Trip Reports
Mt Ida Water Race Bike Ride
Monday, December 2nd, 2019
1st December 2019
At 7.30am with a trailer loaded with bikes, six people left the car park for a day ride in Central Otago on the Mt Ida Water Race Trail. Two then travelled to Herbert where they joined another couple and two more bikes, all eventually meeting with another couple at Wedderburn. All ten drove along the gravel Hills Runs Road for about ten kms to a carpark. After a few showers south of Hampden the skies had cleared but still looked murky around the hills.
The ride commenced immediately with a stream crossing and a grind uphill on the road for two kms. Four of the riders on E bikes took a detour into view the huts at Falls Dam, coming across four little unidentified long legged chicks and their mum on the road. Finally after twelve kms on the bumpy road, several stream crossings and pedalling into the wind we came to a DOC sign indicating where we were to turn off to the track. Morning tea was taken half way along the gentle ascent at an old derelict hut before reaching the water race. One cyclist disclosed that he had forgotten his bike pants but had found a new use for his knee pad. (Unfortunately it was lost later on) The gradient became easier and with the wind at our backs, we pedalled on down a 4wd track for eighteen kms negotiating overgrown grass and tussocks at times and being careful not to fall in the fast flowing water of the Mt Ida water race. A clearing in the bush provided us with shelter for a lunch break and afterwards we took a short walk up to a hut which was complete with carpet, an outside bath with lid and a coal range to heat the water. Back on the bikes for the last few kilometers the wind gusts became stronger and we encountered a brief shower just before arriving at the cars at about 3pm, without any major mishaps for the day.
Thanks to Jane, Graham, Julian, John, Bronwyn, Ross, Barb, Robbie and Maurice for their company on an enjoyable ride in Central Otago
Phyllis.
Dave’s Track – South Peak
Tuesday, November 19th, 2019
17 November 2019
This was a combined tramp with the Geraldine Tramping Club. Five trampers from Oamaru and two from Kakanui met the five from Geraldine at the Trotters Gorge Reserve parking area at 9 o’clock. Introductions made and boots donned, we set off up the main track through the six stream crossings (mostly ankle deep) to the University of Otago hut. After a chat with inhabitants and ascertaining that the swimming hole was still well filled with gravel, we resumed the walk to the end of the “maintained track”, through some gorse and across the stream for the last time, exiting up a 2 metre clay bank. The track continued to follow the tributary creek to the point where Dave’s Track turned off. It was then up a steep bank, along a terrace and back down across the creek. Thanks to the efforts of Maurice and Phyllis, the track was clear and well marked as it wound across the valley floor. Finally it turned up, traversing under an overhanging cliff and, after a couple of steep, slippery ascents, came out on top of a rocky ridge.
This was the perfect place for a snack and to look back down the valley to work out the route we had followed. Shortly, it was time to move on so we continued up the ridge, over a rocky step, to come out on to a forestry road. This led at first downhill, then steadily up towards South Peak. Nearing the top, we chose a track veering off to the right (east) and, when it ran out, turned left between the pine trees and gorse to find a way to the peak, which we reached from the eastern side just before 12.30pm. This provided excellent views of the coastline from Cape Wanbrow to the Dunedin hills, and of the volcanic cones and other hills inland as we settled down for lunch.
Lunch over, we struggled to find a way down from the summit to the road we knew lay directly north. Any old tracks were completely overgrown and it took a bash through the gorse eventually to find the bulldozed track leading down to the road. At the road, we turned left past a locked barrier to continue down to the junction with the Piwakwaka Road which we followed down for some 300 metres before veering left on to a semi-obscure track which took us steeply downhill. Another 300 metres down, a largely overgrown “clearing” marked the entrance to the track to Ahn’s Peak, a rocky knob with sheer faces to the west, south and east but an easy approach from the north. The easy approach, however, was well overgrown so some bushbashing was required before we reached the spectacular rocky summit.
View admired and cameras triggered, it was back to the track and down it to meet up with our morning route at the entrance to Dave’s Track. From there, we retraced our steps down beside Trotters Creek, past the University hut on through the seven stream crossings to reach the cars just on 3 o’clock. Then back to Hampden, where the Geraldine group were introduced to the world’s largest ice-creams, so rounding off an excellent day for Lindsay, Claire, Jenny, Pam, Des, Neville, Julian, Colin, Jane, Phyllis, Maurice and John.
Anderson’s Lagoon-Shag River
Wednesday, November 6th, 2019
Sunday, 3rd November
A perfect day for a walk by the seaside: fine, sunny, blue skies, warm with a light north-easterly breeze. Six trampers drove to the end of Anderson Road, off the Goodwood Road east of Palmerston. At about 9.15 we set off walking along the track through a replanted area beside Andersons Lagoon. The lagoon itself was unusually high so the main track was in places under water requiring detours. After about half a km the track reached Stony Creek beach and we turned north, past the closed mouth of the lagoon to the steel ladder which climbed up the cliff. It was not long after high tide, which meant that the beach route would be impassable, so we climbed the ladder and the following zig-zag steps to reach the esplanade walking track which undulated along the clifftops for some two kms, crossing several small streams on the way.
Eventually the track turned down a bank on to the beach. However, waves were still reaching the rocky cliff bottom which marked the entry to the next stretch of beach, so we settled down for a leisurely morning tea while the tide continued to go out. After half an hour or so, we packed up again and clambered over the rocks to reach the sandy beach which would take us to our end point at the mouth of the Shag River. On the way we were entertained by wildlife: rows of shags nesting on rocky ledges like tenements in an old European city. Most nests occupied by one or two adults and a chick – some almost fully fledged and ready to leave home, others still covered in down. Further along, a couple of basking sea lions threatened to bar progress, rearing up and forcing us to walk higher up the beach to get by. A third sea lion was enjoying the surf. A number of tracks across the sand suggested that several more had been in occupation earlier.
A bit after noon, we reached the end of the beach and settled down on the Shag Estuary side of the sand dunes for lunch in the sunshine and sheltered from the light easterly. Just on one o’clock we started heading back south along the now much wider beach, the damp sand providing firm footing. We passed a sea lion heading seawards and then the two we had avoided in the morning, now much more relaxed. When we reached the cove where we had come down from the esplanade track in the morning, we decided to take advantage of the lower tide and tackle the next headland. We managed with a scramble over rocks, made more difficult than expected by a fairly fresh slip which had deposited some room-sized boulders in the way. This brought us out on to the next sandy beach which terminated in a headland which dropped directly into the sea with no rock pile to offer a way round. So it was a climb back up to the track, over the hill, and down to the next beach to the south. This provided good going and the now almost low tide meant that we could negotiate the last headland with relative ease, back to the Stony Creek beach, through the sand hills and along the lagoon-side track to reach the cars just on 3pm. The combination of seascape, cliffs, beach and wildlife had made for an interesting day which was enjoyed by Phyllis, Maurice, Bronwyn, Jane, Bill and John.
Herbert Forest Working Bee
Wednesday, October 9th, 2019
A small group of 6 gathered at Goblin Woods and after sorting the jobs to be done the group split into 3 lots of 2. Each if these set off to work in Hoods, Podocarp and Swallows. A variety of jobs were done mostly in returning signage to original order and track maintenance. Two seats were installed in the Hoods. Rebating of DoC 200 was done a few days earlier and traps are now fitted with mousetraps.
Thanks to the team!
Silverpeaks
Friday, October 4th, 2019
Sunday 29 September 2019
A good crew of 9 of us met on the Sunday morning all looking for a good day out in the Silver Peaks. We all piled into two vehicles and headed south to the Silver Peaks tracks car park, inland from Waitati.
It was about 9.30am when we started up the Green Ridge track, weather was cool and foggy about the tops, but we were hoping it would clear so we could get some views, yeh right. It took us about an hour on a well maintained track to get to the old green hut site where we took a break before tackling the uphill bit of the track.
After the green hut site the track climbs up out of the bush and on to a exposed ridge that leads up to Pulpit Rock, which was all fogged in. Just before the top, an unmarked track doubles back past a DOC sign that was lying on the ground that reads, ”This is not a maintained track past this point”. This is Rosella Ridge, a roughly cut track that runs the length of the ridge.
The start of the ridge is a bit up and down where we would have got some good views on a good day, but most of the track is through regenerating Manuka which restricted the views anyway.
At point 633m we stopped for lunch in the bush just below a rocky outcrop. After lunch it was another ¾ of an hour till we met up with the Hunters Track which would take us off the ridge and down to the Waikouaiti River.
The Hunters Track descends down through broadleaf forest, quite steeply near the bottom and someone had been up this track lately and had had a big cut back and clean up. So thanks to the people involved with that, you do a good job.
A good cut track led us upstream till we crossed a stream and there was another track leading back into the bush, but with the plan to follow the main stream up to the Eucalypt track we stayed on the good track we were on. This was a bit of a mistake because after crossing the stream couples of times this track leads us into the pine trees. It was decided to miss the Eucalypt track and follow this track, which climbed steeply to start with through the pine trees, past where the Possum track comes up and out on to Mountain Rd.
It was about 1 km back down the road to the vehicles, arriving back about 3.30pm, 6 hours after we had left them. All in all it was a good day out in the Silver Peaks with some good tracks followed in some lovely bush.
Thanks to the 8 other trampers for you great company for the day.
Mike, Vicky, John, Phyllis, Maurice, Julian, Lynette and Bill F
Neville
