Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Distance: 7.4 km
Start: End of Baynons Road, Clarkville
Finish: Same place, it's a thin loop
Date: Friday 20th March 2026
The Waimakariri River Regional Park comprises 15,000 hectares of river bed and bank, managed by Environment Canterbury who have divided it into a bunch of activity areas (check out the park brochure pdf). On the north bank is:
- Kaiapoi Island (biking and walking - see FW blog post)
- Baynons Brake (today's destination - walkers give way to horses)
- McIntosh's (fishing)
and on the south bank:
- McLeans Forest (a.k.a. McLeans Island, walking and biking - see FW blog post)
- West Melton Forest (mainly horse riding but walkers welcome - see FW blog post)
- Te Rauakaaka (walking and birdwatching in a salt marsh)
- Templers Island (walking and biking)
- The Willows (walking and bike riding - see FW blog post)
- Weedons Forest (trail bike riding).
The "islands" McLeans, Kaiapoi and Templers (a.k.a Templars) have long since disappeared due to 150 years of flooding mitigation - but their names persist. Today we were checking out Baynons Brake.
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| The Waimakariri River Regional Park |
We collected all and sundry on a drizzly Friday morning. Driving north, conversations quickly turned to pithy topics: cunts (demystified) and frog tattoos on bottoms. Collective hoots of laughter. Understandably, our navigator was a bit distracted and we missed a couple of turn-offs. Speedy U-turns through the gravel saw us right.
At the end of Baynons Road, we parked on the stop bank just past the entrance gate. From here we could walk directly through the forest and check out the river - a bleak and desolate place with no water to be seen. Described as "not very picturesque".
We returned to the forest to stroll westwards along a fairly pleasant stony/grassy riding path that runs parallel to the river. We bypassed a massive wall of stones - presumably flood protection and the brake of Baynon? A small side trail branched off towards the river and a few keen ones ambled out onto the river bed in search of water - a puddle with a couple of herons in the distance. The Waimakariri River is a braided river: "a dynamic rare ecosystem characterised by multiple, shifting channels separated by small temporary islands (bars) of gravel and sediment". We imagined the frightening volumes of water on very rainy days.
We returned to the forest and continued on the path heading west. These Waimakariri River recreational areas have a rather spooky redneck-weird-sort-of- deliverance-type feel to them. You know what I mean. A runner suddenly whooshed past us and we all let out a collective squawk.
It was time for our return, the first bit was along the straight gravel stop bank with the horse paddocks on our left. The paddocks were filled with neighing mares and foals. Horses are so cute from a distance. At some point we dropped back into the forest on a narrow horsey track which wiggled through the trees. A horse and rider came through and we stepped aside to let them pass. Horses are not so cute up close. We were allowed to pat "Ora". She wore a beaded tiara and she sniffed us all.
Back in the car driving north to the Ohoka Farmers Market, conversations quickly turned to pithy topics: andropause, the manosphere and geriatric vaginal atrophy. More collective hoots. At the market there were olives, strawberries, a lipstick holder and a 1.5 litre bottle of limoncello. Also a serendipitous meeting. We sat by the playground drinking hot chocolates (jaggery sugar and Koko Samoa) and munching on hunks of focaccia bread. Yum.
