Taieri Recreational Tramping Club

Location: 37 km.

From Evansdale Glen. Route. DOC. Stream crossings. Preferably February when water most likely to be low.
Track up Careys Creek alone: an easy walk.

Click information on the Seacliff Dam, historical creek track and pipeline.

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17. 13/03/2024. Trampers. Carey’s Creek, Rongomai, Honeycomb Tracks. Grade 3.5. $11. 39km. Leaders: Pam Cocks, Graeme Souter.

After a few concerns about the weather earlier in the week we were greeted with a cracker of a day. The Dunedin crew met at Woodhaugh Gardens as usual with our team leader deciding she simply must put on a pair of leggings to protect her legs whislt she “crushed” the overgrown grass that greeted us on our recce the previous week.

No. 56 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Deep Creek from Old Dunstan Road. (Rocklands. Year Round”

Est, 50 km from car park.

See Deep Creek Water Scheme Pipeline history.

(David Nicol was an early settler and dairy farmer. He reputedly bought land here in the hope that the railway line would be routed north through Leith Valley.)

Neighbours at War Click here for background and photos to the Finnerty Family and their house site on the Moon Track by Nicols Creek.

No. 17 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Nicols Creek. D McCabe. Year Round”

Booth Road 16.1 km from car park.

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27. 30/08/2023. Trampers. Pineapple Track-Nicols Creek Grade 3.5-4 Leaders: Sarah and John

An Interview with Pineapple Track/Nicols Creek Tramp Leader Sarah by Tail End Charlie, John

Hi Sarah. You were a late incumbent to the leadership of this tramp?

– Yes, Ross was originally down to lead it, but back problems meant he asked me to lead it instead. (Best wishes for a speedy recovery Ross.)

Did you do a recce the Saturday prior?

– That’s right, Craig went mountain biking, and I went exploring on foot, in the area, to finalize the tramp format.

Were the group lucky with the weather on the day?

-The weather was brilliant. Sunshine, little or no wind and temperatures towards the mid-teens. The tracks were reasonably dry.

And did we have a good attendance?

– There were 18 of us – arriving at Tanner Rd/Fulton Rd corner in 7 cars.

What was the tramp route?

-We started on the Pineapple Track, walking up to the Pump House for morning tea.

Then we carried on up the Pineapple Track, turning off at McGouns Track onto the Old Pineapple Track. This led us to the “new” Pineapple Track by Pineapple Point.

From here we followed the lower track, traversing Nicols Creek before arriving at the Mountain Bike picnic table at 11.55am for lunch.

After lunch it was onto the upper track, traversing Nicols Creek.

Then onto the “new” Pineapple Track, and back to the cars via McGouns Track.

Wahl!! I think you lost me somewhere there! Did the tramp take long Sarah?

– The recce only took me 3 hours. On the day the tramp took us much longer at 5 hours. Some technical terrain reduced the tramp down to a crawl pace in parts.

Did you manage to squeeze in coffee afterwards?

–        Only just. We were back at the cars by 3.00pm, then headed straight to the Fire Station Cafe’ in Roslyn.

How would you describe the shape of the tramp?

– Roughly a double figure 8.

Sounds lucky, I think? Thanks for the interview, Sarah.

14. 15/02/2023. Trampers. Silverstream (Raceman’s – Little Coal Creek – Steve Amies- Raceman’s Loop). Grade 4. $5 Leader: Phil Keene

The residue of Cyclone Gabbie hovering off the coast and threatening some rain seemed to have an effect on today’s turnout – only one car, one car, headed for the hills, but it’s hard to hold back quality! So we were parked up at the Powder Ridge car-park and on the track by 9.20am and shambled off up the road and we crossed the surging Silverstream with trepidation a couple of times, before hitting our straps on Racemans.

Birdsong was prevalent, nearly drowning out the chat, with the whoosh of a pigeon or two over the stream. As on the day of the recce we were overtaken by a surging team of 5 collies out for their daily run with their Goddess mistress fast coming up behind.

We morning tea’d after 45 minutes, looking out through a clearing across the valley, why is it ‘the other side’ always seems so more interesting. 1.5 hours from the car-park we took a deep breath to prepare for the ascent up Little Coal Creek and off up up and up we went.

It was nice to have some of natures hand holds as we pulled ourselves up, being dry, very dry underfoot, just like walking on powdered cement.The going was slow though, to such an extent that these modern devices that people wear were sending out warnings that they were not recording any movement! Are you alright?

After 50 minutes of huffing and puffing I’ll blow your house down, I swear I could have, we were at the junction of Little Coal and North Coal Creek tracks.

From here the climb was more steady, drifting into plateaus, before the next bit of up. Time was taken to enjoy the views out through the bush to Pulpit Rock and Raingauge Spur plus poke our noses out over the rock ledges.

3 hours from the car park we stopped at the Steve Amies/ Little Coal Creek junction and decided to have lunch here, with both sun and shade to help dry out the perspiration. Bees were prevalent and seemed to take a liking to the creams on our skins, some coming back for more, but no harm was done.

At 12.45pm we were up and off down what was a lovely Steve Amies track and the gradient was such that there was more time to take in the impressive Kanuka trees, some as big as the mature Pinus Radiata that have also made their home here. As to be expected, the track had to get steep again, and care was required as we ‘dropped’ back down onto Racemans, to be followed by a 40 minute stroll back to the car- park arriving back 5 hours and not a minute more from when we left.

Altitude gained was 509m and a little over 11kms completed. Grade 4 seemed about right. Consensus was a great day out and just 10minutes from home.
Phil K

 

13. 18/11/2020. Trampers. Racemans, North and Little Coal Creeks, Steve Amies.  Leaders: Ross and Wyn Davies. M.

18 trampers set out from the car park just off the Whare Flat Road, towards the pumphouse at 9.25am. It was a nice morning. We arrived at the Tunnels Track junction after half an hour; time for morning tea.

We reached the junction with the Little Coal Creek Track after about an hour. We carried on up the Little Coal Creek Track for another 15 minutes to a lunch spot with a view to the north.

We had a good panorama of Powder Ridge and Long Ridge, Mt Allan behind, Pulpit Rock and Green Hill in the centre of the Silver Peaks.

The weather started to look more threatening after lunch, as we continued up the Little Coal Creek Track for another 20 minutes to the junction with the Steve Amies Track.

By this stage there were a few showers; enough to make the track down the Steve Amies Track increasingly slippery. Everyone took the descent carefully and we made it safely without any proper falls. It took us about an hour and three quarters all the way down to Racemans Track, by which time the rain was getting more frequent.

Getting progressively wetter we retraced our steps along Racemans Track and back to the car park in about 40 minutes, arriving back at 3:50pm. Distance was variously measured at more than 15 kms, with an average of about 15.5 kms. It was a relatively longer day in terms of distance, time walking and ups and down, which everyone coped with OK. Some decided home was the best direction but 8 of us diverted to Blend Café for hot drinks and varying amounts of food.

 

Thirty-one keen walkers headed south and after regrouping at the turnoff to Quoin Point road parked in a paddock opposite the wool shed at the end of the road where lambs were being drafted.

We followed the farm road leading down the hill towards Quoin Point and then turning right opening closing gates where appropriate before stopping after 15 minutes near an inlet with a choice of sun or shade. Shade was more popular.

We continued across the paddocks and paused for a time near a caravan and new home above it on the hillside with natives planted in two paddocks while Bruce chatted to the land owner Peter O’Connor of Riversdale. Peter said he was happy for trampers to traverse his property and did not need to ask his permission in the future. The two paddocks are linked by a pipe gate and the best exit to the beach and Bull Creek was at the far corner nearest the sea of the second paddock. The path goes down the hill over some grey rocks and then along the coast to Bull Creek. He plans to mow a track across the lower part of his property in about two years to make access easier.

We had lunch on the North side of Bull Creek in case the rising tide cut us off. A seal was spotted in the water at Bull Creek and another mammal seen in the distance on the rocks on the way back. Clare’s family had built a dam across the creek so that the seaweed in the creek could be flushed out once the dam broke.

Clare kindly arranged for 3 of the party to travel back by car; a 25 minute journey going near Milton.
The weather remained fine. Distance 13.56 km, Climb 384 m. We started walking at about 10 am and were back to the cars at 3 pm. There were many views of the coastal rocks. Hay tedding was in progress on one paddock and for the others the hay had been cut and baled since the recce.

Future walks on the property might be considered for mid-February or after when the sheep are likely to have been shorn, the lambs drafted and the hay cut which makes walking easier. Thanks to the co-leaders Alex Griffin, Helen Morris and Phil Morris for their valuable leadership. Also to Neil for his opening the gates, waiting for the last person to go through and then, remarkably, being in position to open the next gate. He was also better at spotting where the next gate in paddock was, possibly due to his eyes operating at a higher elevation. Thank you again Neil. Our thanks are also due the land owners Alan Shaw, Gwen Lane and Peter O’Connor for their kind permission to be on their properties and to Clare for her local knowledge of the area and assistance with offering transport back to the cars for three persons.

Because the Brighton Café closes at 4 pm the group was given the opportunity to make their own choice for coffee, such as at Waihola or Mosgiel, or an ice cream at Brighton.
Bruce Spittle

Click Ben Rudd Article for background information.

Click Pineapple and Flagstaff walk for background information.

Antony Hamel in his Dunedin Tracks and Trails book has interesting information on the “Snowy Mountain Track” under his Spiers Road entry.

4. Eastern Flagstaff. Trampers. Grade 4.5. $5. 15km. Leaders Ross Davies and Gwenda Farquharson

(Redwoods bike tracks – Old Pineapple Track – No track – Davies Track – Flagstaff Walkway – Spiers Road Track – street walk)

17 of us met up in Wakari Road at the carpark for the Redwoods bike tracks on a cloudy morning and headed off into the maze at 9.20am. It’s a lovely meander through the very tall trees. We emerged at the Booth Road end of the Pineapple track and took the track up to the water treatment plant.

We had morning tea there a little after 10am on the uphill side before heading into the bush behind the plant. This was the entrance to the original Pineapple Track which was replaced by the current one in the late 1970s. Within a few minutes on a faint unmarked trail we crossed the McGouns Track  and kept on straight up. The track is reasonably obvious. It was a bit greasy in places but is a nice contrast with the new track.

We emerged into the open area beside the new Pineapple Track but didn’t head over to Pineapple Point viewpoint as we’d been enveloped in cloud by then.

Instead we retreated a little way back down the way we’d come before heading south through the bush, contouring around to the middle part of the Davies Track. There’s a slight ground trail, and some markers, probably noting trapping lines. Plus lovely big Totara trees and impressive cabbage trees. Towards the Davies Track there are blue triangle markers for another trap line and this leads on to the Davies Track about halfway up. We had a look at the alligator swamp but they were all hiding.

The upper part of the track was fairly muddy and slippery. Eventually we emerged from the bush, just below the cloud. After the fire a few years ago, the flax and gorse and grass are growing back, and it was saturated. With nowhere dry to stop, we carried on up to the Flagstaff Walkway and then a few more minutes towards the top where we found a sheltered dry spot beside the track for lunch, at about 12.45pm.

After lunch we zoomed across the summit, then down a little way towards the Bullring. You have to keep your eyes out for the Spiers Road track branching off to the left, over the ridge and then plunging down towards Halfway Bush.

After the light rain of the night before the track needing a bit of care.

This was the route of the Snowy Mountain Road, the first overland route out of the new Dunedin to the north, over Flagstaff, over Swampy, over Hightop, and on north to Johnny Jones’ Cherry Farm at Waikouaiti via what is now the Mountain Road forestry road.

Further down we passed Ben Rudd’s stone wall, and then the site of a plane crash in 1943 which everyone survived, including the plane! From the bottom of Spiers Road it was a 30-minute street walk back to the cars, checking out the houses and gardens along the way. Most repaired to Coffee Culture in the olde Roslyn fire station for the de-brief.

Thanks Gwenda for helping out, and to everyone for sharing in another happy adventure.

Ross

Tramp details: Distance – 13 kms; height gain – 730 m; moving time – 3.75-4 hrs; elapsed time – 6.25 hrs.
Discussion afterwards agreed 4 or 4.5 for grade and I’m comfortable with 4.5 because of the extra height gain and the proportion of rough track involved.

18. 30/11/2022. Trampers. Post Office Creek track from the Waipori Village side. Grade 3. $14. 60km. Leaders: Barbara and Leah.

Despite ominous weather predictions for several days prior to the 30th, and heavy rain early that morning, the visual was more promising.Three vehicles and 14 trampers left the Peter Johnstone carpark heading towards Berwick and up the Waipori Falls Road, through the Village and continuing towards Lawrence. The big, locked orange gate, although on a side road, can’t be missed! Through the locked gate, past the new picnic area, following the road below the Mahinerangi Dam to cross the bridge and climb up into the Wenita section of Dunstan Road. The potholes aren’t for the fainthearted.

The walking track is off Patearoa Road which itself is off Moonlight Road and we parked at the junction of the two. The permit was left visible through the windscreen.

A quick morning tea, and the party set off on the 1km down-hill (remember what goes down at the beginning of the day must go up at the end!!) to the rustic signpost indicating Post Office Creek track. There was a brief delay while one driver (nameless) went back and spent a frenetic 5 minutes searching for car keys in order to lock the vehicle. Having found the keys in the backpack, they were left on the ground while the pack was rezipped. The person (also nameless) who had ferreted them away while the rezipping was underway should be afraid; very afraid! A brief detour a few minutes down the track proper took us to the now dilapidated fishing huts.

A scramble back up the track and we were crossing the first of the creeks and negotiating the rock bivvy.

The entire track follows the contour of the slope with very little up or down. Many of the guts had bridges in varying degrees of disrepair but which, it’s understood, are likely to be removed entirely in the near future, after the maintenance work in the forestry has been completed. The tracks will be realigned to navigate the guts minus bridges.

Pigs had been digging up the track which left it nice and soft underfoot and there were a few fallen branches we cleared as we went.

We left the canopy cover of the trees as we neared the re-sited Waipori School buildings where we sat and had our lunch. Half the group elected to follow Jill to the actual Post Office Creek while the remainder sat and chatted, walked down to the lake edge and poked around the buildings.
Disappointingly there was no fishing or poetry recitation.

On the return of the wanderers, we set out again, retracing our steps, looking out for litter to take back to our vehicles. The last uphill kilometer was unwelcome but all 14 made it. A change of footwear, a little shenanigans with someone’s pack and sticks, and we headed back to the locked gate, this time heading to the right, over the Lake Mahinerangi causeway, through the fishing village and back to the Middlemarch Road at Lee Stream, enjoying a commentary from Jill who, for several decades, had farmed the property on both sides of the road.

One carload stopped for an icecream at Outram ($2 for 2 scoops being excellent value!), but weren’t joined by the other two, who must have thought 4.30pm too late for such extravagance!

An enjoyable day on an easy track which could well be considered for a combined day.
It would be possible to leave a 4WD vehicle at the bottom of the hill, at the signpost for the track, as we did on the recce, shortening the distance by 2 km.

Barbara

Location: 37 km.

No. 29 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Careys Creek (Evansdale). M Vaughan. Year round.”

Click https://trtc.blogtown.co.nz/1980/12/14/seacliff-dam-historical-track/ for information on the Creek and pipeline.

3. 15/12/2021. Hindon. Blacksmiths Gully. Leaders Jill Reid, Sarah McCormack, Linda Partridge, Jan Butcher.

A reasonable day dawned for our combined Christmas visit to Hindon, and about 40 people headed up George King Memorial Drive to the hall.  We deposited our “plates”, wrapped up warmly, and drove to Don Graham’s gravesite on Ardachy Station.

Don loved this challenging country & he overlooks the hills and Taieri River.

The hikers walked a gentle track & enjoyed the spectacular scenery.

The trampers headed down the hill to Blacksmiths Gully, then looped back up to the cars – about 6 km.

Kevin Burke said Ian Fleming’s grace and we then enjoyed the generous pot luck lunch.

Chris Wither told us some Hindon Hall history & her various associations with it during her 38 years living at Hindon.  She mentioned how mice often visited during yoga classes……and yes, one brave mouse came under the door soon after!

We greatly enjoyed Grant Shackell playing his guitar and singing along with his “blind date” Claire Currie.

Thank you both for the wonderful entertainment, and to Jill Dodds and her helpers for organising the food etc.  A very pleasant way to wrap up our tramping year!

Jill Reid

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2/4/2014 Both. Hindon. Machine Creek. Recently Bathgate, now Cowley Farm. Easy+ Leaders: Ian, Ken

Click Dunedin’s Hills’ History for background information.

Click Swampy ridge track for background information.

Click Pineapple Track for background information.

Click Pineapple and Flagstaff walk for background information.

6. 23/3/2016. Morrisons/Poleline/Swampy/Moon circuit. Leader?

After cancelling our trip to Leaning Lodge, 7 trampers turned up at the carpark to do the Morrisons/Poleline/Swampy/Moon circuit.
We parked on the Leith Valley Rd. by the entrance to the Glow worm track, then walked up the road to the bridge over the Morrison Burn.
The day started off cool, but fine, & the track condition was quite good. We climbed under the barrier at the locked gate on the bridge at the start, & made our way up to the weir,

then backtracked to where the track went uphill through the bush. After morning tea break,

we carried on until we came across a gravelled road, where we took the wrong way!! We soon discovered our mistake, & walked along the road to where the track started again up through the bush. This eventually led us onto the Poleline track that goes up to the top of Swampy. We had lunch sheltered from the wind by the building at the top of the Leith Saddle track, then retraced our steps back …

… to the junction of the Poleline track & the Swampy Ridge track, where we turned off, & made our way along to the top of Moon track. We had a short stop here before heading off down this very badly rutted [damaged by mountain bikes] & rough track into the bush again where there is a multitude of mountain biking tracks, winding back & forward making it hard to know which track to take. So we just kept looking for tracks that went downhill, & eventually we ended up on the Leith Valley Rd. about 150mtrs from the cars.

An interesting day, & a tramp that a few had not done before, & all agreed that it was a good walk.
Walked 12.8km
Ave speed 3.9km/h
Moving time 3h 18min.
Climbed 658mtrs. – Ken.

Morrisons Burn waterfall

4. 23/1/2008 Morrisons Track, Swampy, Pineapple, Nicols Creek. Leaders: Lex

Parking the cars at the Nicols Creek bridge, we walked up the Leith Valley Road to Morrisons at the foot of Stoney Ford slope. We scrambled past the large slip immediately across the footbridge and enjoyed the beautiful bush and moss-clad track up to reach the waterfall. Then the steep scramble up the bank to morning tea on the 4WD at the slope’s top. Along that a bit, and then it was further up, up, up through bush to join the Pole Track 4WD to enjoy lunch where it meets the Swampy Ridge track. Instead of turning down the Nicols Creek track junction when we reached it,

1. 15/11/2006. Trampers. MOrrison Track, Pole Track, Swampy. Medium. Leaders: George, Doug J.

15/9/2014.
Just been reading some of your website on this short track. You may like to know that when we were talking to the gentleman at the museum last week, he told us that the track was put in to take supplies of piping etc up the burn for the Outram water supply. Also, if you go to the end of that track, & then cross the burn, there is a track up the other side, & up there is a valve, & some old piping. So it seems that the track has nothing to do with the old mill that was there, as it got it’s water from the race that you & I found in the paddocks above the road.
He has some old photos of the area as well, but they are not very good ones. There is also a water wheel [working] at the museum, which I think he said was the old mill wheel. – Ken

10/9/2014. Trampers. Outram Glen & Traquair/Whare Creek.

After a cool start to the day, the weather warmed up, & we had a good walk along the Outram Glen track to Lee stream, [where we discussed the possibilities of crossing the stream without getting very wet] & back. We had a couple of stops along the way, one was with the owner of one of the houses up the Chalkies track road. He tells us that the grumpy one has now gone, & the new owners are quite ok with groups like ours going down [or up] the track through their properties, then down [or up] their driveway. I think permission should still be sought first though, especially for the first time at least.We arrived back at the car for lunch, & then proceeded along to the short track that runs in from the one way bridge at the start of the George King Memorial Drive. this was a new walk for some in the group, & started up a discussion on the old mill that used to be there.
On the way back out, we decided to go up into the museum grounds, as this was also new for some in the party. We struck up a good conversation with one of the gentlemen working on the site, & he was most helpful with info on the old mill, it’s whereabouts, & where to find some old relics.
We arrived back at the carpark, just before the hikers returned.We walked approx 12.5km  [didn’t take the GPS on the short track.]
ave. 4.2km/hr. – Ken.

5/5/2012. Whare Creek Outram Council weir. Ken and Ian.

On a fine Monday afternoon and with permission and advice from the landowners, we explored down the bush track below the power lines to arrive at the water race that supplied the water that drove the old Outram Glen Flour Mill back in the early 20th Century.

Following the pink markers brought us to the point leading steeply down below the race to the creek and a weir. From Jim Sime’s later information, this was the Outram Council’s weir and pipe line to supply water for the Outram Water Supply tank, located above the Taieri Museum, now no longer in use. The weir was designed so that flood debris would wash right over it.

Mr Sime said that the Flour Mill water race, higher up the bank, which he explored on an earlier occasion, leads on for a considerable distance to disappear at the face of a rock bluff, with no indication evident of how the fluming would have had to have been attached to the sheer rock. Mr Sime thinks that a pool yet further upstream at a streams’ confluence may well have been where the race might have begun.

 

18/4/2012. Trampers. Outram Glen & Traquair/Whare Creek.

23/4/2008 Leaders: Ria L, Hazel

Click Dunedin’s Hills’ History for background information.

DCC  land.

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Nine of us met at Booth Road. We entered Davies Track via McGoun this time, exiting it on the left a short way up past the cairn. A light shower came on during the bush section, sounding quite pleasant as it struck the leaves overhead. Out in the tussock at the top, the weather was clear again. Ria and Hazel had discovered a new track had been made above the bush, this time striking to the left instead of the one to the left, the one that got several of us lost last time where overgrowth had rendered a crucial turn invisible.

We emerged on the Flagstaff walkway above a rock outcrop and headed down to the top of the Pineapple. Here Gay, a visitor, left us and we continued along Swampy Ridge to the top of the Nicols/Moonlight track. A little way in and we found the track has been ruined by mountain bike wheels cutting a narrow deep groove down the track middle, making keeping our footing on the restricted track-sides difficult and dangerous. Further down, we kept to the Moonlight side of Nicols Creek and traced, where we could, the original track, bisected however by the zigzags of the mountain bike route. Rain now really set in and we sheltered in nearby bush for lunch. We then continued down the old track, through the macrocarpas, the stone outcrop and yet further carefully down to emerge at the creek crossing below the waterfall – to Ian’s delight but Ria’s chagrin who had hoped to emerge onto the Leith Valley road on the north side instead of now forced across to the other side. So it was down and out and up Islay St back to the cars. All felt it had been another good day out. Too dull and showery for photo opportunities however. – Ian.

The route Ria and Hazel took ten of us on provided plenty of variety both in scenery and weather. We approached Davies track by way of Ross Creek Reservoir from Woodhaugh. After Ross Creek it was through cleared forest before climbing through secondary growth …

… on the foothill slopes of Flagstaff before entering beautiful native forest and and hour later emerging on Flagstaff’s tussock and flax with overcast views of the harbour and Dunedin both north and south. We had encountered occasional showers to this point and now out on the tussock it was turning really cold. We were still not prepared upon reaching the upper Pineapple-Flagstaff track …

… to be pelted by a fierce but fortunately brief hail storm. We quickly made our way down to the junction with the Swampy Ridge track where now the hail had now been …

… replaced with snow. So it was down, down the Pineapple to the sheltered edge of the bush where we lunched in the now fitful sunshine. Then the bush, Booth Road, back through Ross Creek tracks and down past the reservoir until the last scenic bush gave way to Woodhaugh St and back to the cars. An interesting day. – Ian

In Leith Valley, where Otago’s first industry – sawmilling – is reputed to have started about the 1860s, is the start of the old Pineapple Track.
Originally, it was named Ross Track, after Archibald Hilson Ross, who owned most of the land in the vicinity. In the early 1920s, Mr Oscar Balk, first president of the Otago Tramping Club, led parties of trampers up this route. At the top of a rather steep section, the parties would stop to rest and often refresh themselves with a tin of pineapple. This tin was sometimes left hanging on a tree or fence, and the track came to be called the Pineapple Track.
The line of the Pineapple Walkway has deviated from the original track in places to provide more scenic variation.
The original vegetation of the area has been modified as a result of early milling, burning and stock grazing, but remnants of the milled species (podocarps) still remain. Rimu, miro, totara and matai are found in isolated pockets, mainly in damp gullies. Even so, the overall distribution of plant species retains some semblance of natural order with the larger forest trees growing at lower altitudes. Podocarp broad-leaved forest type occurs with shrub species which grade out into Dracophyllum shrub land and ultimately tussock grassland communities on the summit area.
Some common plants: fuchsia, pepper tree, lemonwood, broadleaf, totara, five’finger, wineberry, lancewood, Muehlenbeckia, Dracophyllum, Coprosma, Hebe, and wild spaniard tussock.
There are many varieties of birds in the bush areas where there is an ample food supply to sustain many nectar-, berry-, and insect-eating native birds.
Some of these are: New Zealand pigeon, bellbird, fantail, tomtit, brown creeper, tui, silvereye, rifleman and pipit.

17/10/2001. Trampers. Nicols Creek – Swampy Saddle – Warburton Track. Leaders: Lex, Mary L, Irene.