Mt. Parker
Sunday 2nd August 2015
It was cool and fine and stayed that way for the walk. As we approached Glenavy we thought we were in for a Leidecker View Day, as we encountered fog, but it turned out to be short lived.
We left the Mount Parker yard at 9 am. and headed on up the Hill. There was a VERY SHORT DEBATE about taking the 4 wheel drive track or straight up a quite steep hill, the steep hill won! At the top good views were to be had of the Waitaki River, Valley and the Mountains. After morning tea in the tussocks, we headed down, going north to the valley floor and muster’s hut, where we had an early lunch at 11.30.
There was a lot of evidence of a successful pest kill with many remains of wallaby about. We never saw a live one all day, which was good.
From the hut we made our way to Penticotico Stream where we decided to go down it rather than taking the 4 wheel drive track. With many river crossings and a bit of bush bashing we made our way down stream where there was some Kowhai in flower and we also found Clematis afoliata (not in flower).
We came down steam a bit too far and had to do a couple of manoeuvres to get back on track and reached the yard about 3.30 ish.
There were a few of us who hadn’t been in this neck of the hills , so it was good to see new country. As usual we had a lot of laughs and thanks to Neville for organising the Trip. Many thanks also go the land owners for allowing us onto their properties. Neville, Linda, Jane, Noel, Robbie, John & Bronwyn,
P.S. A fashion statement has been set for the male trampers, so the rest of you need to up your anti in the HAT department!!!
Club Night July 2015
North Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club Meeting 13th July 2015
The Wednesday Walkers enjoyed several trips this month including Otamatapaio Valley, Earthquakes Area, a Papakaio farm, Totara Estate, Moeraki and surrounds plus Burnett’s farm at Kauru Hill.
The NOTMC members enjoyed a trip to Orbells Cave near 3 o’clock stream. Eight members completed a 6 day trip of the Abel Tasman Track with brilliant weather and they particularly enjoyed the history at Separation Point in which the hut was over 100 years old.
Maurice Gray, a member of the club, spoke of his involvement with DOC volunteer programmes. A DOC volunteer programme can be a week, two weeks or as much as 3 months long. Maurice spoke about a recent 8 day voluntary programme at Port Pegasus, Stewart Island. Gold was discovered here in 1882 and later tin was found within the black sand which became more prominent than the gold. Consequently, sluices, a dam, a post office and a 4 km tram line from Diprose Bay was established. DOC spend a week here every two years to clear the wooden tramline of vegetation plus clear vegetation from the remaining artefacts so that they don’t get lost forever. The team included Maurice who was one of 6 volunteers, two DOC staff, a skipper and a deck hand. They slept on the DOC boat each night. During their preservation work, they unearthed a blacksmith forge which was not known to be there so they were pleased to have added to the history of Port Pegasus.
Another Voluntary programme was that of maintenance on the Dusky Track in which Maurice, another volunteer and one DOC staff were flown to Loch Maree Hut to clean the hut and carry out repairs and maintenance on a nearby walkwire bridge over the Seaforth River.
Maurice and his wife Phyllis completed a two week volunteer programme on Ulva Island, near Stewart Island. He thoroughly enjoys his time working for a good cause and meeting like minded people. Application forms for Voluntary Programmes can be found at a DOC office or on their website.
Orbells Cave – Three O’clock Stream Sunday 14 June 2015
Back up Orbells Creek
Looking down Three O’Clock Stream Cave
Looking up Three O’Clock Stream
Lunch near the Cave
Orbells Cave
Orbells Cave
Orbells Creek
The Party
The day dawned fine with a reasonable forecast as eleven trampers in three vehicles left Oamaru at 8am and headed south, picking up another at Maheno and the thirteenth at Waikouaiti. There, they turned inland for the 24km drive over Buckland’s Crossing, and along the winding, narrow, gravel, ridge-top Blucher and Lamb Hill roads to the Bendoran Huts. The weather looked increasingly threatening as we headed south, and we were met by a cold southerly wind and light drizzle as we kitted up. We parked opposite a gateway about 200m north of Bendoran Huts and, just before 10am, set forth through the gate on a little used 4wd track, up over a hilltop and down a ridge to meet up with Orbells Creek. From here on the route was sheltered from the weather and the walking pleasant. After a short snack stop, we continued down the track which followed the creek all the rest of the way down, mostly on the true left but with a short stretch on the opposite side before recrossing by some yards a few minutes before spotting the cave in the schist rock face above the true left of the stream just on 12.30pm. After exploring the caves, we found a sheltered spot for lunch nearby. About 1.15, three trampers headed downstream for the 15 min walk to the broad valley of the Three O’clock Stream into which Orbells Creek flows and which, in turn, joins the Taieri River near Hindon. Meantime, the remaining ten, with a wary eye on the increasingly threatening weather, headed back up the valley. The three caught up with the ten near the top, to be greeted by a biting southerly gale and needle-like sleet across the exposed hilltop at around 4pm. Fortunately, the squall was short lived, particularly as one vehicle had a flat tyre which required changing in difficult conditions. That achieved, the party headed home, back to sunny North Otago. Enjoyment and exercise were had by Vanessa, Marcel, Phyllis, Maurice, Noel, Linda, Jac, Roz, Neville, Jane, Bill, Sam and John.
Club Night, June 2015
The NOTMC Clubnight on 8th June was held at the Search and Rescue Rooms, Severn St. Past trips by Wednesday Walkers included Evansdale Glen, Shag Point and Kuriheka. The recent trips by the tramping club took in Mt Horrible and track clearing on Staircase Ridge. Our guest speaker was Bronwyn McCone, who travelled to Switzerland, Austria and Italy for a month long tour which included walking tracks above 3000 metres. All of the walks started with a gondola or cog train ride to where they start walking. The highlights were Mount Pilatus near Lucerne, Switzerland where bunkers built in the war were seen in the mountain due to being so close to the border. Tracks here were around the sides of sheer cliff faces. On to Grindelwald where work began building the Jungfrau railway in 1896. The cog trains carry thousands of people to the highest railway station in Europe. The walking track down to Grindelwald takes them through steep areas and eventually meadows of gentians, lily of the valley, and Rhododendrons which were only a metre high. The small farm meadows have grass which would be cut by small mowers, rolled downhill by hand and loosely stacked in sheds so very labour intensive. These meadows also become ski runs in winter. After taking in the Matterhorn, they travelled to Cinqueterry, Italy, where they walked through steep terraced vineyards. The trip ended with Pisa and Vienna.
Queen’s Birthday 2015 Track Clearing Staircase Ridge/ Tabletop Circuit.
This was not a scheduled trip but a replacement for the Sudden Valley trip which was cancelled due to adverse weather. On a previous wander to the Staircase Hut by a few of us it was noticed that a considerable amount of wind fallen manuka had blocked the circuit track. In fact pick up sticks comes to mind when describing what it looked like and it made the circuit nigh on impossible with a pack on. So when it looked as if the original trip was not on, this alternative was considered and luckily it came about that 4 of us set off in a slight drizzle on Saturday morning. The drizzle didn’t come to much and after about 4 hours we arrived at the Staircase hut and boiled the billy for a cup of tea before heading on to the start of the circuit track . We spent the rest of the afternoon cutting the tangle with our handsaws. Back to the hut for tea and as it happened an early night because despite the fire going quite well, there was no way of keeping the smoke from billowing into the hut, making it hard to be comfortable sitting up. Waking up to a glorious morning with almost summer conditions and a mild NW breeze helped get us into the working mode again and we were back cutting rather large diameter trunks until we finished the job just after 10am. Back to the hut for a brew and an early lunch, then packing up and completing the circuit via Tabletop. We had a clean-up of the gorse bit when you cross the creek just before the old yards on the way. Someone with a scrub cutter has cleared the worst of the overgrown section of the track just down from the last tussocky bit and this helped us get down quite quickly. The last grunt completed, we arrived back at the carpark just after 4pm feeling quite pleased with our effort for the weekend. Thanks for the great effort Maurice, Noel and Tim from Robbie
Tim on big saw
Maurice getting the measure
Job done.