This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, no 10, November 2024
‘Three Waters’ – Mk. 2 E
Sunday 29 September 2024
We alighted from the no. 17 Kōwhai Park bus in Karepa St near the lawn-covered large reservoir, from which we saw the harbour and hills beyond. Across the street we entered our first catchment - Waimapihi¹ Stream - and walked along Aliway Track, then down Transient Track to Aro St. These two tracks crossed several tiny tributaries of the stream. It is named after a Māori princess – Mapihi¹ – who used to bathe in it. In the 19th-century it was piped, entering Wellington Harbour at the former beach east of Cuba St and just south of Manners St. (Note: ca. 155 ha of the city's CBD is built on reclaimed land – source: WCC panel at Cable Car Lookout).
Delights on this part of our trip were the extensive regenerating native forest on often very steep slopes, views of the harbour / Te Whanganui a Tara¹ and its surrounding hills, plus calls of that harbinger of spring – the shining cuckoo / pipiwharauroa - and also of kākā, kōtare/kingfisher, riroriro/grey warbler, and tūī as we enjoyed scroggin at a picnic table in full sun. As we reached the park's Aro St entrance we saw the now substantial stream entering a culvert a metre or more in diameter. In this area its flow is boosted by streams flowing in culverts under Norway St and Holloway Rd.
After crossing the bottom end of Raroa Rd we walked across the lawn towards the bottom of the recently built Kiwi Foot Track up this part of Wellington's Town Belt. Rising above the lawn is the sheer slope of the former Aro St Quarry². Wellington City Council has built impressive flights of boxed steps, some on the line of the road built for access to the top of the old quarry. The steps have risers about 200 mm high – ideal for walkers carrying day packs. Among the distractions climbing the track was watching a pair of kākā copulating on a pine tree branch, then later we ate lunch beside the track, which emerges between numbers 107 and 117 Kelburn Pde. Up the road we crossed it at the Central Tce. sign-post at no. 131 to where a flight of steps then a footpath lead to the top end of Central Tce. Up more steps to a path between houses and the roofs of garages we were impressed by the unhindered view of city, harbour and Remutaka and Tararua Ranges.
From Central Tce we popped up some steps and down others to reach Upland Rd. Now we were in the catchment of Pipitea¹ Stream – our second stream. Down Glen Rd we were impressed by the Indonesian Embassy building. A local, Mrs. Perry, says it was built by the Quakers to accommodate young women who came to Wellington to seek work. Further down the street we came to an empty section, once the site of a private primary school. From there we walked up a bush track to Kōwhai Rd path, then down to Ngaio Rd. Soon we entered the Botanic Garden and then walked up Pukatea Path to Horseshoe Bend, the Play Area, Epuni Path, then via the Northern Walkway to Remembrance Ridge and into our third catchment – Waipiro¹ Stream. At Picnic Café we refuelled with cuppas and scones at about 3 p.m. Finally three of us walked a minor track in Bolton St Memorial Park, then down Bowen St to the plaza surrounding the Cenotaph. We were delighted by the Wellington Sculpture Trust-sponsored series of perforated stainless steel discs set in the plaza, enabling us to hear Waipiro¹ Stream babbling its way to the former harbour edge at Lambton Quay a few metres away.
¹ The Great Harbour of Tara. G. Leslie Adkin. 1959. Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. ² Quarry opened ca. 1856 to supply material for road building. Closed early 1920s. (Chris Rabey).
- Party members
- Chris Horne (leader and scribe), Judy Alexander, Alan Benge, Paul Bruce, Michele Dickson, Peter Panettieri, Marris Weight