Travelling along State Highway 1 between Christchurch and Picton
State Highway 1 carries a lot of traffic at any time, but during the summer
and especially in the holiday period it is a very busy road. Our family
have travelled it many times en route from Christchurch to Picton, Nelson
or the Nelson Lakes National Park. That part of the country is so popular
in summer that there is heavy traffic - cars packed to the roof with
luggage, cars pulling trailers full of camping gear, caravans or boats,
motorhomes, and heavy trucks transporting goods to and from the ferry.
This means that the driver can become fed up with following the same
vehicle kilometre after kilometre, especially over the Hundalee Hills and
along the Kaikoura coast.
Our other problem when the children were small was that they grew tired of
being in the car and asked endlessly, "When are we going to get to
Nelson?"
The solution for all frayed nerves in our experience was to stop and go for
a walk. With luck the little ones spent so much energy that they fell
asleep soon after and we could drive on in peace.
Where are these walks?
Domains and rest areas all along the road provide a break, but our two
favourite walks are on the Kaikoura coast, one south of Kaikoura, one to
the north. Neither involves leaving the main road. Both take a short
time.
The Omihi Scenic Reserve Walk
If you are travelling north watch for the Ocean View Restaurant and Motels,
north of Oaro, travel 1.3 kms and pull off on the left of the road. If the
parking there is full there are parks in the picnic area on the other side
of the road.
If you are travelling south note the Goose Bay bridge and then travel one
kilometre south watching for a not very conspicuous sign in a clearing on
your right.
Cross the railway carefully at the sign marking the beginning of the walk.
This is an undemanding walk on a good track, taking twenty minutes each
way. It is fairly dry all the year round, and light footwear is adequate
unless there has been heavy rain. It begins at an easy gradient and
gradually climbs to a lookout giving excellent views north and south along
the coast. The walk is sheltered and on a hot day it is pleasantly cool
under the trees.
Trees and plants
Our pleasure in the walk was increased when we went with Joe Levy, former
Canterbury Conservator of Forests. He pointed out trees and plants that
would have escaped our notice.
The shady nature of the walk meant that we could not take photographs in
the bush, so a description will have to suffice. It is set among coastal
hardwood forest. It starts among kawakawa, the peppertree, which Maori
value for medicinal purposes. The canopy of foliage comes from the
whiteywood, and the ngaio. On the side of the track are small hen and
chicken ferns.
Tree fuchsias can be recognised by their orange-tinged, peeling bark. They
grow to an interesting shape. The five finger, popular in home gardens as a
smallish tree, here grows over twenty feet tall. Ake ake have an orange
red bark with a stringy texture.
On the left note a tall ribbonwood with a dark trunk and further along a
red matipo.
Towards the top of the track watch for maidenhair fern, golden ake ake,
(which you may recognise as a popular hedge plant), a native myrtle with a
nobbly trunk, a pigeonwood with orange berries in season, hebes, and a
large leaved Broadleaf. At your feet you may see Dianella, a low growing
plant which has white flowers with three petals. It is sometimes called
blue berry as it has rather lovely blue berries in autumn.
Birds
As you walk you have a good chance of seeing some native birds - brown
creepers, bellbirds, grey warblers and fantails.
|
|
The view south looking toward the Amuri Bluff. The coastal
strip in the foreground was a Ngai Tahu village site in the nineteenth
century and earlier.
|
|
|
The view of the gull-nesting reserve to the east.
|
View from the top
From the top you have a clear view of the coast to the north and the south
and can look down on the seals on the rocks below. This rocky area area is
a reserve for the benefit of red-billed gulls which nest there in spring
and summer.
The downhill walk
You have the choice of returning the way you came or going down the other
side of the hill by a more open zig-zag track which follows the power lines
and descends more sharply through bracken and grass. This comes out near
the end of the railway tunnel under the hill, at a point a kilometre by
road from the starting point.
You may wish to do the walk from north to south, but it is much more
difficult to find the access point as it is unobtrusive. It is close to
the end of the tunnel beside Goose Bay bridge.
|
|
Looking north over Goose Bay
|
North of Kaikoura
Travelling north you will very likely stop to look at the seals at Ohau
Point where there is a pull-off area of tar seal on your right just past
Half Moon Bay. A short distance further north as the road descends to the
coast a signpost clearly indicates the walk to the Ohau Falls.
Travelling south after crossing the Clarence River watch for the Black
Miller Stream. Three kilometres south of this there is a signpost and an
opening parking area both side of the road.
This fifteen minute walk begins underneath the railway line and leads you
on a good track through the trees - again coastal hardwood forest - to a
small waterfall which is a cool oasis during travel on a hot summer day.
Travel on - a refreshed and safer driver.
