Mt Meyer (795m)
Sunday 17 May 2026
Mt Meyer (officially Meyer)[1] is in the hills on the north side of the Waitaki River just east of Station Peak. It had been many years since the club had done a trip into this area, so on fine but frosty morning nine of us set out from the historical house at Little Rodderick that had family connections with Lord Kitchener and Frances Parker.
From Little Rodderick at about 300m we followed a 4WD track up a ridge to a low saddle at about 600m. The climb up to the saddle was steady with great views of the Waitaki Valley. The back group found a shortcut that cut off about 50m of climbing that the front group missed, but we all re-grouped at the low saddle for a break.
From the saddle we then followed another 4WD track east steady climbing until Mt Meyer came into view and after about 2hrs of leaving the vehicles we were all on top at about 11.30am. A few photos were taken and the views were great, but it was a bit early for lunch. So we decided to carry on along the range to a trig point at 798m, just a couple of metres higher than Mt Meyer. As we got there the trig was no more than just a bit of scrub where it would have been, but after a wee bit of looking around we found parts of it in the long grass. They were pulled out and reconstructed back on the original site. I have later found out that every time there has been a club trip up there the trig has always been reconstructed, but it is getting less of it now with some of it rotting away in the ground.
We had a great spot for lunch in the sun with some great views down the Waitaki Valley and the mountains behind Kurow and the hills to the north. After lunch two of our party went back the same way and the rest of us took a track north for an hour dropping down into Mount Orr Stream. We carried up the stream for 1 km before taking a farm track up a valley to finally come back up to the low saddle where we were on in the morning and meeting back up with our other two members.
Its was then back down the ridge to Little Rodderick and the Vehicles after covering just over 12km in about 6hrs on a beautiful sunny autumn day.
Thanks to the farmer for letting us on their property and to Rex, David, Maurice, Jenny, John, Doug, Geoff and Mary for coming and enjoying the day with me.
–Neville
[1] Proposal: Place name proposal – Meyer (hill) https://www.linz.govt.nz/consultations/meyer
Gazette notice: Notice of a Final Determination to Approve a Geographic Name https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2024-ln3452 (2 August 2024)
