Monthly Report
April Clubnight report
Friday, May 10th, 2024
This meeting was chaired by Julian.
Trip Reports
McKenzie basin Trip was cancelled
Instead of the Dingleburn trip the club walked in the Ahuriri valley Freehold creek.
Mt Obi 10 people on this trip including 3 from Dunedin From the Pig Route they walked up Pig route creek on to a 4wd track. 7 people made it to the top.Nice weather.
Up and coming trips
21st April Herbert Forest Open Day Planning well underway.Advertising is happening and jobs assigned.Hoping for good weather.
Snowy Gorge Hut Cross the Ahuriri river and on to hut.If the river is high an alternate tramp to Top Timaru hut could be on.
Staircase Ridge A good workout in the Waianankarua area.
Our guest speaker was Nick Shearer who talked about his trip to Italy and other countries with his wife and their friend.In August 2023 they headed to the Dolomites and Nick and his friend climbed the Via Ferrata(Iron Way) This is in the Northern Dolomites and in the mountains are ladders,cables,and even tunnels that were used during the war to help Italians evade the Austrians.The Dolomites are limestone with lots of verticle cliffs and being clipped on to the iron structures makes it possible to scale these.The three of them also did a trek starting from Cortina near the Austrian border.The accomodation was excellent and there were chair lifts up thousands of feet .
Nick and his wife also visited Ireland and climbed Crough Patrick the highest peak. They also spent time in Wales ,France,Slovenia and England.Nick had some lovely photos with amazing views. Their 2mth trip sounded great catching up with friends and lots of new experiences.
Meeting closed at 8.40pm followed by a cup of tea.
March Club Meeting Report
Friday, May 10th, 2024
Jenny welcomed us all.
Trip Reports
Dome Hills 5 people went on this.The weather was hot. A good walk around to the big rock then to Balmoral Rd.and back to the woolshed.
Clutha Gold Bike Ride This trip went from Waihola to Lawerence.12 bikers altogether.7 started at Waihola and 5 from Lawerence.The Waihola 7 had a head wind. A nice ride passing through two tunnels and timing was good from both ends.
Herbert Forest Working Bee
6 people helped out.Repairs to steps and track clearing was carried out.Track now in good condition.
Mt Domet from Chinamans Hut
8 people set off up to Chinamans Hut.Next morning some of the party set off for Domet.Lots of deer were sighted.Tussock was very high making it hard going on the way down.3 people made it to the top.A long day. Wednesday Walkers gave their report.
Up and coming Trips
Easter Trip Down the Dingleburn from the Ahuriri valley.
McKenzie Basin Visit McCauley Hut and surrounds.
Mt Obi from the pig route
Wanaka based walks ,a variety to choose from. Members Summer Trips
Julian showed lovely photos of his and Lyn`s trip to Ball hut in the Mt Cook area and talked about the Dusky Trail near Twizel.A 23km walking /biking track.
Vicki had some great shots of wildlife when she went kayaking in Surat Bay in the Caitlands.
Neville joined Julian and Colin and walked part of the Motatapu track to the Fernburn hut.He also had some photos and talked about his walk into the Aspiring hut which has been renovated then on to the Cascade hut.A lovely area to explore.
Jenny and Karyl had an adventure rafting with a group of others down the Clarence river.They spent the days navigating the river rapids and calms and stopped for the nights at different campsites They enjoyed excellent food and wine and spacious tent accomodation,all transported along with them in the freight raft.They showed lovely photos of the scenery and mountain views they passed on their way to the sea.The geology in the area was very interesting to.An amazingly well organised sojourn.
Meeting closed at 8.45pm followed by a cup of tea.
November 2023
Monday, December 18th, 2023
Jenny welcomed members.
Trip Reports
Bess took a trip up to the White Horse near Waimate .An enjoyable day.
Labour Weekend Bess also organised a trip to Glenorchy .7 people went and based themselves at Kinloch Lodge.They walked the Invincible Mine Track and Lake Rere track.Some explored Sugar Loaf Pass in lieu of the Rockburn as a bridge was out.Good weather for the weekend.
Julian gave us a report of his trip on the Saint James Walkway.Rain and wind had damaged
parts of the track but a new hut had been built to replace the old Anne Hut.An enjoyable few days.
Ross took a bike ride around the back roads north west of Oamaru,Great views and good weather.
Wednesday walkers gave their report.
Up and Coming Trips
Neville is taking a trip to Little Mount Peel with options
Mt Dalgety A fairly straight forward 900m climb.
North Temple Up to the circ and back
Snowy Gorge Hut .Overnight trip .Cross the Ahiriri river at the start.
Robbie gave a report about the Herbert Forest .The Swallows Track and Hoods Creek Track need work after storm damage.Some new auto. traps have been donated and need to be installed to replace the old centinal traps.2 dates have been put on calendar for this work.
A sub committee is to organise a Herbert Forest open day for the 21st April 2024.
A draft constitution is to be drawn up to meet the new requirements of the Incorporated Societies Act.John will oversee this with input from other members.
Trip planning for the summer season then took place.
Meeting closed 8.35pm followed by a cup of tea.
October 2023
Sunday, November 5th, 2023
Meeting held Mon.7th Oct 2023
Our meeting opened with Jenny welcoming members and our guest speaker Jan Finlayson executive member and past president of F.M.C.Jan talked about the role of F.M.C.and how it advocates for tramping clubs and others.F.M.C.(Federated Mountain Clubs) was founded in 1931 to protect public interest in the mountains and back country.
Some of the things they are involved in are Tenure reviews,concession applications, crown pastoral issues,overseas investments, legislative changes pertaining to recreation and conservation access.It also supports Trusts and provides outdoor education opportunities.lobbying the government on our behalf is an ongoing job also.At the moment the classification of Stewardship land is the big project for F.M.C. We were impressed with the amount of work they do behind the scenes.
Trip Reports
Sailors Cutting to Benmore Dam 8 people on this walk Good weather and good views.
Trotters Gorge Dave’s Track working bee.Good days work on the track and some track markers were also installed .
Wednesday Walkers gave their report
Up and Coming Trips
White Horse Waimate
Labour Weekend Trip to Glenorchy
Meeting Closed with a cup of tea at 8.50p.m.
August Club Night
Thursday, August 24th, 2023
The monthly meeting was held at the Lansar rooms Severn St. Jenny welcomed members and 2 new potential members.
Trip Reports
Kahikatea Lodge; 3 members walked 1hr from the carpark to the new Kahikatea lodge.A very nice building with a few finishing touches yet to be done.From there and with a lot of bush bashing
.they found and marked a route to Staircase hut making a circuit.
Jenny then gave us a taste of a trip to Pegasus Cove Stewart Island We look forward to more.
7 members travelled to Dunedin and met up with Rodney and Helen.They started their walk from Cedar Farm Forestry Rd and proceeded to climb Mt Martin,Mt Cutten Mt Kettle and Mikiwaka Peaks all between478 and 561 m with good views from all. The Wednesday Walkers gave their report.
Up and coming Trips:
Station Peak near Haka
Mt Summers area from base camp
Trip Planning then took place for Sept to the end of the year.
A brief discussion was held about holding an Open Day at Herbert Forest next year.
Meeting closed 8.40pm.