City Marine Drive

On Point Halswell, is the Massey Memorial, built on the site of a fortified Maori settlement (pa). It commemorates William Ferguson Massey, prime minister of New Zealand 1912-25. The exertion of the ascent is rewarded by a tremendous view of Wellington and Port Nicholson.

A fort was built on Point Gordon in the 1880s when, after the opening of the port of Vladivostok, there was concern in New Zealand about the possibility of an attack by Russia.

City Marine Drive passes Scorching Bay and Worser Bay, both of which have beautiful bathing beaches. The harbor pilots' office was once in Worser Bay. Then on, southward, to Breaker Bay and along the south end of the airport into Lyall Bay, from which there is a view of the mountains of the South Island; the beach is popular with bathers and surfers.The coast road continues past a series of rocky promontories to Houghton Bay, Island Bay (good surfing beach) and Owhiro Bay, where the road comes to an end.

It is a 2-hour walk west off the City Marine Drive to the Red Rocks, a volcanic formation between the footpath and the sea. At Sinclair Head, 3km further west, a colony of seals can be observed in winter.The return route from Owhiro Bay runs inland on Happy Valley Road, Brooklyn Road and Nairn Street (at No. 68 a cottage of 1858, now a museum) and so back to Willis Street.