If you’re looking for a scenic, unique walk and somewhere you might want to walk your dog, then this walk is it. We really enjoyed the beautiful views with awesome photo opportunities along the way. Look out for our country’s military history or just enjoy what the Christchurch Port Hills has to offer.
You can find access points to the start of the walk from both Taylors Mistake beach as well Godley Head car park. Depending on how long you have for hiking, which route works best. Be sure to pack plenty of water because there isn’t anywhere along the walk to fill up.
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Taylors Mistake is a popular Christchurch beach. From downtown Christchurch make your way out to Sumner. When you drive through Sumner call in for a coffee or brunch before your long walk out to Godley Head. After a pleasant brunch get on to Taylors Mistake Road and drive over the hill to Taylors Mistake car park.
You have two options, walk down to the beach and get your feet wet then cut over to the right and walk up on the track. Or follow the footpath from the car park. The very old bachs have to be pulled down in the next year or two so they might not be there when you walk Godley heads.
Within 15 minutes you will walk onto the first turn off. The track on your right is where you will finish the walk. So take the left track. The track is mainly a clay base, not too good on a wet day. There are no trees to give you any shade along the walk, they were cut down by our great, great grandfathers.
Keep an eye out for a goat track on your left, it’s a bit steep but keep walking down the ridge, keep looking for the wider track to the left it will run you around to the cave. Watch out for the seagulls, and as for the smell, phew! Be prepared to jump out of your skin, as the pigeons take flight the minute you enter the cave. It would make a great place to set up for a night of fishing.
Back on the track, look for the green predator fence. Walk back 5m to the steps running down to Frank Walters Shangri-La. The story goes; Frank and others were kicked out in 1971 by the friendly council again because there were no toilets, power or fresh water. He was moved off to old people flats, where he died three years later. Frank worked for the council, rode his bicycle over to Sumner every day, he pushed his bike up the hills and rode it down the other side. After work, he would call into the local pub for two glasses of energy for the ride home. He also had a small generator in another cave off to the left, which he used to run a woodturning lathe so he could make billiard cues out of driftwood to sell in town. They say the cues were of good quality.
Boulder Bay, is well worth a visit. You will kick yourself if you don’t walk down to the beach for lunch. But most of all talk to the locals. They have more information than the Christchurch museum; we were there for two hours.
The little white house was built in 1910. From what we were told, it is now protected by the heritage trust. To get to Boulder Bay, carry on walking around to the right and past the gully for about 5 minutes. There is a sty to climb over. It’s a well worn track down to the beach, you won’t get lost. And please be very polite to the locals.
Back on the track again, climb out of the gully and uphill. Halfway up there is a turn off to the gun emplacement. Only 15 minutes walk. One of the two gun emplacements is a little worse for wear. To walk to the top of Summit Road car park from Taylor’s Mistake should take you 1 hour 30 minutes. You can see the remains of the army building, the word is, a museum will open there soon. There are other short walks around the area. One to look for is to the tunnel. The toilets at the car park are very clean, better than in town.
From the car park, you can look up the hill and see the OP bunkers. So jump the fence by the information board and walk up the hill. 5 minutes up the hill is a turnoff. To the left is for you and to the right is for mountain bikes. But while you are there make your way to the OP bunker. You might have to make way for the sheep; they have commandeered the bunker to get out of the hot sun. The walk to the road is uneventful. Great views of Lyttleton harbour, we timed it just right to see the harbour pilot boarding a ship while it was steaming up into Lyttleton harbour to load up with logs. A mountain biker almost run us over and we had to give way to a flock of sheep.
We crossed the road without being run over. It is easy to see from the road which way the track goes, but who said you have to stick to the track. There is a sign pointing to the left, just 3m past the road, but keep an eye out for mountain bikers, they also use this track. As you can see the track is a breeze to walk on. The next thing is the Anaconda MTB track. Keep going, you will come out onto the first junction you walked pasted at the start of the walk.
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