This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
bright and sunny Sunday 6% July 97 saw trip leader Dave Catchpole and 16 others assemble at Seatoun to tramp along the Eastern Walkway taking the high route outwards and returning via the coastal route to the starting point on the Seatoun foreshore. Our party was: Dave & Dot Catchpole, Judy & John Armstrong, Kaisu & John Elgar, Barbara & Allan Stone, Don & Ben O’Brien, Margaret McEwen, Juliet Griffiths, Lorraine Neilsen, lan Scott, Barry Cook, Neil Carey, and Lloyd Wilkin.
It took us 15 minutes to take Fort Dorset and look into some of its abandoned observation posts and old gun emplacements located in the hill separating the fort from the sea. The Pass of Branda fell next as we crossed it and headed up a steep little grunt towards the signal station at Beacon Hill. That we bypassed and took a hilltop to the west of it with a commanding view of the Miramar Golf Course and the airport terminal beyond. We decided to halt for a cuppa. Fully refreshed, we set off towards the south along the hilltops with higher ground ahead of us and plenty of scrub and gorse on each side of the track. A housing estate commanded the hilltop ahead, so our track ducked down the eastern slope and did a sidle which cunningly bypassed all the houses be- ——fore-climbing-back-up-on-te the-top— further along.
The view ahead and around to the left across the harbour entrance was first class and the scenery was simply delightful. Did you know that when sailing a keeler from Cook Strait to Port Nicholson through Chaffer’s Passage (nearby at the time), one must always keep the Eastbourne bus sheds in view? This prevents the yacht tangling with extensive beds of kelp which reach out from the shore. We had this explained to us by one who knows.
Further along, another wonderful viewing point was reached with Barrett Reef opposite and the party stopped to take it all in and to talk about it. Three of our lads looked around and noticed a vacant park bench built to take 4 and decided to rest their weary bones on it while looking. A fourth guy then looked around and observed the trio who were all looking relaxed. With eyes full of mischief he strode over and stood before the other three saying “Behold! We have here the Three Wise Men”.
Next thing he raised both hands, pressed all fingertips together just under his chin, and added, “I pay my homage!” The womenfolk started to giggle and one of them, bolder than the rest, piped up with “And don’t they all look so much alike!” A remark which produced considerable hilarity from the party who by now had their gaze on the park bench rather than on the scenery. The wise three had sufficient wisdom to realise that they were a laughing stock and with sheepish looks they vacated the bench and the tramp was resumed. ..We.came_to.a junction-where.the. options were to go left to Anzac Memorial at Palmer Head, or go right to Moa Point via a new housing estate. We went right and soon emerged from the streets to a good track heading south-west up a gorse-covered ridge with a beacon on top which remained unvisited because of the gorse. To our surprise, we then came across a shel-
Lloyd Wilkin tered little dell in the centre of surrounding hilltops. It had its own asphalt area a bit larger than a tennis court on which some person had marked out, in white paint, a court but, alas, we had with us no posts, net, ball, or racquets, so we pressed on.
Afterwards, I remembered this as an old parade ground surrounded by a mess, an orderly room, and sundry army huts used to house the garrison of army gunners and searchlight crews manning the fortifications at Palmer Head during WW2. I had visited the site in the early 1950s as part of CMT training. Further along, two tall poles carried between them a pair of parallel dipole aerials with a notice advising it to be a non-directional beacon for civil aviation. We moved on further above the new sewage treatment plant at Moa Point which is nearing completion. Finally, we came to the top of the headland overlooking Moa Point and took in the wide views to the south, west, and north including the full length of the airport.
Lunch was taken at the Anzac Memorial above Palmer Head after we had back-tracked from Moa Point and the extensive views to the east, south, and west from Anzac Memorial were observed. Then it was downward to Taraki Bay, then via Breaker Bay and Fort Dorset beach ~back-to-our-starting--point-with-views across the harbour entrance. Back at the vehicles, we had a pressing invitation from Dot & Dave to join them at their house above Karaka Bay for the final cuppa. Most of us accepted and had a pleasant interlude in the beautiful back garden of their home which overlooks Days Bay and Eastbourne.