Time: 3 hours and 15 minutes
Distance: 9.5 km
Start: Car park at the corner of Bossu and Kinloch Roads, Banks Peninsular
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 5th September 2025
In 2009, Christchurch City Council bought Te Oka Farm, a 903 ha block of coastal land in Banks Peninsular, spanning Tumbledown and Te Oka Bays and extending from sea level up to 680 m at Bossu Road. Ten years later, the Te Oka Reserve Management Plan 2019 (delayed due to Covid) proposes gradually removing stock (it is currently still a working farm), developing the existing track network (old farm roads) and returning the reserve to native bush. Wonderful! A few weeks ago, me and my Hoa Rangatira did some reconnaissance. Since then new signage, with new track names, has appeared.
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| https://ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/The-Council/Plans-Strategies-Policies-Bylaws/Plans/Park-management-plans/Te-Oka-Reserve-aerial-map.pdf |
On this Friday Walkies Friday we were on the road, driving past Lake Forsyth where swarms of midges were splattering the front windscreen of the Toyota Wish. We drove slowly up-up-up steep Kinloch Road and parked at Te Oka Reserve car park on Bossu Road. The wind was blowing like billy-o as we stepped out into the gale and the clouds of midges. We quickly got our shit together and started walking pronto. But still, the midges got into every nook and cranny. One wedged in between my left eyeball and eyelid, and another went up my nostril. I positioned my snood just so. Nicole was also dressed like a ninja and Jane was having a coughing fit after swallowing a couple while she was laughing. They taste nutty - I can vouch for that. Probably a good source of protein.
From the car park we walked almost the length of the Te Oka Tops Track (which runs parallel to Bossu Road), and then turned onto the unmarked Gap Road Spur Track. It was a steep descent down the ridge with views that seemed to stretch to infinity and beyond - an azure ocean merging into an azure sky. In contrast, the hills were yellow with gorse flowers, smelling like coconut. We passed the junctions to the Valley Loop Track. That will be for another day.
Just as the knees were starting to complain, the steepness eased and we rock-hopped over Te Oka Stream, following it down the valley. You could see signs of recent flooding. Jane spotted a pheasant and we bypassed a bevy of quails and some cute baches. We hadn't seen anyone on the track but someone close-by fired up a chainsaw.
Rounding the sheep pens, it was time to ascend the Zig-Zag track. We were in the lee of the wind and took the advantage to stop for apples and Whittakers pear chocolate. Eventually we were on the ridge - Middle Spur Track (formerly known as Te Oka Reserve Track) which we could follow all the way to the top. A flock of sheep eyed us cautiously. They looked a bit skittish and one had a bulging vagina - maybe a lamb on the way - or else in need of a mercy killing. To us city gals, it looked totally dodgy - so we bypassed them carefully so as not to disturb.
It was as windy as fuck. Jane bore the full brunt of a gust and nearly keeled over. The copse of pines at the top showed signs of severe wind damage. We stopped to contemplate the uplifted roots and broken branches. The wind roared through sounding like a plane landing. We did not linger.
Back at the car park, the midges had blown off. We drove slowly down-down-down the steep Kinloch Road, watching out for logging trucks and pausing now and then to get photos of the quirky and endearing love heart graffiti and the cute country cottage at the bottom. A colourful madman rode past on a bicycle - bolt upright despite the howling wind. At Little River we partook in victuals and checked out the gallery where they have cool earrings made out of bike tyres. I scored a broken saucepan at Déjà New, a nifty second-hand shop tucked in behind the petrol station.
It was time to head home. A couple of side-on wind-gusts rocked the car alarmingly as we drove back to Crikers but we made it back ok. Meanwhile the midge slowly worked its way around the back of my left eyeball and fell out at 6:35 am this morning.
