This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 94, No.1, February 2022
Ngaio, Te Ahumairangi, Johnston Hill M
Wednesday 1 December 2021
At 0900, 22 of us set off from Ngaio Town Hall for a walk through Heke Reserve and along the Northern Walkway, through Trelissick Park, exiting at Hanover Street.
Then it was up the daunting slope of Weld Street to cross over Te Ahumairangi for morning tea and a chance to admire the harbour view before descending via the Albermarle Street bush track and through the Karori Cemetery, which would have provided its own absorbing wander if Johnston Hill and the Skyline weren't beckoning.
Quoting from the Internet: 'Bronze sculpture of Mrs Chippy on the grave of Harry McNish in Karori Cemetery ... Mrs Chippy was a male ship's cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.'
We took a right turn into the bush after the Tangiwai memorial, climbing to the top of Johnston Hill for lunch with Carol Kelly. ‘Johnston Hill was named after John Johnston, who arrived in Wellington in 1843 and later bought the land from the first pakeha owner, Judge Chapman. It was officially opened as a public recreation domain in 1942.'
All that remained was to find a sheltered spot for an early lunch before heading along the Skyline track and returning to Ngaio Town Hall, via Bell's track, at about the promised six-hour finish time. The weather was obliging and the company was great!
- Party members
- Linda Beckett (leader and scribe), Alistair Beckett, Paul Bruce, Bob Buckle, Trish Gardiner-Smith, Paddy Gresham, Brian Hasell, John Hill, Alan Knowles + guests: Alison and Chris Longson, Diane Morgan, Pip Newton, Mary Perkins, Lynne Pomare, Marilyn Richards, Penny Salmond, Pete Smith, Bob Stephens, Alison Stephenson, Janice Tijsen, Annie Van Henck