Christchurch Adventure Park) and farm land on the other. The fire damage can clearly be seen - silouettes of charred branches and tree skeletons dot the landscape and many of tthe surviving pines are tinged red. But at the base of the damaged trees, grass, ferns and more gorse are sprouting like mad. A green carpet of sorts.  Today the fully grown gorse bushes were in heavy flower - bright yellow and smelling of coconut. 

We were soon stopping frequently to catch our breath and admire the views across the city. Hazy peaks topped with a smattering of snow could be seen in the distance. The first signs of winter - but fairly balmy today. After about 30 minutes we came across a fenced-off field of alpacas.  They were recently shorn and the tan ones looked a lot like teddy bears. They weren't remotely phased by our presence, they basically continued munching grass and ignored us. We stopped for photos. 

The last bit of Worsley Spur Track gets quite steep and I can imagine also quite muddy if it is raining.  Today was dry as toast - the Nor' wester was blowing. The gradient levelled and the track became  tarsealed - Worsleys Road (top). Just beyond the gate, there was a shared mountain bike track up to Marleys Hill. The summit of Marleys Hill sports a cluster of cell phone towers and satellite dishes and is fenced-off, so the track ends just below the summit. 

We had a quick intense chat about turbulance and uncontrolled rapid decents, before starting our own - which was mostly controlled and relatively rapid. Just a couple of stops to get photos of dead things.

We squeezed back into the car and headed to PocaPoca Cafe which was the scene of "l'affaire du croissant aux amandes" whereby the first in the door was the lucky recipient (#youknowwhoyouare) of the last remaining most delicious looking almond croissant you ever did see. Like a slow form of torture, we all had to watch the consumption with mouth-watering envy. We consoled ourselves with fabulous coffees, hot choclolates, cheese scones and waffles with dehydrated raspberries and other delights. Très bien.