Paekakariki to Porirua

Today I returned to Paekakariki by train to walk The Escarpment Track and continue to Porirua. 

There was a rather secretive underpass beneath SH1 and then the first of 10km unrolls like a walk in a park. 

In fact the first 5km are nice, uphill with great views and a startled hare stopped in its tracks when it saw me. It was the descent that needed care, 

Six tunnels were cut for trains in the late 1800s and the road below was a public works scheme in the Depression. 

It took a bit over two and a half hours from one end of The Escarpment to the other. I had a soft drink at Pukerua Bay (in the distance) and kept going. 

After Pukerua Bay the trail uses Ara Harakeke, a path west of the state highway. This is Taupo Swamp, formed when a lagoon was raised by the 1855 earthquake. 

Ara Harakeke wound tediously on, 

until it delivered me to Plimmerton. Such a nice surprise to emerge from the railway underpass right beside a deli! 

Refreshed, I found the track to Paremata. Mana Island is a predator-free nature reserve, 

and the yachts were waiting for weekend sailors at the Paremata marina. 

I crossed SH1 on the second overbridge past Paremata Station, 

and stumbled over an ice cream vendor near the Police College. This was $3. Maybe I was mistaken for a plainclothes officer? 

By now I was closing in on Porirua. I traipsed past a stately home, 

Gear House. Mr Gear made his fortune as a butcher during the gold rushes, but the noise of his children drove him to build an annex up the hill, for peace and quiet! 

Six hours after setting out I reached Porirua Station, 

and returned to the Manawatu. I posted three re-supply boxes and my third pair of boots to South Island addresses yesterday, 

and now I twiddle my thumbs waiting for a decent weather window to walk towards them.