Waihora Park

Belmont Regional Park, Wellington, New Zealand

Grassy farm track between Warspite Avenue and Maara Roa.

Intermediate

Bike and Foot

This is one of two entrances to Belmont Regional Park off Warspite Avenue – the other being Cannons Creek just over 1km to the southwest.

From Warspite Avenue the track initially dips slightly and then climbs steadily next to a shallow and narrow gully filled with pine trees. After 0.3km you'll pass the soccer field in Waihora Park. At that point there's a short gravel road that runs along the fenceline of the adjacent houses, but continue up the hill instead.

The track continues to climb, more steeply now, as it heads into open farmland. In between the short, flatish sections the typical gradient is around 12%, so the track is moderately steep – making for a solid work out if going up.

At about the halfway point there's a deeply rutted track that drops down to the west. It goes less than 0.1km before becoming impassably overgrown, but may once have connected to Maara Roa.

There are three farm gates to climb over along the way. Between the top two gates the track climbs a ridge from which it is possible to see a roughly parallel section of Maara Roa about 0.3km to the southwest.

The top 0.25km undulates along just below a ridge line. If descending off Maara Roa, watch out for a rather indistinct Y-intersection 50m northeast of a pond – take the branch that heads down the hill towards Cannons Creek, which is visible in the distance.

Northern end is on Warspite Avenue, 50m east of the top end of Bothamley and on the opposite side of the road.

Southern end meets Maara Roa at a saddle point in the hills. This track heads northeast, initially running almost parallel with the transmission pylons that run along the ridge line.

This track forms part of the mountain bike section of the Porirua Grand Traverse.

2.11km

Double track

17 Jan 2010 by Ian

Ian