Taieri Recreational Tramping Club

Link to Trip Organisation Guidelines for leaders and trip participants.
Link to Track Grading information.
Link to Copy of Trip Programme for printing.
Gradings are provisional and may change following recce. Distances are for road travel from Mosgiel car park. Costs may change with fuel price fluctuations and distance changes. This page has all current updates.
Last updated 7/04/2024.

Wednesday 17 April.
Trampers. Rosella Ridge. Yellow Ridge – Gap. Grade 5.5. $12. 42 km. Leaders: Ross Davies/Neil Hodgkins.  *** Meet time for Rosella Ridge tramp is 7.45 am. at carpark for 8 am. departure. ***
Hikers.       Bullring/Ben Rudd/Flagstaff. Grade 2.5. $5. 15 km. Leaders: Max Wilson/Mike Webb. (Meet usual time.)

Wednesday 24 April.
Trampers. Frasers Road/Southern Resevoir. Grade 2.5. $5. 16 km.  Leaders: Gwenda Farqharson/Graeme Souter.
Hikers.       Graham’s Bush. Grade 3. $8. 27 km. Leaders: Maria MacNee/Theresa White.

Beginning of Next Programme

Wednesday 1 May.
Combined.    Pyramids/Victory Beach. Grade 2.5. $10. 38 km. Leaders: Jenny Wilton, Alison Kim, Janette Abbot, Adrienne Ensor. Alex Griffin

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1. 25/02/2024-01/03/24. Queenstown Tracks. Combined. Leaders Anne Bennett

Our group arrived at Lakeland Christian Youth Camp on Sunday 25th February to a lovely hot afternoon and spectacular views over Lake Wakatipu. Once unpacked our 1st cooking group prepared the first of many great meals. Continue Reading »

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No. 33 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Wairongoa Springs area. Farm? Lambing”

Abt 10 km from car park.

Glen Lyon, McAlwee Cottage. Wairongoa Station and Springs. Farm walk.
Seek permission. Austen Banks has no problem with us tramping on his property. Sold: 8/3/2019.
Background History of the site – from “Taieri Buildings”, by Daphne Lemon, pub. 1970.
Account by a visitor to the site in 1895!

Directions: Wairongoa Spring. Cross small concrete bridge, take 2nd gravel drive on right.
Walk around front of house and veer right up hill to gate and find track to spring.

10. 13/12/2023. All North Taieri Church Hall. Leaders: Barbara Shackell/Jenni Wright/Raewyn Keene.

The overnight rain cleared but a fresh wind stayed with us for the day. The venue at the North Taieri Church hall proved nice and comfy and just the right size to encourage plenty of chat, especially as it was decked out in the Xmas theme – Folk came and deposited fine finger food, 3 tables of main, two tables of sweets!! Very appetizing.

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No. 96 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Parera Taioma Transrail & Wenita Year Round”. 10km from PJP. Wenita permit. Require 6 weeks notice, but less from us. Taieri Gorge Railway. Phone 477 4449 for details.

18. 29 November 2023. Trampers. Mullocky Stream, Mt Allan   Grade 3.5 Leaders: Sylvie/ Lyn/ Lynley

25 lovely persons followed Sylvie up the Mt Allan Road parking near Mullocky stream. Continue Reading »

Cars park off motorway at Leith Saddle yard (alternatively down side road at bridge (restricted space). 25 km from car park.
Walk across side road to track.
Gravelled track 1.5 km. (morning tea on lookout seats a little further on)
Transmitter Tower 2 hours.
Going further: along road past doppler radar to DoC sign.
Right along Rustlers Ridge track to junction with Burns Track.
Through junction and up and round hill on Rustlers Ridge Track. (Lunch on hill)
Down ridge to pipeline. (Alternatively turn right at junction for Burns and down to pipeline)
Turn right along pipeline.
5.5 hours in all.
Burns – Rustlers circuit Maintained by Green Hut Track Group. DCC land.

35. 22/11/2023. Trampers. Burns/Rustlers Ridge. Grade 4. 25km. Leaders: Phil Morris/Carolyn Pridham.

On an overcast muggy day, 20 Trampers headed to Leith Saddle. We set off down Leith Valley road, and left up Burns Track entrance onto Pipeline Track Continue Reading »

25. 15/11/2023. Orokonui Circuit. Grade 3. Leaders: Graeme Souter & Gail Williams

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Distance from PJP car park 48km.

3. 25/10/2023. Trampers.  Cairn Valley/Shannon, Grade 3, 48km. Leaders: Heather Kirk, Diane Paterson.

Lovely sunshine greeted 30 keen trampers for a good day’s walk on Cairnvalley Farm Shannon. Strath Taieri offers something different in scenery with tussock hills, huge rock formations and at this time of the year fresh green vistas of paddocks and Continue Reading »

*Click this Wikipedia entry on Quarantine Island, if you wish.
*Click here for a PDF fact sheet of the original Quarantine Island
*And here is the St Martin Island Community web page. Click the photo at the bottom to see original buildings!
*Click a quarantine-island-botanical-report for a (bit dated) 1987 report on the island’s vegetation, if you like.
30 kms PJP to Back Beach.

5.  4/10/2023.  Combined. Quarantine Island. Grade 2, Leaders: Ross and Wyn Davies, Maria MacNee, Jenny Finnerty.

Twenty-eight trampers and hikers enjoyed a great day out with calm and temperate weather, a little cloudy, not the blue skies and sun the forecast promised. Perfect weather though for the crossing to Quarantine Island. Our day had started with a little confusion regarding numbers and meeting places but we all managed to get ourselves to Back Beach carpark safely (Julie and Viv might tell a few tales about their driver though, lol).
We walked off for morning tea in Lady Thorn Dell…

Morning Tea at Lady Thorn Rhododendron Dell. (photo and caption John)

… where we enjoyed fabulous views of the busy Port Chalmers.

Panorama – Port Chalmers on a quiet day. (photo and caption John)

Great photos and history on display at the lookout platform. Little remains of the dry dock and ship building industry that once provided for a vibrant community in the 19th and 20th centuries.
From Lady Thorn Dell we enjoy a leisurely meander through the town cemetery which it has to be said seems to hold an unhealthy interest for those of us still in the land of the living? Indicative of the average age of our enclave perhaps…? Nonetheless, interesting history to be gleaned from those old stones and bones.

Touring the Port Chalmers Cemetery. (photo and caption John)

Lovely view from Port Chalmers Cemetery (photo and caption Marijke)

Coming back down to the Port we get a stunning glimpse of Carey’s Bay…

First glimpse of Careys Bay. (photo and caption John)

… before heading back to the wharf and Boiler Point where Captain John welcomes us aboard the island ferry the “Vivienne J”. After John treats us to a grand jaunt around the harbour basin (greatly appreciated by all on board)…

Beautiful Deborah Bay (photo and caption Ady)

“Touring” Carey’s Bay. (photo and caption John)

…we “set sail” for the island, not bad value at $20 return! One wag commented that “It was very nice of Bruce to organise a cruise for Jenny on her birthday….”

Birthday Girl and her “guests” arrive at Quarantine Island (photo and caption Marijke)

Arriving at the jetty on the island, the skeletons of the Waikana…

“Touring” Carey’s Bay. (photo and caption Pam)

… and the Oreti form a kind of decaying guard of honour as we head up to the Lodge for lunch.

Lunch (photo and caption Helen)

After lunch we explore the island starting with the restored Married Quarters building in which is housed a beautifully modelled miniature of the Waikana as she was when in service as a harbour ferry.

Harbour Ferry “Waikana” as she once was. (photo and caption John)

Regenerating native bush rang with the sound of native bird life as we enjoyed an easy 30-minute walk around the island.

The “Sail” Shaped Chapel. (photo and caption by Pam)

Inside the Chapel. (photo and caption John)

Just the same as it was during a previous visit when I did a quick sketch (photo and caption Marijke)

This drawing was from the same viewpoint (drawing and caption Marijke)

Remnants from the old Hospital (photo and caption Marijke)

Panorama – Looking back to Goat Island and Port Chalmers. (photo and caption John)

Our walks included visiting the sad sight of the island’s cemetery where the remains of 72 immigrants lay, half of them children, in unmarked graves. The small mounds are especially evocative. A sobering reminder of the fate of many immigrants who survived the arduous journey from the other side of the world in search of a better future, only to perish of scarletina and other deadly diseases in quarantine before they even set foot on the mainland.

Waiting on the jetty. (photo and caption Pam)

Heading back across the harbour our day is nicely rounded off by afternoon tea at the Santosha Cafe in the Port.

Coffee (photo and caption Helen)

A wonderful day out enjoyed by all.
Maria Continue Reading »

19. Welsh’s Road, Old Farm, Deep Stream Weir. Grade 3 Leaders: Lyn and Di

13 of us set off for the Pipeline, which is just off the old Dunstan trail on Rocklands Station.

We had morning tea under the pine trees where we parked the vehicles. It was a tad cold but we soon warmed up with the walk over the farmland to the pipeline.

Up and up over farmland. Caption and photo Pam

The countryside is getting more rugged Caption and photo Marijke

Tramping nirvana, easy level dry track, marvellous views Caption and photo John

It was stunning scenery walking to the Weir and back.

Happy Trampers. Caption and photo John

Pump house and Weir. Caption and photo Pam

Exploring the engineering feat, the Deep Stream Weir. Caption and photo John

Can you spot the hut? Caption and photo Marijke

We had lunch in the sun out of the gorge with more room to spread out.

Refuelling. (Pipeline track to the weir in the background). Caption and photo Pam

Then took the road back to the cars. It was 8.84ks according to my phone.

Some finished the day with a cuppa at the Wobbly Goat. Another great day out.

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