Trip Reports
Dave’s Track Working Bee – 25 May 2025
Sunday, May 25th, 2025
Four of us turned up for this working bee, three from town, and we meet Robbie down there.
I got permission from Port Blakely to drive up the forestry road to the top end of the track, which saved us the half an hour walk in if we had gone through Trotters Gorge Reserve.
It was mainly the top end of the track that needed the work, with the pigs making a bit of a mess in there.
Most of the morning was spent cutting scrub and remarking, and in some places making a new track through the pig routings back to where you go around under the cliff face.
After lunch, we tackled the gorse further down which had just about blocked the track again, and we carried on down the track having a good trim and remarking.
At about 2pm we called it for the day – not quite getting all the way through, but the track was getting a bit clearer by then, so it may need a walk through in the spring.
Thanks to Robbie, David and Phyllis for your wonderful effort keeping this memorial track named after the late club member Dave Sinclair open for members to use.
Neville
Lake Coleridge Base Camp – 9-11 May 2025
Sunday, May 11th, 2025
Trip Report: Lake Coleridge Base Camp, May 9-11 2025
The first group of four drove through rain and surface flooding for 3.5 hours on Friday afternoon, arriving before dark to start a fire and warm the bach for the next group arriving after work.
With brilliant weather on Saturday morning, we set off at 8am to climb Peak Hill at 1240m. It is an unrelenting climb to the top, taking 1.5 hours, with magnificent views east down the Rakaia to the coast, and west up the Wilberforce, Mathias and Rakaia Rivers to the snow covered Southern Alps. Vast and breathtaking.
Rather than descending the same way, we took the circuit back to the car park. This route takes much longer, following the west ridge down to a fence line. We found orange poles to follow on the route around the hill but had to push through bracken and matagouri.
Then, to make the most of a perfect day, the advance party of five drove around the Lake to the Ryton Track. We followed around the base of Little Mt Ida to Lake Ida, an easy, achievable track in under an hour. Deeply shaded in autumn and winter, Lake Ida used to be popular for skating.
Another clear crisp day on Sunday saw Tizzy taking us on a walking tour of the Village and hydro scheme. Lake Coleridge power station was built in 1910 and powered all of Christchurch in the early days. One group of four then headed home, stopping to walk the 45 minute track to the lookout on the Rakaia Gorge track. (We now want to walk the entire trail!)
The other group stayed on at the bach, taking time to explore further along the Ryton Track to Lake Catherine, an hour on from Lake Ida with wide open views of the Ryton river and the valley leading to the Harper River. Then back to the car for another Tizzy tour, this time to the head of Lake Coleridge and the Harper diversion, then down to the foot of the Lake to finish the day with walking the Lake Hill track, joining up to the Intake Rd just as the sun set over a gleaming, shimmering silvery Lake Coleridge. Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you Tizzy for making Base Camp possible. We look forward to more adventures exploring the hidden rivers, hills and lakes of the Rakaia.
Jenny Kitchin
Rabbiters Peak – 29-30 March 2025
Monday, March 31st, 2025
Four members and 2 extras set out from town at 7 am. We rendezvoused at the Wrinkly Rams for a quick coffee and headed up to the Temple carpark which was quite busy with campers. It was a blue sky day and we had a pleasant walk up the valley, reaching the head of the valley in time for lunch. One of the group decided to stay and camp there for the night while the rest carried on up the steep hill in the general direction of Rabbiters Peak. Good route finding skills by the 2 extras resulted in minimal scrub bashing. Our aim was to find a camping spot at the tarn just below the 1600 contour and explored the ridge beyond that for possibilities to get to the peak by following along the ridge. After about 2 1/2 hours we reached the tarn and set up our tents and after the usual snacks and drinks were had we went to the ridge just there 150m further up to check the likelihood of going that way in the morning. It turned out that this way was not the easiest with some steep rock climbs required with a lot of exposure to bad outcomes should anyone take a tumble.
So we packed up and went down retrieving some of the bits of gear that had blown away during the night as we went. We met up with the lonely camper at the head of the North Temple, even getting him out of bed and after his pack up walked back down the valley to reach the cars just before lunchtime. The day was much more overcast than the previous day and a broody NW promised rain at some point.
This was a short but otherwise very nice trip into out backyard hills. We didn’t reach our objective, but there is always another day. Thanks to Julian, Lorena, Neil, Jonah and Scout for coming .
Robbie
Twilight Walk: Skyline Walkway – 17 March 2025
Monday, March 17th, 2025
Seven of us met at the Oamaru Public Gardens car park at 6pm for a 6.15pm departure. We left the car park and went up Chess St to the start of the Skyline Walkway.
From there we walked west towards Old Mill Rd, looking down on Chelmer St and the Top 10 Holiday Park also with great views of the Kakanui mountains. The track then heads around above Old Mill Rd looking down on the old waterwheel before heading up past the Observatory Retirement Village, which is growing bigger all the time with more land getting developed.
We then crossed over Eden St into the Glen Eden Reserve and followed the track down into the valley below, where we had to decide which bike track would get us up the hill to get over to the Glen Warren Reserve. The track we took zigzagged up the hill until we came to a fence with a paddock on the other side and the bike track that carried on north along the fence line, which was not the direction we wanted to go. So we crossed over the fence and headed up to meet the track from Reservoir Rd on the skyline.
We then followed that track back towards town going through the Glen Warren Reserve, which is a wee bit of native bush above Warren St which hasn’t been looked after for a while, and then dropped steeply down to meet back up with the track that comes through the Glen Eden Reserve.
We then came out onto the bottom of Eden St and went up and over Devon Terrace back towards the Gardens, where we walked through the Chinese Gardens before arriving back at the car pack just before 8pm.
All up, it was about 5km and took us about an hour and ¾ on a calm and warm evening.
Thanks to the ones that showed up and made it an enjoyable night.
Neville
Mt David – 9 March 2025
Sunday, March 9th, 2025
Summary: After a cool start, and then rain threatening from mid-morning until around 1pm, it was fine and sunny for most of the afternoon. High cloud returned and temperatures dropped later in the afternoon. We had excellent 360 degree views while on top of Mt David, with no wind and clear skies. We followed a farm track for most of the walk, apart from the ascent up to pt 1366 where we followed a fence line, and the walk along the ridge to the cairn and Mt David peak at pt 1412. We then descended and followed a farm track in a long loop back to the cars. We walked about 20km in total – it was a long, but enjoyable day, with the fine weather and great views on top of Mt David the highlight of the day.
Five trampers left Oamaru just after 8am in one car. We took the side road off Danseys Pass Road at the Otekaieki Bridle Track sign (this is about 18kms from the start of the gravel road from the Oamaru side). We met Rodney and David W. at the first gate about 9.15am (they travelled from Dunedin, leaving at 7am and taking the Pig Route), and then continued a short distance down the farm track and parked at the locked gate.
We began tramping about 9.30am, following the farm track across the flats and the Otekaieki River, then continuing along the farm track until it branched left up towards Mt David. The climb then began in earnest up the zigzagging farm track, mostly in line with pt 1366.
We had morning tea in a relatively sheltered spot on the farm track at about 11.00am, with great views across the valley and surrounding hills.
We left the farm track where we had morning tea and went across a small gully and paddock to a fence line. We followed this up to pt 1366. The initial stage was relatively straight forward, despite the steepness. Then it became rockier and more challenging – the gully up the middle section provided some shelter from the wind and easier walking. The last section was the hardest – some scrambling, crawling, and using tussock to pull ourselves up was required in places, with lots of loose rock.
Once at the top of this section, it was not over! Another 20 minutes up relatively easy ground saw us arrive at the top near pt 1366. The weather had now cleared, and we had lunch here about 1.00pm.
About 1.30pm we continued up the ridge to the cairn and Mt David peak at pt 1412. The weather was great – no wind, sunny, and with great 360 degree views of the surrounding areas. We could even see Aoraki Mt Cook!
Following an extended photo shoot we began our descent about 2pm, following a fence line down the ridge, crossing some tussock, and then meeting up with a farm track (more like a goat track in the parts!). We followed this track in a long loop back to where the cars were parked. There were a couple of stream crossings, and apart from a couple of hills, it was mostly down hill.
We arrived back at the cars by 6.45pm, and were on the road home by 7pm. Oamaru trampers arrived back at the Medway car park around 8.10pm.
Thanks to everyone for making it a great day: Rodney, David. W, Geoff, Mary, Jenny, and Jonathan.
Thanks to Tony at Otekaieki Station for permission for the tramp.
David N.
