Island Bay

There's a bunch of hikes from Wellington, most of them in the city limits. Then there's this one to Island Bay, which is not. It's about a 4 mile hike through the hills, off the beaten path and through parks and golf courses, badly marked along the way and with some super steep parts. So a German friend of mine said she was going, and since I had the day free and hadn't been there yet, I went along. Twas a beautiful day, sunny the whole time, a big contrast to the previous day where it hailed and was so windy I had to hold on to a lamp post to not be blown away. That's Wellington for you, you get the worst day and then the best day, back to back.

The hike started in town, nearby the botanical gardens with superb views and then went back through a beltway of parks. Hardly on the streets at all, which was nice, and yet would've been quicker than our route. The route wasn't always marked that well, and when we asked some kids which way to go at a fork, they said that the way we'd come from was the correct way. I knew better than that and chose the right path luckily, down past rugby fields to a golf course. We came out of the forest onto the golf course about 15 feet from a hole and walked down the side of the green, all on our hiking map.

Towards the end, we had to climb up a huge mountain, with the ground turning to loose shale and the incline increasing. But at the top there were some pretty damn fine views and a cool Maori statue that was a couple centuries old. All in all, the hike was awesome, but tiring. And with that, I saw a ton of Wellington and it's surrounding cities, not bad for a 4+ hour hike.

Looking back at Wellington

Jumptastic

Gerda and I on the hike

Ancient Maori statue

Looking down at Island Bay