Eastbourne Hills - East Ridge

There's a ridge that separates the Wainuiomata River valley from Gollans stream.  It delineates the eastern side of the bush clad hills behind Eastbourne - so I'm calling it the East Ridge for convenience.  

From the Wainui side it looks pretty gorsy and awful, but from the hills above Eastbourne (if you can tear yourself away from the harbour views) - they look a bit scrubby but do get you thinking that there must be a bit of a trail along there somewhere.

When I emerged from a walk in the Coromandel it was to hear news that the Queen had died - it seems only fitting that on the public holiday to mark the event I should head into the bush.  I figure the easiest access will be to climb to the ridge near Mt Lowry from Lees Grove in Wainuiomata then follow the ridge south from the high point where the Rata Ridge Track meets East Ridge.

 
What:    Exploring East Ridge

Where:  Eastbourne hills

When:   26 September 2022

Who:     Solo

The support crew drops me at the top of Lees Grove in Wainuiomata where an alley runs down beside a house and into the bush.  What with all the flag waving and monarchist carry on (or it might have been mowing lawns - I forget), it's 1.45 by the time I get away.  The Regional Council have a good info board and even pamphlets for the park at the start.

It's a little muddy underfoot after recent rain - the track follows a stream then starts to climb reasonably steeply up a spur.  20 minutes later I emerge on the ridge to join Rata ridge track.  

A smart turn left and the track starts to drop - my brain is saying it is dropping too far and fast but it soon bottoms out then climbs to meet the north end of East Ridge.  There's a wee spot on the way where you can look out over Wainuiomata should you wish to do so.

About 15 minutes from the top of Lees Grove Track the Rata Track starts to skirt around a knob and show signs of wanting to descend.  I leave the track and head up to the top off the knob and on to the start of East Ridge.  Where I'm greeted by a sign ...

I'm navigating not walking so figure that the sign is not intended for me. Like many other pest control trails in this park it is pretty well used and easy to follow.  The canopy is high at this point so it is a little difficult to gauge which knob you are on but I just keep following the compass southish.  

The vegetation varies between reasonably mature bush and regenerating scrub.  As I approach pt 360 the trail gets a bit harder to follow and sidles on the west of the ridge (there may have been a trail heading towards Gollan Stream).  I stick with the trail closest to the ridge and it soon climbs back to the top - there's some young regrowth through here so it may be that the ridge top is just a bit too difficult.

I'm clearly not concentrating well enough as a little south of pt 360 I find the going a bit tricky - but it still feels like the ridge top. I persevere for a while until climbing onto a wee knob I can see a ridge immediately west of me.  I've strayed onto a spur that is just about to try to dump me into the Wainuiomata Valley somewhere near the golf course.

A quick backtrack and I'm back on the main ridge and seeing markers again.

There's a bit off gorse mixed in with the natives now but there is still a reasonable trail - it's pretty solid through the next wee saddle but further south it starts to look less well used.  There's a lot of wallows along the ridge - I used to think these were pigs but have been told that deer make them too - no idea of the truth of the matter or whether there is a way of telling the difference if they both do.  

I'm getting a bit conscious of the time as I head further south.  It's not helped by the odd area of wind fall and regrowth where it's difficult to find where the trail runs.  However, I keep finding it again and it even joins an old fence for a while.  I pass pt 285 and continue south.  

There's more and more scrub and gorse now and at some point it becomes clear that I am on an old farm track.  I see some old signs and suspect that one of them may have said "Private Property F... off" or similar but it was so faded it was impossible to say.  

Looking back - definitely an old farm track

Somewhere just south of pt 232 I stop and study the map and figure it is time to find a way down to Gollans stream - it's about 4.50 so there's a bit of daylight time left but I don't want to cut it any finer.  I haven't seen any obvious trails so look for a break in the scrub and take a bearing.  Once through a band of scrub there is good beech forest, I zigzag down looking for a spur but there are only animal trails and it's hard to pick any line that is better than any other so I just bash down slope until I reach a band of nikau which drops me rapidly into a stream.  

It's generally better to follow a spur and avoid the lush, rotten, supplejack infested, slippery, stream beds you get in this type of country.  But often you don't get a choice.  Rather than following the spur I had nominated I've dropped into a stream but it's easier to just go with it knowing it will pop out at Gollans stream eventually.  

I emerge into a large open area with fierce signs and figure I am a bit further down valley than planned.  there are some tracks marked with red triangles heading in the wrong direction.   But there's also a farm track that skirts through some pretty rough paddocks before turning into foot trails that take me to the stream.  I follow this up and pop out in a clearing with quite a flash wee cabin - it's about 5.30.  

This must be private.  There's a track following the stream which finishes at a fence - hoping over I cross the stream and make my way up the other bank.  There are bits of trails running all over the place and nothing to choose between them so I just sidle up the valley angling slightly uphill knowing I must eventually meet the track.  

15 minutes later I've joined the track and followed it to the junction with Kowhai Track, 7 minutes after that I'm on the ridge and in another 8 minutes at the top of Kowhai Road - a little after 6pm.  

Post script

Getting on to East Ridge is no problem.  Travel is generally not too bad but it's a little tricky navigating at times - don't expect a well marked track with an obvious foot trail the whole way.   It's a bit of a mix in terms of  vegetation with some beautiful forest and some down right manky scrub.  I imagine you could keep following the farm track south - the map shows it running out around Sugar Load but it probably continues in some form.  Although I don't think it would be very rewarding.

I dropped off the ridge just past pt 232 - I would suggest dropping sooner, maybe even that nice looking spur off 285.  By leaving it so late in the day I was intent on haring off out of the park by the most direct route - I think a more elegant exit would be via the spur past pt 130 to Hawtrey to pick up Stan's hut on the way to Kereru track.

Eastbourne huts

Janine has got wind of a couple of huts she would like to bag in the hills behind Eastbourne.  It sounds like a good diversion so Mike and I sign up.  The two objectives are Ranger's Hut and Stan's Hut.

What:    Hut Bagging
Where:  Eastbourne Hills
When:   26 March 2022
Who:     Mike and Janine

We start from Kowhai Street and follow the track up and over the ridge with expanding views of the harbour behind us.  At the track junction in the Butterfly Creek valley we take a bearing and head down slope, through kiekie to the creek.  We cast down stream a short way but don't find any obvious trails onto the spur where the Ranger's hut is located.  Heading back to where we met the creek we find some markers and follow these up hill.  Pretty soon the hut comes into sight through the trees on our left.  It's about midday - I didn't note the time we departed but it didn't take long.

Originally a solidly built and largish structure, it is showing signs of disrepair.  We fossick around the outside - it is well secured which is hardly surprising this close to readily accessible tracks.  

Back on the trail I lose track of the markers (probably a pest management trail) but it's not that steep and it's easy work up the slope to the top of the spur.  The trail along the spur is good and we rock along.  Stan's Hut is marked on the spur just before it starts climbing from the 200m contour - we keep our eyes peeled but in the end it is close to the trail and impossible to miss.  

It's a small and simple wooden structure with room for a bed inside and a wee deck out front.  The original log book is still there with (I assume) Stan's invitation to all dated May 1975:

"This shelter was constructed so that one could enjoy nature.  The trees that have been planted near this shelter are "food trees" for native birds.  To anyone who finds this shelter please use it, it is not private.  Please remove litter.  While you are here, listen to the insects and birds, rest a while."

It looks like Stan brought the materials in, built and maintained the hut and planted trees to attract birds.  There's also some news paper cuttings with a 2019 obituary that gives a bit more information about his life.  We take a bit of time to scan the log which has many entries from Stan and those that have appreciated the hut since.

With the official business of the day dealt with the plan is to head up the spur and along the ridge to drop down Kereru Track to Days Bay.

It's a bit slower than expected and it's easy to be a bit optimistic about progress as we roll over wee knobs and along the reasonably flat sections of ridge.  

Rata with an impressive root system

A couple of joggers potter past and we pause for photos at the foot of an impressive rata that has a  large exposed, convoluted root system.  As we head down Kereru track a couple of women pass in an upwards direction - punter one is swinging along, punter two looks ready to expire.  She gasps: "how far to the top?"  Mike replies that it's about 10 minutes - accurate for us but I suspect half an hour at the pace she is maintaining.  Ah well.

The support crew is enjoying a late lunch at the cafe at the bottom of the hill but by the time we turn up the kitchen has closed.   Ah well ano - back home via Zany Zeus it is.

Gollans stream

What with Covid and winter ennui I have become lamentably sessile.  However, if you scratch around there are trips to be had around Wellington that aren't on the maps but are well known to locals.

I've pottered around a few of the tracks around the Eastbourne hills - enough to know there are informal tracks, pest control lines and a bit more space than you would guess from the car.

Angela has clearly forgotten the expensive rips in her underarmour from the last time we wandered off track and is keen to come out for a bit of compass practice.

What:     Day navigation trip
Where:   Hills behind Days Bay
When:    20 August
Who:      Angela and me

I must have lent my Lower Hutt map to someone so I have to resort to one that shows some tracks that are no longer there, and is missing some that are. However the streams and contours haven't changed so it will be fine.

The start isn't auspicious - we can't find the track on my map marked as running SSE to the ridgeline from Lowry Bay, so we follow our noses to Cheviot Road.

The well marked track dives immediately into dim forest with Nikau and supplejack. We pick a spot where there might be a bit of a spur and climb directly away from the track.  It doesn't look like people come this way, but it's open enough with the morning sun lighting the canopy.   Every now and then we get a glimpse out to the harbour.

Just short of the top we cross an old benched track that is still easy to follow.  It seems to sidle around to join the ridgeline a bit further south.  

At the top, the noise from the Wainuiomata Hill road is a bit intrusive and we can see cars flashing by not far below.   However, the sun is on our backs and as we head south along the ridge the sounds fade behind.

It's an easy amble up to the view spot just short of Mt Lowry where we meet a runner - the first person today.  A bit of a stop to transfer control of the map and compass to Angela (no separation anxiety at all) then a short hop along to the survey peg marking Mt Lowry. 

Angela takes a bearing from the top towards the spur we want to take to Gollan Stream.  The track continues our way for a bit but then hives off to the left leaving us to find our way into tiger country.

It turns out that someone has a well cared for trapping line with possum and stoat traps, and rat bait stations. The state of the flour lures for the possums indicate someone has been through not too long ago.  The bark on a few coprosma trees show signs of being chewed by something bigger than possums though - goat or deer by the look of it. 

We studiously ignore the markers for the trap line as Angela takes more bearings, estimates rate of progress and matches the map to the landscape. It's a fairly gentle spur so the hills on either side gradually get higher as we drop and pretty soon we can only hear the sounds of the valley.

The spur meets the valley floor at a flat area in tall, rich forest - there's a bit of of treefall, kiekie and supplejack and the stream wanders around. We're pleased to discover that a trap line continues down stream (as well as other lines going up various spurs).  It's almost a track barring a few overgrown sections. 

I try to make sure that Angela doesn't pick up my rather agricultural approach to navigation so we take time to estimate how long we think it will take to get to the next side stream in this terrain and study the map to work out how we will know when we have reached the points where we might follow a spur out of the valley.  We identify a kink in the stream where the map shows it briefly looping back to flow north - we estimate it will be a stretch about 200m long so it should be pretty obvious when we get to it.

     

It turns out that there is an informal camping spot with an improvised swing and homemade sign, so it would indeed be hard to miss. The stream comes hard back on itself so we are fully confident in our navigational prowess.

We've been taking it slow so decide that we will head up to the ridgeline rather than further downstream to Butterfly Creek.  To avoid taking the obvious spur straight up, we continue downstream for a bit as it steps down through a narrow section with deepish pools.  It's surprising how good the bush is, sandwiched been Eastbourne and Wainuiomata - there's some pretty big rimu and the occasional elegant nikau looking out of place below the canopy.

At the next side stream we cross and immediately follow our noses up the side of a spur towards a marked spot height on the ridge (named on some maps as Hawtrey 343m).  

A short way up we bump into a deer fence.  It's a Regional Council vegetation monitoring plot built in 2001.  You find them in the oddest places and of various sizes. After this there is a reasonable ground trail up the spur with more possum traps.  

At the top we're on the main ridge again.  Heading south from here the Hawtrey track ('route') follows the ridge to join Mackenzie track (to Butterfly Creek) it looks like you could also follow a long spur that drops to the junction of Butterfly Creek and Gollans Stream.   

We can smell the iced coffee at Chocolate Daze cafe though so we head right, along a solid marked track which drops gently to join the main ridgeline track just as it starts the steep descent down Kereru track to Days Bay.

Our relief driver is already happily ensconced at the cafe. Aching knees are soon forgotten over coffee and sticky toffee cake while the late afternoon sun slants in from across the harbour.  A day well spent.