July 2025 Meeting Report
July Meeting Report
Julian chaired the meeting.
Trip Reports
Otekaieke Hill
A fine day with a frosty start. The river was high, so the group climbed 1000 m, followed the ridge for about 2 km to the trig, then returned the same way. Deer were seen in the area.
Arthurs Pass Trip
Five people travelled to Jacksons, crossed the high Taramakau River, and walked to Lake Kaurapataka. The weather was wet, with many river crossings required to reach the hot pools. They returned to camp by following the true right of the river. A very watery weekend.
Wednesday Walkers
A brief report was given.
Up and Coming Trips
Port Chalmers Bike Ride
Ferry from Port Chalmers to Portobello, then bike back to the cars.
Luxmore Hut
Stay in Te Anau on Friday night, climb to Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track on Saturday, stay the night, and return Sunday.
Aviemore to Ben Ohau
Walk from Aviemore to Ben Ohau.
Cape Wanbrow
Mark outlined a planned vision for the Cape tracks, including metal sculptures depicting ancient animals and plants found in the area. These will become an attraction worth visiting.
There was no photo competition as advertised. Instead, Jonathan demonstrated several useful websites for planning tramps. The Mountain Safety Council site offers good advice on topics such as river crossings and weather forecasting. Outdoor Access Maps and Topo Maps are also helpful for route finding, showing actual topography and allowing overlays. Members found the session informative.
The meeting closed at 8.45 pm, followed by a cup of tea.
Otago Harbour Bike Ride
12 cyclists went on the on a cycle around Otago Harbour, stopping at the tooth fairy park (Harbour Mouth Molars), and then finishing at the Portobello Hotel & Bistro before catching the ferry back to Port Chalmers.
— Mary and Geoff
Otekaieke Hill – 15 June 2025
Seven of us left town, picking one more up on the way, making a party of eight for the day.
After all the crap weather we had had during the week we were all hoping for a nice winter’s day, which the weather gods gave us. We headed up the Waitaki Valley, turning off into Special School Rd past the old Campbell Park School and up into Kenmore Station, to park up by some yards up a farm track.
The plan for the day was going to be to climb Otekaieke Hill, then drop off the south side into Jackson Creek and come back along the Bridle Track. But once we looked at all the water from the rain earlier in the week coming down the Otekaieke River, we knew the Bridle Track would be out. So it was decided to go up Otekaieke Hill and return the same way.
We started off along the Bridle Track until we crossed over Bushy Creek, and then found the 4WD track heading up. The 4WD track was a good track and not too bad an elevation. After about an hour, we found a nice rocky point to have a break and take in some views.
From here it was all up for another 1½ hours until we reached point 1010m, and where we started to get the big views of the snowy peaks of the St Marys Range. At this point, one of our party members who was carrying a bit of an injury stopped there for lunch before heading back down, while the rest of us carried on for another 2km along the main ridge line to be all on Otekaieke Hill by 12.30pm.
We sat there having lunch with grand views of Mt David 1412m, Cone Peak 1563m, Grayson Peak 1660m, Mt Domett 1942m, Little Domett 1860m, and in the distance Kohurau 2009m, and also Dansey Pass Rd, Hakataramea Valley and right down to the coast.
It was such a nice day up there with no wind – it was hard to get going again and come back down. Three members decided to take a different way down, which came back onto the main track further down. The rest of us went back down the same way we came up, hoping to meet up with our member who we left behind.
After about an hour, we met back up with our three members that took a different way down from the top, but we still hadn’t met back up with our other member. We all had radios, so after calling him up we found he had taken a different track down. As we got down a wee bit, we could see the farmer bring the stock off the hill and our other member had caught up with him – so he became a shepherd bringing the sheep down.
Not far from the bottom, we all met up together before coming back down onto the Bridle Track and heading back to the cars.
All up we had hiked about 17km and a 900m climb over 6½ hours, so if we had done the original plan it would have been a bit longer – we might keep that for a summer trip when the days are longer.
Thanks to: Julian, Lynette, David, Lorena, Heather, Geoff and Mary for their company for the day – none of them had ever been up there before.
Thanks also to Kenmore Station for letting us on to their farm.
Neville
June 2025 Meeting Report
June Meeting Report
Colin Wollstein, our new president, chaired the meeting.
Trip Reports
Bike Ride
Weather forecasts affected turnout, and only three people took part in a ride around the Enfield area.
Dave’s Track
A working bee was held in the Trotters Gorge area, starting at the top of the track. Work included clearing the track, tidying steps, and installing markers.
Ahuriri Valley
The group walked to the head of the valley, had lunch at Shamrock Hut, then continued on to stay the night at Top Hut. The walk out the next day was cold and windy.
Up and Coming Trips
Otakaieke Hill
Up the hill, then on to Jacksons Creek and the Bridle Trail.
Arthurs Pass
Two nights in the Otataki area, with opportunities to soak in hot pools near the Taramakau River and optional day walks.
Silverpeaks
Exploration of the area, leaving early on Saturday morning.
A discussion was held on working bees, noting that organisers would appreciate prior notice of who will be attending so tasks can be matched to participants.
Guest Speaker
Tonight’s speaker was Hugh Wood. Hugh is a botanist, and in July 2024 he travelled to northern Sweden (Lapland) to see native plants in bloom. He joined a group of nine others and two guides, travelling from Kiruna to their base beside a lake. Weather was generally rainy in the mornings and fine in the afternoons, with temperatures between 14–20°C.
Each day they explored a different part of the 77 sq km national park. Hugh showed a range of excellent photographs of colourful flowering plants, including a very rare orchid. Many of the plants are parasitic, feeding on the roots of other plants or on insects. It was an interesting talk and highlighted how different the vegetation is from that of New Zealand.
The meeting closed at 8.45 pm, followed by a cup of tea.
Dave’s Track Working Bee – 25 May 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
