Neighbours! Everybody needs good ones. Discover the various neighbourhoods in Welliington.

Ngaio is a leafy suburb sandwiched between Khandallah and Crofton Downs in the shadow of Mt Kaukau. This fairly easy walk will go through Trelissick Park, a bush walk right in the middle of the city.

This walk is one of the Neighbourhood Discovery series of walks in suburbia, but much of this particular walk is in the bush so wear good walking shoes/boots.

We'll head up from the park and ride station at Ngaio towards the Old Porirua Road - this is the 'tough' bit' as we go up hill for about 15 minutes - if you can manage the newbies walk it'll be fine! We are then rewarded with lovely glimpses down the gorge to the harbour, and some interesting houses stuck on the side of the gorge. Environmentally minded people are advised to look straight ahead as some have found other uses for the side of this quiet road.

At the bottom of the gorge, we'll cross over into Trellisick Park. During this walk we'll go past a historic powder magazine - a key feature in a turn-of -the century bank robbery.

The park itself is very scenic with lots of bird life and interesting angles to phtoograph. You can check on the history of the park here: http://www.trelissickpark.org.nz/management.htm

Transport

You can drive or catch the train. Catch the Johnsonville line train from the Wellington station at 9.32am to arrive at Ngaio at 9.41am. We'll aim to set off at 9.45am sharp (after the train has gone) and end up at Cafe Villa in Ngaio (near the starting point).

Expected to take 2 ~ 2.5 hours, arriving at the cafe just in time for lunch if anyone would like to stay for that. Please indicate if planning on staying so a table can be booked as the cafe is popular.

Bring:

Bring layers of warm clothes, water.

This is a relatively easy walk but the park track can be narrow and will most likely be muddy. 

Experience the Johnsonville train line, get away from it all right in the middle of the city and enjoy a walk  in Ngaio hosted by a local (thanks Nicola!).