26 Nov, warm and gusty. 25km

I caught the train to Porirua and walked past Esldon Camp to Colonial Knob. Lots of stairs and quite steep, birds could be heard among the dense bush. The trickle of the stream made this track very peaceful. At the first lookout it was evident the wind will slow down the pace later on.

The down hill was through Spicer Bush, a pine forest and an easy downhill track ending this section in a 5km road walk.

It was mainly ridge walking to get to and past Mt Kaukau. Skyline track was exposed and to get there it first went through open fields with sheep grazing high up there. Skyline Track was very windy and slow going in the exposed sections. TV masts were high up on the hills, views out across every direction. Nelson was so close when you look beyond the wind turbines. Often the flight path into Wellington flys over this area.

The Northern Track follows on but my day ended by following Bells Track into Ngaio to the train station. Bells track was a short downhill into a housing area.

On a good day this is well worth doing for the views. Take plenty of water and lunch, there’s seats to enjoy a rest along the way.