The Hutt Valley River Trail

The braided Hutt River

The Hutt Valley River Trail is one of the few flat walks or bike rides that Wellington offers. I went with my brother on a cool day with fresh Southerlies. We started at the Petone Foreshore where there is good parking. Also we could ride along the beach front before heading up the valley. The Petone or Pito-one Beach is where the first settlers from the New Zealand Company disembarked from the Aurora on the 22nd January 1840. They were greeted by Te Puni and his people who welcomed them with calls of 'Ka pai Pakeha,' which basically means 'Good on you, white people.'
Relations did not remain so cordial however as more and more settlers flooded in though Te Puni was always supportive.

Some of the first Pakeha settlers landed here

The Petone Wharf is a fun fishing spot

A couple of good citizens of Petone cleaning up rubbish on the beach

Oyster catchers pottering on Petone Beach

The narrow path along the waterfront varies. At some places it wanders through flax and coastal native bushes planted by the local Forest and Bird Group. At other places it passes in front of boat clubs and the Settlers Museum.

Looking south to Matiu/Somes Island and the harbour entrance

The path is narrow but great for cycling

There are some interesting sculptures along the way.

A play park plus a place to stop for coffee

At the farthest end there are sports fields and vistas of the harbour and surrounding hills. Just past this we came across the Hutt River mouth. Here we could either cross the bridge and go up the eastern side, or dive down a path and go under the bridge and travel up the western side which is what we chose to do. This involved going along a little narrow raised walkway with no sides. I chose caution, put my foot down and scooted through, whereas my brother maintained a little speed and managed to cycle it without dropping into the mud flats below.

Looking back to Wellington City

We came up on the other side and joined the River Trail proper. The Hutt River is has flood banks either side and this is mainly where the path goes. The first part travels on top of the flood bank and through a golf course. My brother spied a rake lying in a bunker with its prongs up and good citizen that he is he hopped off and turned it prongs down. Shortly after a lady golfer approached me and accused us of rake stealing. I explained our actions and pointed out it would be hard to hide a stolen rake on a bike and we parted amicably.

The Hutt River looking benign. It caused the first settlers grief with its regular flooding.

We made good progress with the wind behind us and at times travelled close to the river and other times were in parks or among trees. At Manor Park though we came to an end. The golf course there had signs up preventing us passing through. An interesting sign was set up saying that if we wished the trail to continue we should contact The Hutt City Council. The trail actually did continue on the other side of the golf course but there was no safe way through as the nearby state highway is not safe for cyclists heading north.

The Hutt River heading south

We turned around and headed back to the nearest bridge and crossed over to the other side. By this stage hunger pangs were becoming savage and riding into the southerly was not as pleasant so we headed back on the eastern stop bank to Lower Hutt where we stopped for lunch. We talked to a couple of other cyclists who said up until recently you could continue through the golf course and one guy said he still did it at night when no one was about.

We crossed one of the road bridges and headed back on the other side.

The Hutt River is prone to flooding

I read later that there are plans afoot to open it up again so that you can travel right up the valley on one side and return on the other without having to resort to a road.

Pleasantly warmed and fed we headed out once more into the chill wind back to the bridge underpass, along the Petone foreshore to our lovely warm vehicle.