39BELMONT REGIONAL PARK
stretches along the hills that form the
western side of the Hutt Valley. An
extensive network of tracks travels
through the bush and across farmed
open spaces. The Puke Ariki route
links a number of these tracks into a
full-day traverse of the park’s length.
My day started at the Petone Rail-
way Station, where I parked my car
and caught the train to Manor Park,
near where SH2 and 58 meet. From
there, it’s a 10-minute walk to Dry
Creek, a delightful picnic area and
probably Wellington’s best freedom
camping spot. The track starts sharply,
climbing through the bush before
easing off a bit and breaking out onto
paddocks, with increasingly expansive
views of the Hutt Valley.
After a little more than an hour, I was
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degree views encompassing the Kapiti
Coast and Porirua and Wellington
harbours. The Tararuas this day were,
as often, clagged in, with only Kapaka-
panui, an outlier behind Waikanae, in
the clear.
Puke Ariki, Belmont Regional Park
Historical heights
IN WELLINGTON
From Boulder Hill, the route drops
into a gully to the west and then climbs
to where a dozen or more Second
World War ammunition bunkers are
scattered around the hillside. I imagine
the location and dispersal was so that if
one exploded there was nothing nearby
that could go up with it, but the ridgetop
location seemed to me to be vulner-
able to aerial attack. Today, the bunkers
provide shelter for stock.
The track meanders amongst the
bunkers and farm buildings and then
joins Belmont Road, which is a farm
track at this point and not open to ve-
hicles. The section is called the Dress
Circle and heads up Round Knob to
Cannons Head. The trail meanders and
isn’t well marked, but keeping Korokoro
Stream, which drains to the Hutt Valley,
on the left and Cannons Creek, which
drains to Porirua, on the right, should
have you headed in the right direction.
Heading south towards Belmont
Trig, I stopped for a break in the lee of
the ridge for lunch. It had taken four
hours to reach this point and, feeling
refreshed, it took another 20 minutes toWILDFILE
Access Starts at
Dry Creek camping
ground, near Haywards
interchange, SH2
Grade Moderate
Time 6-8hr
Distance 20.9km
Total ascent 1325m
Map BP32, BQ32reach the trig. This is an outstanding
viewpoint and can be approached in
several different ways, most of them
much shorter than the way I’d come.
The trig is at 456m and the route
from here would go all the way to sea
level. I joined Ridge Track, dropping
to the junction with Korokoro Stream
Track. This section isn’t farmed,
making a pleasant change to the
tops travel, and the track is a well-
benched gravel trail.
When almost all the height is lost, a
junction marks access to the historic
dam that was an early water supply
for Petone. It’s an attractive place.
From here, the track is deep in
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and emerges at Petone where it’s a
15-minute stroll through the industrial
area to the railway station.- David Barnes
LEFT: Wellington Harbour from
Boulder Hill; BELOW: Ammunition
bunker, now a hideaway for stockFind the map and route notes for this trip at
http://www.wildernessmag.co.nz