Christchurch 360 Trail: Godley Head Loop Track, 30th March 2019

Jon and Karen visit Godley Heads...

It was a relatively nice Sunday so I suggested to Karen that we visit the old defence battery at Godley Heads. I have been here many times over the years but this was the first time Karen had visited.

The defense works were built in haste in 1939 when New Zealand entered the Second World War and the threat of an attack on Lytelton Harbor from German commerce raiders was high. Initially there was a half battery of dug in WW1 era 60 pdr field howitzers these were later replaced with a dedicated coastal battery.

One of the initial 60pdr guns at Godley Heads, Godley Heads Heritage Trust website

As the war progressed a sophisticated set of landing defences, coastal defence batteries, observation posts, searchlights and control rooms was built to dominate the seas around Lytelton Harbor

View of Lytelton Harbour, Mechanics Bay from near the Godley Heads car park

To get to Godley Head, go through Sumner and climb up to Evans Pass then turn left and follow the Summit Road the five odd kilometers to the Godley Heads car-park. 

Layered volcanic soil layers at Mechanics Bay, Godley Heads, Port Hills

There is a sizable car park at the end of Godley Heads, the Summit Walkway (part of the Christchurch 360 track) starts from this point and goes out to the end of the peninsula and back towards Evans Pass. From near the car park you have excellent views of the surrounding area, down to Lytelton Heads and out to Banks Peninsula.

Looking out to the mouth of Lytelton Harbor, Port Levy beyond closest headland

As you can see below there are a multitude of tracks up here all of them are well marked and signposted and the track surface is just about good enough for a wheelchair. 

Awaroa/Godley Heads, Banks Peninsula

We decided to do the Godley Heads Loop Track which takes you out past the old control buildings for the complex, past an observation bunker and then climbs to Godley Battery at the apex of the ridge. 

Godley Heads: looking towards the old control buildings

As you can see below the old defense buildings are slowly being restored and are now open to the public. The last time I was here it was totally locked up so that vandals could not damage these very historic building.

The buildings at the start of the track consist of a plotting room, a workshop and the power generation building.  The Battery HQ, barracks and other control bunkers were situated on the top of the ridge closer to Godley Battery. 

Godley Heads: the plotting room, workshop and power generator room

Inside the old plotting building, Godley Heads, Port Hills

All of the buildings have foot thick reinforced concrete walls and armored shutters and doors where fitted to limit blast damage and shell splinters if the site had ever been attacked.

Its worth noting that a German commerce raider Adjutant dropped 10 mines off Lytelton Harbor in early 1940 (they were never recovered!!!). It is also suspected that various German U-Boats & Japanese ocean going submarines visited the area during the war, so the threat to local shipping was real.

Godley Heads defense installation: the old power generator room

The walls and armored doors are bit pathetic to tell the truth...they would have been fine for machine gun bullets and light shrapnel but a big naval gun like a 5.9 inch/150mm (carried by commerce cruisers) would have blasted these buildings to rubble. German U-Boats carried a 3.4inch/88mm gun and some of the big Japanese subs had up to 8 inch guns all of which would have been effective against visible buildings.

I can only imagine what a really big gun like those on a battleship would do to the installation. 

BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Nothing left....

Armored door on the old power generation building, Godley Heads, Port Hills

Armored shutter on window, Godley Heads, Port Hills

Bit of an artistic shot by Karen of the Purau area as seen from one of the generator room windows.

Artistic shot from Karen through the window generator room, Godley Heads, Port Hills

As you can see by this map there were two main batteries, Godley and Taylor as well as a series of observation posts so corrections could be made to the fall of the shot. Taylor Battery was temporary and the guns were removed once the main battery at Godley Head became operational.

These were complimented by machine gun pill boxes, observation posts and searchlight batteries. At the peak of its use in 1943 there were over 500 Army, Navy and Home Guard troops occupying the site. 

DOC map of the various defense works on Godley Head, Port Hills

From the control buildings we took the obvious track down to battery observation bunker No.2 which has clear views out past the head of Lytelton Harbor and well out to sea. When you reach the bunker make sure you go inside as there are a number of informative panels explaining what the installation was used for. This bunker controlled the searchlight battery located at the base of the cliffs.

Concrete roof of Observation Bunker No. 2 on the Godley Heads Loop track

As you can see they used classic defense work engineering skills here: the steps down to the bunker are small, steep and tight and there is a L shape entrance to limit shrapnel damage from a near miss. Back in the 1940's the bunker was covered with soil and grass/plants were put on the top to camouflage it from above and out to sea.

Godley Heads, Port Hills...classic defense engineering: steep, small staircase

Inside Observation Bunker No. 2, Godley Heads, Port Hills

The views from the bunker are superb, from here the sentries would have been able to see any approach made to Lytelton as well as into Port Levy to the South East. Observation is unobstructed right out to the horizon....obviously useful if you are trying to sink approaching enemy vessels.

View out to sea from the Godley Head Observation Bunker No. 2

Godley Heads, Port Hills: a series of views from inside the observation bunker....north...

...due east from the Godley Heads, Port Hills observation bunker...

...south east looking towards Adderley Heads, the entrance to Port Levy from the bunker....

....view due south towards Mt Evans.....from Godley Heads

Godley Heads is the home for a number of flora and fauna species which do not occur anywhere else in New Zealand. There are also invasive species like gorse, broom and Cotyldon Orbiculuta or Pigs Ear which are the large succulents growing around the observation bunker.

Godley Heads, Port Hills: a freighter transiting towards Lytellton, 

From the observation bunker the track climbs quite steeply to the Godley Battery compound at the apex of the ridge the defense installation sit on. This is the most difficult part of the track but even here the track is well constructed and relatively easy to climb.

On the Loop Track to the Godley Battery, Godley Heads, Port Hills

DOC and the Godley Heads Trust who look after the area have started a planting program on the slopes beside the track, they appear to be planting native trees possibly as a means to stabilize these cliffs after damage sustained in the 2010/2011 earthquakes.

Godley Heads, Port Hills: native planting along the Godley Heads Loop Track

There are some spectacular views of the cliffs and the ocean as you walk through this area but keep any children close to hand as there are some massive drop offs quite close to the track. 

The Godley Battery: Godley Heads, Port Hills

There are two gun battery sites, Godley and Taylor both situated on the edge of the cliffs at the extreme end of Godley Head.

Godley Battery is currently closed while preservation work is underway. I believe DOC may ultimately decide to permanently fence the site off as it is liable to fall off the side of the nearby cliff if here is ever another large earthquake.

DOC sign showing the location of the defense works circa 1940/50's

We did not visit Taylor Battery as it is about a kilometer downhill on the track to Taylors Mistake which is one of the bays in the area. I will visit the area at some time in the future and post some photos here. 

Even though the site is fenced off you can still get a good overview of how the site was set up by walking along the fence from the southern to the northern side of the peninsula. You can clearly see the site of the gun pits and supporting bunkers where the fall of shot from the guns was controlled. 

Foundations for old barracks at Godley Head Battery site

The barbed wire fence around the old Godley Battery Compound

Newly wired entrance gate to the Godley Battery, Godley Heads

There were three guns located at Godley Battery: two in Emplacement A and one in Emplacement B. All of these guns had a range of 22 miles so would have been able to lob a shell to the horizon and as far north as the mouth of the Waimakiriri River. The guns were British designed BL 6 inch coastal guns and the emplacements featured an armored shield on the guns and steel and concrete overhead protection.

The ammunition magazines are located near the guns in underground bunkers protected with thick concrete roofs with a deep layer of soil on top. 

Godley Heads, Port Hills: this is gun Emplacement A to right and a observation bunker

Gun Emplacement B at the Godley Battery, Godley Heads, Port Hills

View towards Taylors Mistake and Pegasus Bay from near the Godley Battery

The site was still active until the late 1950's as it was used for National Service training....the guns were last fired in 1957 and were removed shortly afterwards. It would have been amazing if they still existed but it seems likely they were cut up for scrape metal.

If they ever open the site to the public I will come up here and take some photos of the gun pits, magazines and observation posts.

The Godley Heads Campsite

From Godley Battery there is a short climb up a track to the Godley Heads campsite, this is a very basic DOC administered campsite located next to some of the historic buildings used as the Battery HQ back during the war.

Godley Heads DOC campsite, Godley Heads, Port Hills

As you can see the camp site is quite basic but it would be an excellent spot to camp some summer evening. You could set up camp and take a stroll down to the battery site to watch the moon/sun rise over the horizon.

I have been out here in the morning and it really is spectacular to see the sun rise up out of the ocean.

Godley Heads DOC campsite, Godley Heads, Port Hills

Godley Heads DOC campsite, Godley Heads, Port Hills

There are a set of toilets and several water points next to the campsite...it is normally dry up here so if you are coming to camp I would bring copious amounts of water with you in case the tank is dry. The charge for a camp site is only $15 per night with a two day maximum stay limit.

 You book a campsite through the DOC campsite booking page and they give you a code for the locked gate at the entrance. 

The toilet block and water point at Godley Heads campsite

Over the summer there is a volunteer ranger in attendance, they can stay in one of the old restored barrack huts which look exactly like the ones I remember from Helwan Camp up at the Army Training Area, Waiouru. 

Hopefully they are warmer and more comfortable than the lousy one I stayed in one winter while doing a three month field line laying course. It was memorable that's for sure.

Fun, fun, fun in negative -5 degree temperatures with the wind whistling off Ruapehu and the snow blowing under the door.

Outdoor toilets, hot box meals and one shower every 3-4 days...

We practiced laying field telephone lines right out into the training area..no supervision and made up solutions for getting over roads, rivers and the such. That was a lot of fun.

One of the guys drove over a concrete berm and ripped a front axle and the oil pan off a Landrover...so he got charged and had to pay $4500. 

Also one of the guys got done for impersonating a NCO when he tried to buy alcohol after hours at the Sergeants mess. The duty NCO recognized him the moment he walked in the door...

Good aspects... we did get away from all the B.S at the School of Signals no parades or inspections and we dressed like a bunch of pirates...I got around for most of the time in a blue boiler suit, old navy jersey and a German Army parka....we played a lot of cards and darts...went tramping some weekends, had a lot of barbecue's (venison, smoked eel, trout wrapped in foil...yumbo!!!) and drank a lot of booze when not working so not all bad...!!!

One of my friends and I both turned 21 while we were on the course so we had a joint kegger and a bbq...we all got gloriously drunk and took three days to recover

Yeah I enjoyed my time in the Army...but I digress.

Godley Heads, Port Hills: DOC rangers quarters, Godley Head campsite

You have to pre-book to stay in the camp grounds, but you could turn up, book online (cell coverage here) get the code for the gate and make yourself at home. No open fires are allowed here at any time of the year so you near to bring some sort of gas cooker with you if you intend cooking a meal.

Karen and I are both keen to give it a go but I think they close the camp grounds over winter (June-October???) so we need to get in fast if its going to be this year.

Access road and locked gate at the Godley Heads campsite, Godley Heads, Port Hills

I thoroughly recommend you go take a look at Godley Heads it is an awesome place to visit just be careful on the approach road as it is very narrow and busy in the weekends. Maybe take a tent or your motor-home and stay for a day or two...go watch the sun rise one morning.

Cheers!!!

Access: From Summer take the Evans Pass road, then turn left onto Summit Road heading out to Godley Heads. The road is narrow, winding with drop offs on the downhill side. Exercise caution as it can be busy and some of the other drivers are not very courteous. 

Track Times: From the car-park it is 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete the Godley Heads Loop Track, all tracks are well marked and signposted. 

Campsite Details:  DOC ranger on site over summer, water tank, toilets

Miscellaneous: The campsite is on DOC booking system, must be booked for overnight visit. Public toilets at the camp site and at the car-park.

Christchurch 360 Trail: Breeze Bay Track-Pilgrims Way Coastal Track - Taylors Mistake to Scarborough