Lambing season track access restrictions finished on Friday at Orton Bradley, so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to check out some of the local tracks a couple of days later. I put a trip up on Wednesday, and another 16 trampers signed up over the next few days – not bad for a last-minute trip!
We started off at the Orton Bradley car park, following the Tablelands Track at first. Before long, we found ourselves walking through paddocks and then along what looked like an abandoned route – the track that connects the Tablelands Track with the start of the fenceline leading to the Eye of the Needle on Faulkners Track. This track still appears on some old maps, and since it’s sparsely marked with a few fading markers, I thought it was still a legit route. After jumping over way too many fences, I realised it had indeed been abandoned. To fix my karma for crossing private paddocks with livestock, I’ve removed the track from OpenStreetMap so it won’t appear on any maps that use its data, such as the Christchurch City Council online map, Mapy.com or various other apps.
Anyway, we took a decent break at the bottom of the fenceline leading up to the Eye of the Needle. Following the fenceline is a pretty brutal yet enjoyable climb that finishes with a fun wee scramble. The scramble proved a bit challenging for some, but after a bit of hesitation, a few reassuring words, and some help from Jim, we all managed to get to the top safely. The track along the top of Mt Bradley is quite narrow, as gorse has been encroaching for years, but local volunteers have managed to keep it open. From the top, we descended via Te Ara Pātaka to Packhorse Hut – my 10th visit to the hut!
After another good break, we followed Faulkners Track, which sidles along the northern side of Mt Bradley. It’s a great track and has been recently upgraded — it’s practically a highway now, very easy to walk. Good job to whoever did it!
When we finally reached the Mt Herbert Walkway, part of the group headed up to Mt Herbert while the rest began descending back to the cars. My “Mt Herbert” crew did well, summiting in about 45 minutes before quickly rolling down the hill again. It was a bit farther to cars than I expected!
The whole adventure took us just under eight hours. We managed to cover all the key features in the area – the Eye of the Needle, Mt Bradley, Packhorse Hut, and Mt Herbert. Mission accomplished.
Stats: 24.5 km, 7 h 45 min, 1470 m ascent. The route on NZ TopoMap (download below)
Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, scribe, GPX), Michelle Samson, Jim Schofield, James Schofield, Megan Vink, Chris McGimpsey, Rachel Perkinson, Nick Dudley Ward, Jodie Greaves, Genevieve Smith, Wendy Peto, Lee Peto, Ian Dunn, Mohd Arar, Simon Brown, Lynette Hartley, Siobhán Culhane
Tramped on 12th October 2025.
Photos
Map
Max elevation: 919 m
Min elevation: 36 m
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