Stellin

Stellin

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This walk is not one I am going to recommend, unless you are masochistic. At the very end of the Northern Walkway I had noted a track going up to the Stellin Memorial Park. Now I have been there before (via road from Northland) and on the map it didn’t look far up.

Most of the upwards tracks on Te Ahumairangi Hill are of moderate difficulty. They zig zag up for several hundred metres. This track basically just goes straight up the hill, with only a bit of sideways action.

On the way up I passed a couple heading down, and said I was looking forward to the downhill part. I was wrong. I did eventually get up to the lovely grass area with a great view. Rather exhausted, I have to say. Then I started back down.

The track was muddy, narrow and steep. A bad combination. Despite being as careful as I can, I managed to fall onto my backside no less than four times. My buttocks now look like an over-enthusiastic Dominatrix got let loose on them. I almost slid down the bank also.

This is not a track I would recommend unless you are a lot fitter and nimbler than me – and more masochistic.

After I got back down, I then crossed the road and did a short circuit of part of the Botanical Gardens. Went right to the southern end, which I had not been to before. Plan to do more jogs through there.