You quickly gain height after passing the Onuku farm buildings following the grass farm road to the abandoned site of Paradise Farm. Continue up through open pasture with stunning views of Akaroa Inner Harbour until finally reaching Trig GG, the highest point on the walk. From here on clear days there are views over to the Southern Alps. Soon after there is a walkers' shelter, before you cross over the crater rim. A brief road section starts the descent into Flea Bay, you turn off at Mortlock's Mistake, following the stream through conservation reserves with red beech and regrowth hardwood forest, and a series of four waterfalls, (access behind the veil of the last one) before emerging into the grazed land of the valley floor. In the last 20 minutes you pass Nikau palms at their southernmost limit. The cottage is just 200m from the beach and Pohatu marine reserve.
