It was a great day for walking, overcast with very little wind. Six of us set off from Frederick Wise Park along Parkway and turned up Brian Morgan Tce. From here it was the start of the Konini Firebreak Track with a well-defined track tacking us up to the Wainuiomata Water Tower where we stopped to get our breath and take a group photo. From here the track was mainly clay, slippery in places and went from extremely steep to level parts and started to turn into a bush track in places. There were none of the emergency fire pools of past years in evidence, so possibly the need for a maintained track had disappeared. The track did meet up with the brand-new Konini Climb in several places but we kept climbing straight up. We eventually came out onto the ECNZ Track and followed this around to the turn off to head to the view point from the Transmission Towers. We sat on old Artificial grass which had once been used for paragliding and enjoyed the view until a light shower set in. It was then off again to retrace our steps back to the Konini Climb for a 6.5km zigzag track down to link with other tracks which eventually led us out to Waiu Park. The main track was in lovely bush and is an uphill climb for bikes but walkers can go both ways, which made it easier to spot cyclists. We only saw one the whole descent, but there had been an event at the park the day before. There were a couple of stream crossings and a couple of quirky art works plus a couple of seats fashioned from punga trunks. It did feel like a long way down, but the rain disappeared and it turned into the nice day which had been forecasted. We had a late lunch at the bike park before the 20-minute walk back to our cars. Chris suggested a coffee shop just off Port Road at the Marina, so we decided to give this a go. What a great choice this was. Its only small but has the best outlook sitting by the marina looking at all the yachts. A great end to a lovely but long 14.8 km walk.

Judith O’Leary