Time: 4 hours
Distance: 11.5 km
Start: Picnic 3 area car park, Orton Bradley Park
Finish: Same place - it is loopish
Date: 4th October 2024
It was a last minute "Plan B" walk today. The reason: a "trapped low pressure weather system" sitting over the Tasman Sea, dumping a months worth of rain directly onto Dunedin/Ōtepoti. Poor buggers. Somehow Christchurch/Ōtautahi was mostly out of the firing line - caught between two arms of the spiral. In drizzle, we drove to Orton Bradley Park, paid our $10 entrance fee and parked under some gums at the end of their "driveway".
We set off on the Valley Floor Track. The bush was lush and dripping today, the forest floor carpeted with blue forget-me-knots. Lovely. And good to be out - we were all glad to have foregone our sleep-ins and braved the elements. We stopped for a photo shoot at the red painted Narnia door, with Aslan holding it's knocker and a mouse on it's knob.
Te Ahu Pātiki is the 500 hectare, newly formed conservation park that includes the summits of Mounts Bradley and Herbert/Te Ahu Pātiki - the two highest points of Te Pataka o Rakaihautū/Banks Peninsular. According to Kā Huru Manu (the Ngāi Tahu Mapping Project), Te Ahu Pātiki was a passenger on the Ārai-te-uru waka which capsized near Otago. The passengers swam to land but were turned to stone and became local landmarks. Between October 2020 and May 2021, around $900,000 was crowd-funded by 3000 individuals and organisations. This enabled the Rod Donald Trust to facilitate the purchase of the farm above Orton Bradley Park. Management and governance is currently shared between local hāpu, Orton Bradley Park and the Rod Donald Trust. Stock have been removed, pest control is underway and the plan is to return the park to its former native forest. Wonderful!
I had found an online map and was planning an anti-clockwise loop involving the so-called Mātai, Kōnini and Harakeke Tracks. There was plenty of Te Ahu Pātiki signage along the Valley Floor Track but it petered out as we ascended. We took the "Mt Herbert Track" at the junction which meant we were probably on the Mātai Track and (inadvertantly) walking the loop clockwise. No worries.
At some point we popped out of the bush onto Kōnini Track - an old farm road amidst a sea of yellow gorse. A future nursery for the native forest regeneration. The clouds dissipated at that moment and we saw the fabulous rocky outcrops on the flank of Mt Bradley above. Our spirits lifted and we were warmed by the sun.
We followed the contour around on Kōnini Track (I think) and then descended on the Harakeke Track (I think) into the low cloud, past the pig trap and back down to the Valley Floor Track again. Nicole and Edel accelerated on ahead and Jane and I scuttled along trying to keep up with them. We were all soon back at the car.
Our tummies were rumbling as we drove to Teddington and the Tibetan Kitchen and Lodge for our momo fix. And other wonderful taste sensations. And lovely coffees too. Not to mention the ambience. Highly recommended.
