Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Distance: 4.7 km
Start: Car park at the end of the gravel drive/road Orton Bradley Park
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 13th March 2026
Once upon a time (1850 to be exact), Banks Peninsular was mostly covered in podocarp forest. Fifty years later it was almost all gone because British colonists had procured land from local iwi via dubious means, and forests were cut for timber or burnt to make way for farming.
At some point (1892 to be exact) Reginald Orton-Bradley took over a property near Charteris Bay where he planted thousands of trees - mostly exotics but also natives. He died in 1943, leaving the entire property (1612 acres, 2 roods and 29 perches) for the "just benefit and enjoyment of the people of New Zealand". A private act of parliament (R.O. Bradley Estate Act 1972) was passed specifying the details from Orton's will. The Orton Bradley Park was to be (and is to this day) managed by the Orton Bradley Park Board, comprising volunteer local Cantabrians from a list of organisations. The list is interesting to read: "a person appointed by the Christchurch City Council", "a person appointed by the Canterbury Branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (Incorporated)", "A person from the Automobile Association", etc... No iwi though.
Fast forward to 13 March 2026 (today) and the Friday Walkies crew were on our way to the park, which now boasts a network of tracks (see map pdf). Our plan: to walk a loop involving all of the Hunters Gully Track. We paid our $5 per person entrance fee (cash only) at the old telephone box and drove to the end of the gravel road/driveway where we all piled out of the car.
I thought we might walk the loop in a clockwise direction but we couldn't find the start. Instead we pfaffed around following false leads and nearly getting wet feet (horrors). Eventually we opted for the anti-clockwise version which starts on the Valley Floor Track. A herd of cows were mooing rather too loudly nearby and a bunch of school children were gathering by the loos as we set off.
The Valley Floor Track goes through the Narnia portal and follows Te Wharau Stream to a fork and a newly built bridge. The park map says the bridge is closed - but it's not. I think they are referring to the derelict old one which can be seen upstream from the new one. Evidence from recent storms could be seen along the riverbank - and signs were up saying there were slips up on the tops with many tracks closed. We took the left fork marked Magnificent Gully, and crossed the new bridge. The track climbed up through lovely tangled bush to the Hunters Gully Track turn-off.
Hunters Gully Track is an old farm road that runs along a contour for a while - across farmland dipping in and out of pines. The farm road continues, but the track turns off at some point. Track markers (poles with their tips painted blue), guide you over a stile, then down through pines, which morph into natives - beautiful fuchsias and manukas.
Coffee time. The plan was to go to the Orton Bradley Cafe but alas, it was closed (only open on Sundays at the moment). We did get to see the white pigeon, the fire pond fernery, and the doggy graves (Tilly, Ned, Bert, Purdy, Mr Plumb, Syd, and Muff).
