Chinaman’s Cave
Chinaman’s Cave Blue Mountains Trip Report 18/5/2014 It was good to get out tramping again after all the wet weather and trip cancellation. Nine of us met at the car park and we met two more at Hampden. The forecast was for fine weather in the morning and then a southwest change and a few showers in the afternoon. We headed up Duncan Rd in three 4WDs to park just below the microwave tower. We started hiking down an old track and then crossed a fence and sidle around the top of a gully till we reached the 4WD track that goes down to pigeon bush. As we walked down the track the birds were full of song in the bush. Half way down we turned off and headed up another track in a southwest direction. We walked along the hill tops before dropping down and crossing the top end of trotters creek which someone had made a sign and called it Christmas creek. It was then up again and we then got a view of the Lime Works on the hills opposite us. It was not long after that we came to the wee valley we had to go down to the cave. As we came down we crossed over a lot of pig rooting, they had, had a really good go. The creek where the cave is was soon reached and then it was a scramble around the rock look for the cave. I seen a worn track headed up the rocks to some bush, so I followed it and soon the cave was found. We all explore the cave for about 10 minutes, signed a visitors’ book and then it was back down to creek below the cave for lunch. After lunch we headed off along the valley floor below the lime works in a northwest direction for about 3km, past a wool shed till we came to the valley that headed northeast towards the microwave tower. We followed a 4WD track along this valley past some nice bush where the birds were busy in song again till we come to the 300m climb. After about 40 minutes we were back up on top, where we pasted the microwave tower and back along to the vehicles. Us we got back to the vehicles the first shower of rain came though so we timed it just right. The whole trip took about 5 hours. Some of the tracks we have hiked before along Duncan Rd are starting to get over grown with gorse which is a bit of a shame. Also they are going to do a 1080 drop in that area in the next few weeks. It was back down the road to Hampden for the usual ice-cream stop. Thank for the great company, Dave, Linda, Bill, Jane, John, Jo, Ross, Bess and Jane & Sara on their first day out with the club. Neville
May 2014 Club Night
The Clubs Annual Meeting was held on the 14th May 2014.
President Bronwyn McCone summarised the past year in her report. The Club now has a new Personal Locator Beacon, taken on all trips, and available for members private use. Due to the wet season a lot of Club trips have had to be cancelled, however the skills course was well attended, and the website is working well.
Jane Green is the new President, with John Chetwin taking on the role of Vice President. Robbie Verhoef and Neville Corry retain their respective roles of Secretary and Treasurer.
10 members have volunteered to be “lost and injured” in a SAR exercise to be held in the Herbert Forest on the 17th May.
Because of the unsuitable weather the only Club trip over the last month was an overnight tramp up the South Temple, camping on the other side of the river from the hut to avoid another crossing.
Wednesday Walkers have been to the Benmore Walkway, Ashlands Road to South Peak near Hampden, a Moeraki farm walk which included an underpass under SH1 to the lagoon and beach south of the lighthouse and a climb to Station Peak from Little Roderick, a 500m climb but with great views of the Waitaki and Hakataramea valleys.
Coming Club trips, hopefully with better weather, are Chinamans Cave, a Tabletop circuit, Mt. Cook with “something for everyone”, and a round trip to Mt. Drybrough from Fishermans Bend. More details can be found in the “Whats On” page.
Club members showed photos of recent Club activities which were capped by Maurice’s ” It’s moments like these” hilarious photos of members on various trips, graphically described by “not always accurate” captions.
CLUB NIGHT APRIL 2014
A miserable night did not prevent a good turnout. General business included info on the Locator Beacon, tracks on the web page, and planning for the Herbert Forest Open Day.
Comprehensive reports were given by the leaders on last month’s trips: 3 day Arthur’s Pass trip weather great with close sightings of the elusive Blue Duck; Dromedary Hill with a falcon to entertain the 3 climbers as they rested after a long haul up; Herbert Forest Track working bee where 12 had a work out; and the A2O bike ride from Duntroon to Oamaru which pleasantly surprised all riders.
The Wed Walkers had climbed Dasher and its surrounds; walked Timaru’s coastal walks; had first walk on a new track developed by members in the Livingston/Dansey’s Pass area; joined the Pegasus group making 54 to walk at Shag point; and a climb up to the Kirkliston Range.
Some good trips are coming up if the weather co-operates, including 5 day trip at Arthurs Pass over Easter; 2 different trips over ANZAC w/e to Ahuriri and Temple areas; guided walk day in Herbert Forest, and our AGM. Information on these can be found on our excellent website: http://www.notmc.org.nz.
Club member Ross Milmine presented a visual feast on his childhood dream-that of visiting southern Africa to see its numerous animals, as well as the countryside and its colourful residents. To do this they visited 7 countries, travelled with a small group for 4,500 km in a house truck, another equal distance in a rental car, plus 12 flights. Ross’s skilful use of his camera took us over these routes and what they had to offer- often a mix of the old Africa and the new. Apart from the animals, markets, pollution from burn-offs and main fuel charcoal, and the friendliness of everyone, the following 3 aspects caught my attention. The visit to their World Vision child, doing things manually and purposefully to employ the maximum number of people, and seeing some Nelson Mandela’s life story. Thanks Ross!
Jane
Alps to Ocean Part Two
Following on from a weekend riding the lake sections of the A2O Trail late last year, section 8, Duntroon to Oamaru was the mission for Sun 13th April.
Most of us only wanted to ride one way, but Uwe set off at 7am for Duntroon arriving just as we were unloading the bikes from the trailer, nice timing. Bron was already there doing warm up laps up and down Duntroon’s main street.
The team of seven left Duntroon at 9am in overcast conditions, stopping to visit the Maori rock drawings and other information panels on route. Bill who had intended to ride so far with us then return to bring the car back to Oamaru, got a work call, and so returned earlier than expected.
As we pedalled past the limestone cliffs of Island Cliff I gained a new appreciation for this very scenic natural feature, followed by panoramic views of North Otago as we rode the high section of Peaks Road. A nice long downhill bought us to Windsor township where lunch was had on the step in front of the old Windsor store.
With riders refuelled we were on our way to complete the last section of our journey which included a bumpy ride on the trail next to the Weston Ngapara Highway and a short section of the old railway line ending the journey for most riders at Grasmuecks for coffee and hot-cross buns. Jane and I made the last dash down the railway and the new trail to Oamaru via the picturesque Oamaru Public Gardens to the waiting vehicles.
Thanks to, Bron, Silvia, Phyllis, Bill, Uwe, Jane, – Maurice.
Herbert Forest Working Bee:
April 6th 2014
There were two main concerns for this day – firstly would be have sufficiently good weather and secondly, how many people would turn up. The day started fine and 12 people turned up, so all was well. We were also fortunate that we could have an extra hour in bed!
Meeting at the Swallows car park, we divided into 4 teams that spread themselves around the tracks. Our team worked hard up until 1.00 , in fact so hard that it wasn’t until we went into a clearing for lunch that we discovered it was lightly drizzling. We also realised at this stage that we should have spread our efforts over a larger section of the track. I understand the other groups were more successful in doing this.
The weather did not encourage a picnic atmosphere when we all met up, so there was a reasonably quick debrief that included some suggestions for the ‘open day’, then we smartly left for home.
A BIG thanks to all those who turned up – and especially to Bron ,Tim and Jo who travelled some distance to help. Also to Bess, Neville, Jac, Roz, Noel, Robbie, Colin and John. Trust your backs and hands are not in agony like mine.
Too busy for photos!
Jane