With yet another ankle surgery scheduled, I decided it would be a good idea to take advantage of the late autumn sunshine and stretch my legs before more enforced rest and restarting the rehabilitation process.
The clear weather and great visibility were the perfect conditions to finally tackle nearby Mount Herbert. At 920 metres, Mount Herbert is the highest point on the Banks Peninsula and as the track quite literally starts at sea level, it is a good climb. Despite being so close we can almost see it from the house, for some reason we had never quite found the time to walk up Mount Herbert so it was fun to explore a new track.
The track starts on the beach at Diamond Harbour, just a little way around the bay from the house. After leaving the settlement behind and passing the site of some historic cottages, the trail climbs directly uphill following a ridge for most of the way.
From the upper sections of the track there were great views in every direction. I could see across the bays of the Banks Peninsula as well as all the way out towards Lake Ellesmere to the South. The best views were to the north, across Lyttelton Harbour, and the plains beyond all the way to the Southern Alps.
Despite having walked lots of tracks around Governors Bay and on the Port Hills, the line of hills separating Christchurch City from Lyttelton Harbour, the perspective from the top of Mount Herbert was really unique. The higher elevation certainly gave an even clearer sense of the ancient volcanic crater, although the topography meant that I couldn’t quite see the house.
The previous week I had walked up towards Sugarloaf, one of the highest points on the Port Hills side of the harbour and looked across to Mount Herbert. I always enjoy walking to the top of Sugar Loaf as it gives the feeling of the whole bay laid out beneath you, but now I have been up Mount Herbert, I realise that the Port Hills aren’t quite as high as I thought!
The walk back down from Mount Herbert went quickly as it was quite literally downhill the whole way. It was a great way to stretch out my legs before surgery and now I am keen to get my ankle strengthened back up so I can head up to Mount Herbert again and explore some of the tracks that follow the ridgeline further round the crater rim.