This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
S aturday, 15 June was a rather cold, autumn day on which a strong northerly wind prevailed. It was also the day on which Marilyn Duffy led a group of four people on a day trip to the top of Colonial Knob. This hill is located north west of the suburb of Tawa and rises to an altitude of 468m. The track up this hill starts in Broken Hill Road, just north of the Porirua rubbish tip.
We started out from the Duffy residence and walked to the top of the road, then followed a track over a small hill before crossing Broken Hill Road to the start of the main track. The track passes through a variety of vegetation tree ferns, gorse and pine trees before reaching open farm paddocks about half way up the hill. Marilyn and Brett, who both live in the local area, did a good job as tour guides, pointing out all things of interest to the two non- ”Tawa-nese” members of the party. The lower part of the track included an adequate amount of mud and watery bits, while the farm paddocks at the top con-
COLONIAL KNOB 15 June 1996
‘tained plenty of cow and sheep “stuff” -
ideal for giving your boots that well-used look! Marilyn had advised us before starting out that “it gets real cold up there!” As the sweat poured off me on the way up the track, I did become a little sceptical about the accuracy of this statement. However, as soon as we emerged from the bush and onto open ground, I quickly became thankful that I had brought plenty of warm gear.
On we marched to the top. Once at the top, we eagerly looked towards Mana Island, hoping to spot the group of kayakers which Wayne Stevens was leading on a circumnavigation of the island. Mana Island that is; not the North Island. But alas, they were nowhere to be seen. Surely the 2 metre swells and 40 knot northerly breeze wouldn’t have scared them off. We guessed they were hidden from view on the other side of the island.
It was also time for a spot of lunch. Lucky for us there was a building at the top of this hill which proved to be a great windbreak. As we munched on our lunch, we continued to admire the view. As it was a clear day, we could easily see the South Island, and we spent some minutes trying to identify some of its features.
On the way back down we decided to take the alternative route down the south side of the hill. On reaching the bottom of the hill, we came across the skeletal remains of an old car which had obviously been stolen, stripped and vandalised. “There’s my old Morris,” exclaimed Brett on seeing this sorry sight. Naturally, I thought he was joking. This was not the case (how presumptuous of me!). As it transpired, he had been a previous owner of this fine example of British engineering, and spent some time telling us about its history.
On we continued back to Marilyn’s place for tea and biscuits, and a workout on the home gym.