Where to walk the dog in a Southerly?

At this time of year the wind chill factor finds its way through the walls. Wake up and pluck up courage to emerge from the covers. Dive into fleece trousers, woolly socks and zip a fleece over the night clothes and make the first tea of the day. The dog is circling as soon as he smells toast – a food pest and a walk pest – either would do. But outside there is an icy southerly buffeting the bushes and the met office recommends four layers of clothing. Which means it must be cold. (It’s a subjective 2 deg in the wind they reckon). So where to walk the dog without freezing?
My recommendation is to head for the wind turbine – which might seems a strange choice given it’s exposed position. The trick is to park at the bottom of the wind turbine track and take the sheltered path to the right, rather than the wind turbine vehicle track. Climb to the Karori fence and then – this is important – turn right downhill, not up towards the turbine.
As you climb the initial section of the walk you might want to keep your dog on the lead if he has tendencies to chase rabbits down near-vertical slopes.
As you walk downhill along the biosecurity fence (designed to keep out pests, right down to baby mice) you have splendid views across the inner harbour and city centre. There are also tree ferns as tall and lush as anywhere in Wellington. And most importantly you are really well sheltered from that Southerly and can feel the warmth of any sunshine. The dog notices the occasional stirring on the other side of the fence – could it be a kiwi? The only thing to watch out for is that there is a mountain bike track running to your right. So if you don’t want your dog mown down by a kamikaze downhill biker, keep him with you on the walking track. But on this chilly weekday morning we don’t see a soul. Ah the fair weather dog walkers of Wellington don’t know what they are missing.