The train ride to Porirua for our Whitireia Park walk completed my public transportation experience in Wellington, and I have my friend E to thank for that. It was indeed a very pleasant 20-minute journey from the city and very cheap as well (NZ$11.50 return). Not a bad choice for mode of transport to get in and out of the city in my opinion.
From Porirua station, we took the bus (220) to Titahi Bay where we had lunch first before we commenced our walk. After that, we walked all the way to the end of the beach. Unfortunately, there was no exit from there so we had to go back up the hill to continue with our walk. On our ascent to Stuart Park, we were rewarded with beautiful views.
The track was paved with small rocks scattered in some areas and it was quite steep, so it took a little bit of an effort to climb up. This part of the walkway provided a good view of the Mana island though.
We walked all the way to the "Sewer Outfall", where we were greeted by a health warning because the water in that area is apparently not safe. It is, however a good spot as you can see some parts of the South island from there.
We decided not to go farther than the Sewer Outfall because we were not sure if there was a way out, so we retraced our steps and continued our journey to Whitireia Park. We followed the paved track until we reached the main road. We passed through a couple of parks here. From there, we took Pikareri Road which we missed the first time because the signage was not very clear. This led us to Tiketi Road and eventually to South Beach Road. It turned out that we were not even halfway through our walk yet at this point.
Originally, we wanted to take the Richard Street entry to Whitireia Park. However, after spending a good few minutes deliberating whether we should take this route or not, we followed our instincts and gave the cliff walk a miss. We were not brave enough to walk the narrow track on top of the cliff after seeing this sign:
I mean, we could still have taken this route but that would mean (on my part) crawling until we got to the top. :)
Our time wasn't definitely wasted though because at the top of the street is this stunning view:
Feeling defeated for not taking the risk of walking along the cliffs, we had no choice but to take the less steep route towards Transmitter Street. This was much easier as the road was wider and sealed.
When we arrived in Onehunga Bay at the bottom of Whitireia Park, it was almost half past five. It was about four and half hours ago when we started walking and we still had at least an hour to go, but neither of us complained of tiredness. Instead, we carried on chatting and taking selfies. :)
Then we were finally on the last part of our walk from Onehunga Bay to Onepoto Bay. The track was narrower on this side and mostly sand and gravel.
The sun was still high at that time and it was beautiful how it shined through perfectly aligned trees.
When we arrived at Onepoto Bay, we saw a couple of black swans. They were beautiful.
And so was the bay...
We finally reached the bus stop just after 6pm, but we still had to wait for at least 20 minutes for the bus to arrive. Oh well.
This was the longest walk I've done so far and I am grateful to have done it with my friend E.
tintin x
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