Swampy Summit

Sunday 11th June.
With Winter temperatures on hold, it was a nice day for taking in the fantastic views and the outstanding colours and varieties of the bush. All this in a few hours easy walk from the car park at the top of the Northern Dunedin motorway. Leaving the park at 9:30am and with a short walk down Waitati Road to the beginning of the Pipeline Track, which we followed, we viewed some great examples of tree fuchsia along the way.
Rustlers Ridge Track follows on from the end of the Pipeline, climbing a steady gradient to a lookout open point, where we had a smoko break. The first of many views of the surrounding countryside was to be had including Silver Peak, Rocky Ridge and the Gap. On the move again we soon came to the fourway junction with lots of options. We decided to continue on the Rustlers Ridge Track leading up to Swampy Road, arriving to take in more expansive views including Mosgiel, Taieri Plains and further West to Central Otago. With a cool breeze at our backs an easy walk along the road followed, observing the many structures on the way, one of which was a fog/mist moisture measuring device. Lunch spot was on the sheltered side of a building beside the road. From here new views emerged of Dunedin and the coastline, while further along the road we connected with the Swampy Spur and Leith Saddle Tracks. Another viewpoint from Trig S provided yet more land marks, Mopanui, Orokanui and Blueskin Bay. Finally the last section of track is gravelled and bordered giving us time to take in this truly wonderful stand of native flora and also several New Zealand cedar trees. A pleasant surprise near the end of the track awaited as we met up with fellow club members, Rodney and Helen who had come up from Dunedin to check on us. After a debrief with them we set off homeward bound stopping for the mandatory ice cream on the way.
This was an easy 5hour walk for Bill, John, Mark, Bronwyn, Maurice and Phyllis.