| Group | Leader | Mentor | Tailender |
| Standards | Brent | Warren | Graham W |
| Alternates | Neil | Ali | Moira |
Standards – 11.5km with 780m of total ascent
On a sunny morning but in a coolish southerly breeze, 26 trampers emerged from the bus in Morgan’s Valley, Heathcote, to immediately embark on a steep uphill track towards the Summit Road, many vertical metres above us. The Alternates followed the Standards up the hill, but they were intending to complete their tramp in Lyttelton, whereas the Standards had Sumner as their destination.
Sheep still graze the pastures through which the track passes, (in fact we were on the Baa Baa track!) though one hopes that in time, these Port Hills will be entirely left to nature and the return of the original native flora. During this tramp there was discussion of what these hills would have looked like in pre-European times and without reaching any definitive conclusions, there was general consensus that there would have been a considerable amount of native vegetation, as now exists in the valleys.
Another topic of conversation was the President’s impressive command of salutations in many different languages, the latest being Slavik, recognising our driver, Viktor.
After about 45 minutes of climbing, near the Summit Road and with glorious views across the city, Leader Brent called for a morning tea break. This was accompanied by a talk by Nicholas on the comet (it has a Chinese name that I didn’t pick up!) currently being sighted in the western sky, just after sunset, including useful tips on how best to observe it. So absorbing was this chat that the Alternates caught up with us, having had morning tea lower down.
There was a short walk along the Summit Road before we entered the Major Hornbrook track down to Lyttelton, sparking a discussion on who Major Hornbrook was. A simple Google search revealed that Major Alfred Hornbrook (1814-1898), served in the British Army and arrived in Wellington in 1840, a memorable year in our history. He subsequently moved south and established the Mitre Inn at Lyttelton and used the track we were on to transport goods from the Port to his home on Mt Pleasant.
On this gloriously sunny day, we had magnificent views of the harbour, a ship being gently nudged into its berth by the tug, and the majestic hills on the other side. There was a short walk around an upper area of Lyttelton, then another steep climb up a track into Urumau Reserve. Substantial native plantings are starting to take root and initially the track is well formed with mountain biking capability, but we didn’t meet any. However, beyond the Reserve and up the lava flow crater wall back up to the crater rim, the track is very steep and rocky in places, but helpful steps have been chiselled into the rocks by some thoughtful people over the years.
Lunch was at the saddle where the track meets the Crater Rim walkway and, sheltered from the gentle but cooling southerly, we had views over both the Harbour and out to Pegasus Bay over Sumner. The location prompted a comment that this is why we go tramping!!
The tramp was completed on a grassy track down to Evans Pass then onto the Captain Thomas Track back to Sumner. There we found the always welcome sight of the bus waiting for us, having picked up the Alternates in Lyttelton.
A thoroughly enjoyable day, which is one of the writer’s top 5 BTC tramps.
Text by Selwyn
