Current Wednesday Walk

3 March 2021

It’s hard to believe that we are about to begin the third month of 2021.  Where has the year gone by and we here in Wellington had to wait so long to get some summer.  As it is March tomorrow, that means Friday 5th March is our monthly drinks night.  It is again being held at the Sprig and Fern in Tawa at 5pm.  Hope you can get there to enjoy the companionship and friendship of other members

This past Wednesday we ventured through the tracks and streets of Maungaraki.  Although it was a tad windy in places, this did not deter the 63 who turned up, two of whom are new members.  Welcome to Andrea Blanchard and Zane Hembest who joined us for the first time.  We hope you enjoyed the walk and that we will see you back in the near future.  I am not quite sure if the Thursday group got a walk in this week due to the rain but the Friday walkers did get fog followed by sunshine for a perfect day of walking.  19 members did one of two walks that were offered, Colonial Knob or the Titahi Bay Coastal walk.  Thanks to Helen and Russell Paterson, Stuart Lavin and Gay Hoffman for organising this week’s walks as well as the leaders of the various groups.  It certainly was another successful week of walking for most of our groups.

There are two members having birthdays this week.  Happy Birthday to Trevor Burr and Bart Jones, and we certainly hope that you have a great day celebrating with family and friends.

Our Liaison Sub Committee (John Morrison and Brian Alderson) has, just recently, had a very productive meeting with representatives of WCC to receive an update on progress with tracks in the Stebbings Dam Recreation area.  The first good news is that quotations are about to be invited to replace the "Holloway" bridge on the track which goes up the stream to Rochdale Drive.  This is the bridge that was removed following a complaint.  The second is that they see the potential to formalise the track on the far side of the stream, which was built for the water pipeline, from the dam crest, downstream to the road bridge, possibly under the bridge, to come out near the Early Settler memorial.  Thirdly they certainly recognise the need to build the track from the dam up to Farnworth Drive before the houses are built.  This is a really important commuter route, and as the group were looking at it, a schoolboy appeared, pushing through the gorse to take a short cut home!.  They also advised us that there is going to be some major areas of revegetation planting again this winter on the surrounding hills.  This includes the very dominant face that has recently been sprayed.  This piece of land has not yet been taken over by WCC, but the landowner has given them early access for planting.  I would like to thank John and Brian for representing us at this meeting and updating us all on the local development plans.

Day Trip – Mana Island         

This trip is currently full but names are still being taken for the waiting list .  A reminder that payment is due by 11 March to the account sent out to you by email.  If you have not received this please contact Brian Alderson.   Details are:

Annual Away Walk

There has been a good response so far for this away trip to the Whakatane area.

Finally, over the next one or two weeks, Russell Paterson will be in charge so if you have any queries, please direct them to him. 

Hope the weather conditions this week hold up for a good week of walking.

Alison Lavin

Photos

14 Feb 2021 John Velvin farewell

And here are some photos from last week.  Walkers please try and take a photo of each group on walking days and email them to peter@jville.kiwi preferably small size (389kb).

Walk Schedules

You can look at the walk schedule for March here.

Wednesday 3^rd March 2021

General

All walks are based in Birchville, Upper Hutt.  These are walks that the weather stopped us undertaking about 1 month back.

As the parking for the three walks is within a park which makes a suitable spot for a picnic and also because we would overload any cafe in the Upper Hutt area we have decided that yes, we would have another summer picnic.  Please bring a seat or rug and a coffee and perhaps a snack.  Should the weather not play its part, or picnics are not your thing, then please make your own coffee arrangements this week.  There are quite a few coffee choices on the way back to CP.

PP’s:  A flat 4.70km walk out through the streets of Birchville and back along the bank of the Hutt River.  You can view the walk here.

SS’s:  A flat 6.73 km also out through the streets of Birchville and back along the bank of the Hutt River.  You can view the walk here.

FF’s:  A 7.93km walk similar but further afield than the SS’s.  You can view the walk here.

Parking

All three groups have the same carparking.  This is in Harcourt Park.  Turn off SH2 into Akatarawa Road and then take the first left into Harcourt Park where there is a carpark at the end of the short road. 

Coffee

As noted above the coffee get together is to take the form of a picnic in the park.  So please bring a chair or rug, coffee and perhaps a snack.  If the weather is unsuitable for a picnic then own arrangements can be made on the way back to CP.     

19 paddies go to the cinema, the ticket lady asks "Why so many of you?"
Mick replies, "The film said 18 or over."

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