Little Kyeburn Track
30th September 2018
The weather forecast changed so much leading up to this trip. A week out it was going to be fine and then half way through the week it was going to be raining and by the end of the week it was going to be light rain in the morning clearing about 11am. I put a plan B in place to go to Trotters Gorge if the weather on Sunday was no good. One of our members from Dunedin Rodney said he was going to stay in Naseby on the Saturday night and would give me a weather update on the Sunday morning. Sunday morning dawned cloudy and bleak but Rodney rang me and said it was clear in Naseby so the seven of us that had met at the car park decided to head Little Kyeburn. We headed through the Danseys Pass in light rain and mist but once we got over the pass the weather cleared and it looked like we were going to be in for a good day. We picked Rodney and Helen up on Little Kyeburn Rd and drove to the DOC car park at the bottom of Mt Buster. We headed off over a 4WD track for about 2km till we picked up the Little Kyeburn Track and gorge. The well used track with three nice waterfalls along the way follows the little Kyeburn creek through a gorge over some rocky knobs through some scrub and then opens up to a tussock valley where we climbed steeply out of the Valley and on to the little Mt Buster shelter/hut for lunch. After lunch we followed a 4WD track along to the Buster diggings to view the unusual formations caused by the hydraulic sluicing that took place in the area over a 100 years ago and it was also at this stage a wee patch of snow was found for a snow fight. From here we follow a 4WD track east viewing the Water races that were made 100 years ago for the sluicing till we came to a junction where we headed south for about 2km to climb up onto Mt Buster 1334m. Last time I was on Mt Buster the wind was so strong you couldn’t stand up without getting blown off but this time it was still windy but we all got up on top and got photos of the views across to the Kakanui Mountains and the Ida Valley and beyond. From here we could see the car so it was off down the eastern tussock slope of Mt Buster towards the cars. This was not as easy as it looked because the further down the slope we got the bigger the tussock and Spaniard grass to push through and a wee creek gut to get across before we got back on to the main 4WD track back to the car park. I will also mention that coming down through the tussock I lost my camera which was like looking for a needle in a hay stack, well shit happens. We all got back to the cars after about 6 ½ hike in good weather all feeling we had, had a good day out. We dropped Rodney and Helen back at their car and headed for the Danseys Pass Pub for light refreshments and this is where my troubles continued. I pulled up at the pub, got out of my truck and watched my back tyre go flat, oh well, more shit happens. After changing the wheel and light refreshment it was back through the Danseys back to Oamaru, getting back about 7pm.
Apart from all my troubles it was a good day out with alot of country covered so thanks to,
Julian, John, Kim, Mark, Maurice, Phyllis, Rodney and Helen for the great company for the day. Neville
P.S Also thanks to the farmer for letting us climb Mt Buster and come down through his land.
