Wairongoa Springs and North Taieri Church.

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.

Also contributions to the bring and buy sales table were well supported with generous purchases being made!

A good crowd was assembled by 9.30am so we took up the invitation of Peter Horrell to visit his and Joy’s garden as our first event for the day; so we duly ambled and shambled across the road and down the driveway to their lovely home, surrounded by a good mix of mature trees that provided shelter for many of the flowering plants; the ample lawn was inviting as Peter gave a history of the gardens and some of the changes he and Joy have made.

I’m sure many of us picked up a tip or two as we meandered and chatted. It looked as if the vegetable garden was going to be ready to supply Xmas / New Year dinners.

We re-gathered back in front of the Church and 26 walkers set off at 10.15am to complete the 2km road walk to the pylons up Taioma Rd. The steepness of the zig zags and fresh westerly wind resulting in some deep breathing for a few of us. From there we entered farmland and descended down and around some grassy and wet farm tracks, before levelling out and strolling along to the restored Glen Lyon cottage.

Along the way we were able to observe some quality native bush blocks in the gullies, with the flowering Manuka putting on a good display; along the flats the great grass growth had been harvested on Monday, so everything ‘looked a picture’.

Many folk had not seen the Cottage till now so some time was taken to enjoy the quality of the cottage restoration and it’s fittings. Plenty of comment about it being suitable for a weekend away…

Timing was perfect as we strolled back to the Hall just before noon, where the willing helpers had the food all ready to go. We had also been joined by quite a few more folk bringing the total attendees to well past 50. Phil K brought the meeting to attention tapping out jingle bells on a glass mug which resulted in everyone responding in good voice. Was an encore required? Yes it was also Jill Dodd’s birthday so we sang happy birthday Jill in a resounding manner. Phil stressed the great 35th year we have had and the reputation we are getting for new members, Alison being welcomed as the latest. Judy Knox’s Xmas letter was also brought to everyone’s attention.

Ian Fleming’s grace was recited before we shared in a lovely lunch.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to a successful day, especially Barbara, Jenni, Raewyn and Grant and also to Peter and Joy and the McAlwee family for access to their properties.

Diary the first walk for 2024 – 17 January!

Merry Xmas and a happy New Year

Phil

9. 6/3/2019. All. Wairongoa Springs and Glen Lyon (McAlwee’s cottage) E. Leaders: Theresa and Jill R.

Park at North Taieri church on Wairongoa Road. Church to House 6 km return. Corner of lane up the drive to house and return, via the lane 2.5 km return approx. Church to restored cottage approx 1.5 km return.
287 Wairongoa road is a private property owned by Austen and Clare Banks, but is now sold.

The springs as well as the whole property is coved by a QE II  covenant. This was done at the time of Major Neill and his families’ ownership. The spring continues to flow as it has always done . The water is fizzy and has a distinctive taste. What that is, is up to each person’s own palate. Most tried it, some even took it home.
The water in the past was bottled and sold in NZ and Australia. The Thomson family were the original owners. It was marketed from Dunedin under the Thomson Company label, and later Lane Thomson.The bottling shed was built in 1894. After it  became  uneconomical it was closed in 1939.
Of interest on the property is an amazing  fountain. A relic of the past grandeur, that saw garden parties and train loads of people. The fountain is reputed to have originated from the NZ and SouthSeas Exhibition  held in Dunedin. Also of note are the extensive plantings of trees and ferns. Most notable are several Kauri trees, a species not especially known to grow in the south. This is the work of the unmarried brother Alec Thomson, who lived on site and was passionate about trees.
Lunch was held at the end of the lane, then we walked back to the cars. Some elected to finish while others walked up to  Glen Lyon, an 1864 restored cottage.

Once again  private property, owned by the McAlwees and restored and furnished by Kevan. Back in the day the housekeeper from Wairongoa Springs lived in this cottage.
57  hot trampers and hikers enjoyed a remarkable part of the Taieri history. – Theresa.

8. 13/8/2014 Hikers – and a Tramper. Wairongoa Springs. Leaders: Peter and Wendy, Les and Margaret.

We parked the cars outside the North Taieri Presbyterian Church and Peter and Wendy led us up Tirohanga and Wairongoa Roads to where Austin was awaiting us at a turn-off at, what he told us, was Mill Creek. (At this point, Wendy and Peter left us for another appointment and handed leadership over to Les and Margaret.) A bit up the farm road we stopped at “The Major’s Playpen” where Major Neil was accustomed to practise dressage on his horse. We then turned right, passing several kauri trees, much studied by experts on such things, and proceeded on to the large old bottling house. A fascinating multi-purposed building in its day. Jim recalled as a young boy its original wooden roof.

Retired builder Doug told us the thick long-lasting corrugated iron on it and gasometer building had a high proportion of lead, leading it to be easily bent to any desired shape.

where the natural carbon dioxide, collected from the spring water, was used to charge the soda syphons.

Our next visit was to the South Seas Exhibition fountain. Some remarked it was a pity such a wonderful artwork had to be so hidden away from public view.

We passed the following sight on the way.

A further remarkable sight was the following:

A ‘bivvy’:

Further along the track Austin lifted a wooded panel to reveal a piped overflow from the nearby brick-enclad well. So heavy was the iron content, Austin had to wipe it away before the soda water would run clear.

On again we went, some faster than others, to the extent that this 26-year-experienced club failed to notice a division in the track so that fatally-separated stragglers  took a wrong turn. By dint of Judy’s searching and calling, they were located on a nearby ridge and called back down to eventually join the leading party. They were courteously treated to a second description by Austin of the Fernery as it would have been in its heyday.

From here we climbed to reach a much better and wider track that led us on to Austin’s house.

A cold wind that had us all wrapped up when we left the cars had abated for most the time at Wairongoa and was blowing only lightly as we lunched on the lawn slope in front of the house.

A leisurely lunch, a thank-you speech by the President to Austin for his generous escorting of us around his remarkable property, and we were down his drive to reach the end of Wairongoa Road. An option Peter and Wendy had offered us to at this point to  to return via School Road was

8. 2/7/2008. Hikers. Waironga Springs, and North Taieri church. Leaders: Arthur & Barbara. Directions: Waironga 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.

A very large gathering assembled in the paddock close to Austin Bank’s property at Wairongoa Springs at North Taieri.There were so many cars approaching along the road it looked like a funeral procession. Austin and his exuberant chocolate labrador welcomed us to his property and gave us an outline of his plans for the day.

We ambled our way through his garden and into a forest that was 100 years old. The main trees in this area were larches, many of which were starting to rot at the base and in danger of falling over. The area is under a conservation covenant so the trees can be dealt with only when they have fallen. We stopped at a delightful crossroads in the woods where some seats would be wonderful resting spots in the summer.
The next part of the forest was quite different and predominantly manuka with very little ground cover, unlike the previous part where the ground was covered in stag horn ferns.
The next contrast was the beech forest area where very large trees dominated the slope up and over the stream. Austin loved to come here in the early morning and watch the sunrise. century. Deep in the bush we came upon the natural spring. A tower has been erected to enclose the spring

and many of us partook of the waters from a pipe emerging just outside it.

They were slightly aerated and often called soda water. The whole property is steeped in history from the late 19th and early 20th.The house was built by the Thomson family who established a business here using the local natural resource of the spring which produces large quantities of aerated water every day. This was the highlight of our ramble .

Further on we came to an amazing fountain that the Thomsons had bought back to the property from the South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in the 1890s and placed in the gardens,

where many visitors used to visit for picnics. Ponies and cart horses were bred and used for transporting the bottled water and the original cottage that the horse trainer lived in is still there.
Finally we came to to the original bottling plant and gas works. The buildings are in a very good state of repair and the original corrugated iron is still in place.

The building had an interesting history with the workers staying in this building during the week and being used by the operatic society at the weekends. Many of the original chalk signatures are still there on the wooden boards.

This is where we had morning tea, sitting on the hay bales.
We continued our walk around the rest of the grounds and came to the giant shed (that Priscilla Neil called the Major’s playpen)

where Major Neil trained his horses. A fascinating insight was gained into the early history of some of the well known families in the North Taieri area.
It was then onto the North Taieri Church. Several cars did not arrive at the church so Austin returned, suspecting that they had got stuck in the mud and this had certainly turned out to be the case. The Es had been unable to get their car out of the mud.
Once rescued we walked up to the beautifully restored stone cottage in the valley at the back of the church.

This is where we had our lunch thoroughly admiring the handiwork of the restorers and being so grateful to the family who had “rescued” the cottage and been prepared to invest so much time and money in it. The link to Waironga springs was that the daughter of the lady who had lived in the cottage had worked for the Thomsons as their housekeeper. Tash
A big thank you to Austin for his time and interest but also to our leaders, Arthur and Barbara who did such a good job. – Tash

7. 19/7/2006. Hikers. Wairongoa Springs. Easy. Leaders: Joyce, Eleanor B, Nancy.

6. 22/8/2001. Alt. Wairongoa Springs. Leaders: Lance and Lois, Eleanor.

5. 28/10/1998. Salisbury from Wairongoa Springs. Leaders: Margaret S, Bev McI