Southern Mt Victoria

Mt Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand

Mount Victoria section of the Southern Walkway.

Easy (apart from the last 0.2km at the northern end)

Bike and Foot

Starting from the southern end, at the intersection of Wellington Road and Crawford Road, the track immediately branches into two alternatives: the upper alternative goes through the trees; while the lower alternative sweeps across the open grassed area parallel with Wellington Road. The alternatives merge after 0.1km.

Proceed a further 0.25km up to Alexandra Road. The track shares 0.1km in common with Newtown to Hataitai before diverging and following Alexandra Road for 0.3km.

Cross Alexandra Road at a car park outside the old Fever Hospital. Climb the track on the northern side of the car park to the north-eastern corner of Alexandra Park. At that point there are steps that go straight up the steep hill. Instead of going that way, cruise over to the north-western corner of Alexandra Park and up a piece of track (constructed in early 2009) that bypasses the steps. After an initial zigzag this bypass heads east up the hill, before doubling back to join the main track near the ridge.

From there, continue climbing at a gentle gradient to just before the Mount Alfred survey mark (red and white pole). Veer off to the east and follow the section of track added in June 2009 that bypasses the steps down to a map display at the saddle point where Hataitai to City crosses Alexandra Road.

Continue 0.5km along the verge of Alexandra Road (on the western side), then go into the trees and follow the marked track for 0.6km. Around 0.1km along this section the track crosses, and briefly coincides with, Mt Vic Summit. The last 0.2km of this section coincides with Lookout Walkway.

At the top of a steep drop down to an open grass area, instead of going down the hill turn sharply to the right along a wide unmarked track. This section of track gets progressively more technical, with lots of exposed tree roots and narrow parts. There is a set of steps just before the track ends on Palliser Road.

Starts from the intersection of Wellington Road and Crawford Road. Ends on Palliser Road, about 0.5km up hill from the northern end of Charles Plimmer (which also ends on Palliser Road).

This track is the Mount Victoria section of the Southern Walkway. All of the Southern Walkway, which traverses the town belt from Houghton Bay to Oriental Bay, is open to bikes except for the northern-most section from Palliser Road to Oriental Bay.

3.23km

Single track

10 Sep 2009 by Ian

Ian