Time: 3 hours
Distance: 5 km
Start: Duncan Park car park
Finish: Same place - it's there and back
Date: Friday 25th July 2025
Duncan Park (23.4 ha) spans the grassy spur between the Horotane and Avoca Valleys. Formerly known as Earnbank Farm, it was established by the Duncan family (George, Jean, Mary and Janet) who arrived in Christchurch in 1851 on board the Isabelle Hercus from Plymouth, England. In 1949 the farm was bequested to the city by Mary - bless her. These days, the Avoca Valley side comprises paddocks leased to the Ferrymead Pony Club, and community groups are planting natives throughout the reserve.
Earnbank farmhouse, demolished in 1962
There are tracks to explore here: The one-hour
Perimeter Track (a.k.a. the Circuit Track - see
FW blogpost) and today's longer RidgelineTrack (a.k.a Duncan Park Spur Track). The Ridgeline Track is technically now part of the neigbouring
Linda Wood Reserve which seems to have all kinds of tracks currently under development (see the map pdf
here). Exciting times.
We inadvertantly disturbed a bevy of quails as we swept into the pot-holed carpark in Carolien's VW Beetle. A beautiful winters day - lovely to be out. Cold at first though - 2 degrees to be exact. Brrrr. We gathered our wits and our sticks, and set to it - through the wire gate to the left next of the creek. The path (actually the Perimeter Track at this point) sidles past the ponies then sweeps up onto the grassy ridge, over a stile and through a couple of farm gates. At the pylon we officially enterterd the Linda Woods Reserve.
From here we were following the Ridgline Track, which follows the spur all the way up to the top. As we ascended, many paths ran hither and thither though the weedy hoarhound plants. We stayed true to the ridge and eventually scrambled onto the rocky outcrop known as Gracies Rock, where we found Murray Mark's memorial.
Continuing on, there was a small path of sorts, running across the top of Gracies Rock. The rather steep descent was more difficult to negotiate and we slowed to a snail's pace - shimmying on our bums, and dropping through the crux.
We were off the crag and it felt good to be back on safe ground again. We theoretically could have bypassed the outcrop altogether - but - it was too exciting to miss. The path from here was a straight forward jaunt through farmland and tussock. As we approached the top of the hill, Lyttleton Harbour came into view, and the track petered out. I think technically here we were a bit off-piste - but we could see some signage down towards the Summit Road saddle so we headed in that direction.
On piste again, we began our descent. The conversation shifted to the much-maligned word "cunt" and society's resisted attempts to reclaim it. Wikipedia has a wonderfully lengthy exposé of historical and current usage - including sections on acronyms, puns (Mike Hunt), and spoonerisms. "Cunt" has been around for yonks. An early form, "queynte", appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer's writings ("...and pryvely he caught her by the queynte...") around 1390. If you pronounce "queynte" with a hard "qu" and a Hampshire accent you get the gist.
But I digress. Back on the Ridgeline Track we had come to a high locked gate near the pipe line. We clambered over the fence and headed back down to Gracies Rock where we stopped for Rice Bubble cakes baked by Kim. Honey sweet and reminiscent of childhood birthday parties. Yum!
We slipped and slid down the hill towards the pylons. Below us: a swarming of finches and the smog of Christchurch city. Plus the occasional smell of something gassy. Could it be the pipeline or perhaps the tunnel road below? The rice bubbles even? The sun was streaming down so hot we donned sunhats. We tentatively fed the horses some grass and then we were back at the car park ready for caffeine.
We ended up at Upshot Coffee/Roastery - horsey smells all around and the fattest sparrows you ever did see. We recalled our old school part-time jobs: Cheese toasties on the HMS Baroona and curried sausages for the aged; supermarket slavery for $1.20 per hour; selling jeans to tricky custys. Then it was time to go - to catch a flight to Tāmaki Makaurau for Mum's 90th at
Caluzzi.
See you next Tuesday.
