With the school holidays in full swing and I decided to take Annushka and Toby for a walk along the Scarborough Cliffs up behind Sumner. The weather was amazing so there was not excuse to get out and enjoy the fresh air and amazing vistas over New Brighton all the way to Kaikoura. The plan was to park up somewhere on the flat and walk up Evans Pass Road to the track. After driving in circles we ended up parking MJ under a tree beside Van Asch School.

Quick rest to admire the view

Care was taken and we had to walk like ducklings up the busy road to find the beginning of the track. Part of my plan for the adventure was to check on the kid’s track fitness as we have a few tramps lined up for the summer. There was a bit of complaining from our youngest member! That soon abated, thankfully, just before said youngest declared “this is fun Dad!” and started to race ahead.

Stunning views

I had never walked all of this track before and thought it headed up to the Summit Road or the Godley Head Road. The sign said that this walk goes all the way to Taylors Mistake, cool! Off we went with gusto. I knew the Scarborough Heads Walkway would connect with the end of this one since we were heading to Taylors. Both the children were doing well. We got to the high point of the the track and the kids spotted an old tyre in a wee gully. Yep, you guessed it. They rolled it up the hill and let it go. Toby chased it and had a go himself. After a bit of fun I made the kids push it up the other side of the gully to the Park Ranger’s truck and put it in the back as he was in the area and we wanted to do our bit to keep good old NZ clean and green. Oh, I nearly forgot, Toby found a sheep skull and that it must come home, yes I did oblige and carried it back to the truck.

When we started to head down to Taylors we were greeted with paragliders and an amazing view of the bay below us. The blues are always stunning.

  • Northward vista
  • Eastward vista

It was starting to heat up and the energy was waning. We made the joint decision to walk up the road as soon as we came off the track so we could head down from Nicholson Park and pop out by the Surf Club. With promises of ice cream the downward section was a breeze. Once we hit the flat we made it back to MJ just under 3 hours on the hoof and I reckon we nearly did 10kms. I was so proud of the kids and it bodes well for our planned tramping excursions. Of course we had to stop at Utopia Ice for a gelato before heading off. Oh my goodness, the Spring Citrus was to die for, so much grapefruit! Yum!

  • Nearly onto the flat
  • Yummo gelato!