Captain Thomas Track—Godley Head—Taylors Mistake

Saturday 29 July 2023

We met at the Scarborough clock tower on this frosty morning. The route took us across Sumner to the Pony Club and up the Captain Thomas Track towards Evans Pass. The track was muddy in parts, as warned by the ‘mountain bike track closed’ sign. We decided to take a direct path up at one stage to cut out the more meandering mtb path. Near the top we could see lots of hi-vis vests against the hillside—Forest & Bird were tree-planting on a quite steep slope. Two of our number decided to turn back at that stage and went down the Scarborough Bluffs Track to Sumner. The three stayers had a cuppa, then headed east along the Crater Rim walkway. The partly-cloudy day soon gave way to full sun. The route was well marked, although I was a bit confused when, mid-way, the track headed off down-hill on the harbour side. We stopped for lunch at the Godley Head car park and noted there was quite a crowd of people, obviously getting out, now the weather had improved. The military installation has been closed for two years after asbestos was found in the soil there, so we took the diversion down past Scott’s Hut towards Boulder Bay. We then followed the renovated track, back to Taylors Mistake, where we stopped for afternoon tea. The final push took us around Whitewash Head and down Flowers Track to Scarborough Beach.
We were: Graeme Nicholas (leader), Kerry Moore, Sha, Haroon and Carol.   [GN]