Walking the Windy Wellington Trail to Mount Victoria
Perhaps the title is not really accurate as there is no such thing other than in my imagination of a “Windy Wellington Trail to Mount Victoria”. But it does somewhat describe what went down. We had a mid-morning flight from Auckland down to Wellington for our second leg of the Women’s World Cup tour of cities. Auckland was fantastic and we were looking forward to the return, but in the interim were several days in Wellington. It was a short easy flight on my new favorite airline “Air New Zealand” and we zipped through baggage claim to greet our driver for the short ride to the hotel. Fortunately for us the weather was relatively calm and our flight did not have to go around a few times to make our landing. High winds can wreak havoc with both arrivals and departures so we were lucky. We arrived at the hotel and to no surprise our room would not be ready for a few hours so we opted to drop our bags and go out on a get acquainted short walk.
Is it really Windy?
Wellington doesn’t get its “Windy” nickname without good reason. Thankfully I had a great rain/windbreaker at my disposal and I wore it almost everywhere. It was colder in the south by at least 10 degrees so I added another layer and set out with my wife toward the harbor. Most of the good restaurants were a short walk from our mid-CBD hotel and it was downhill the whole way. Great for the way down, but I knew we wouldn’t be able to go too far with the uphill climb on the way back. Wellington has a beautiful waterfront area with lots of places to eat and shop. Everything is pedestrian friendly and you don’t have to worry too much about getting killed by an inattentive driver as much as in the States. However; you do need to make sure to look right-left-right instead of the opposite. After a quick bite of a meat pie at a gas station (I know, but they are really good and even better than some of the restaurants) we headed back. I decided after dropping my wife off to take an afternoon hike toward Mount Victoria. I knew I would have to hurry to catch the summit before sunset and it was already close to 4:00 PM.
The Waterfront to the Base of Mount Victoria
From the hotel to the waterfront was an easy trek and familiar because I had just done it. From there it was back toward the airport walking around the waterfront. I stopped for a few photos along the way and to gather in the beauty of the dropping sun over the mountains to the west. I gathered momentum as I rounded an area of the beach devoted to dogs. Yep, you read that right. Despite not having a lot of sandy-type beaches in Wellington there was a man-made area of beach especially for dogs to run about. Around the waterfront, the hills rose to my east steeply. Homes precariously perched on the sides with mostly on-street parking. I noticed trams like mini-funiculars for the residents to send their packages and groveries to the top while they navigated steep stairs to their front doors. As I got further along I found the street up toward mount Victoria and started my climb. It was a fairly steep trek, but nothing I hadn’t experienced before. More of a gradual climb so that cars and buses would also be able to make it. Shortly I got to the top parking area and headed up through the trees along a wet and muddy path. Then stairs up to another parking area and I was at the top. Ther are two separate viewiing areas and a 360 view of Wellington. The airport was visible to the north east and it was clear to see why planes have so much difficult y landing when windy as the sirport sits on a strip of land between two bodies of water with two sets of mountains to the north and south. A tunnel of potential wind vortices is easy to spot. Looking back to the southwest is the central buisines district and the hotels and stadium where I would be watching the US and The Netherlands battle it out. The serenity was fulfillig watching the sun settle over the horizon. A warm glow engulfed me as I almost dreaded the short hike back.
Shortening the way back.
It certainly was a much easier hike on the way back, but I chose to go a different way and joined up with the Southern Walkway which traverses Mount Victoria. There was a cool little cut-through path that was incredibly steep but saved me close to a half-mile. I am sure glad I didn;t try that way on the uphill as I might have shot my legs for the rest of the trip. Worth the calories for sure. Try to do a sunrise or preferably sunset hike if you want to get the best views.
Here’s a quick rundown:
**Length:** 4.5 miles
**Elevation Change:** 886 feet
**Moving Time:** 80 minutes, 15 seconds.
**Average Pace:** Roughly 17:48 per mile.
