Mahinerangi Farm Tramps

6. 21/02/2024. Tramp.  Blackrock. Leaders: Jill and Neil

13 trampers had a “Rock Day” beginning with rock music at Peter Johnson Park where athletic sports were about to start.
We tramped the reverse route from last time after parking in Ash Beattie’s yard. The day was sunny, became warmer as time went on and the expected wind proved to not be a problem. Morning Tea was enjoyed at the Black Rock.

Most of the group then climbed Black Rock to enjoy the views.

We then walked to the boundary of Beattie’s and Hall’s farms with the Te Papanui Conservation area and the Mahinerangi Wind Farm with the turbines becoming ever larger in our view.

Lunch was enjoyed in the sun at the next large rock with expansive views before us.

Another climb through a gully brought the group to the final rock, The Bottle Rocks.

Then it was an easy walk on Hall’s farm and back to the cars.

Tramp distance 13.5km.

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5. 18/05/2022. Tramp. Blackrock. Leaders Jill Reid and Chris Wither

22 trampers enjoyed the scenery and expansive views from Peter Hall & Ash Beattie’s Blackrock properties. We parked at Peter’s woolshed, which is about 650 metres asl, so although a beautiful clear May morning, we were grateful for layers of clothing! We walked across paddocks to the ‘bottle rocks’ and picked out many familiar peaks & landmarks from this viewpoint.

The giant turbines of the Mahinerangi wind farm were on our right as we headed towards the Black Rock, from which this area was named.

Herds of cattle & several horses added interest in our photos!

We lunched at the foot of Blackrock, then most of us were tempted to clamber on to the top!

It was then downhill & through more picturesque farmland back to our cars.

Distance walked – 13.5 km.   Thank you, Peter & Ash, for allowing us to enjoy your special corner of the world.

Jill and Chris

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4. 16/3/2022. Tramp. Beattie’s Farm. Leaders Jill Reid and Diane Paterson

Our group of 19 trampers met at the woolshed on the Beattie’s farm in Mahinerangi. The day was cool and overcast.

We set off from the woolshed and our route was a circuit through part of the farm. For the most part we walked on well-formed farm roads and stock laneways.

The route took us through valleys and up and over rolling hills (some steeper than others). The landscape around us was vast with uninterrupted views in every direction.

Like many locations in Otago the landscape showed the scars of goldmining the late 19^th century.

After morning tea we had our hardest part of the day with a steady climb up a hill to a trig station.

It was thought we were around 750m high. At this point the wind was cool and people did not want to linger too long to take in the view.

Just before we found a sheltered spot for lunch Phil Keene who has an interest in native alpine plants spotted a delicate but hardy perennial flowering plant called wahlenbergia (New Zealand Harebell).  This adaptable plant grows well in Phil’s garden as well as in this harsh exposed setting.

After lunch we continued our circuit through the farm. At times it was a little daunting as we could see the roadway stretching a long way ahead of us however, it was easy walking and there were distractions along the way.

We returned to the woolshed around 3pm and had tramped somewhere between 16-17 kms.

Thank you to Jill Reid for organising the tramp and providing us the opportunity to explore more of the Mahinerangi area.

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Distance from car-park: 32 km.

With the addition of the Christchurch over 40’s tramping group, we had a much larger team of trampers for this trip.

 15 of us set out on what I termed a ‘recce’, as we had never done this tramp before. Starting from Reids Farm house as usual, we descended down to the Verterburn where we had morning tea as usual,

then we followed the road that goes around in the direction of the Waipori forest area. We estimated that this would lead us to the old Post Office Creek school house, & indeed it did just that. We spent some time at the old school house before we set off up the road going past it, to find a spot up in the forest to have lunch. We found a nicely grassed …

… & sunny area with lots of logs to sit on for lunch, …

… which was taken at a leisurely pace. After lunch we then returned back down past the old school house, & around to the spot where we made the decision to cross the Verterburn, with the chance of getting wet feet, & then climbing the steep hill, & going out onto the main road, where we walked back along to the farm house.On the way home we called into Outram for a coffee & chat, before heading back to Mosgiel where we farewelled our guests.
Everybody enjoyed a good time, & the walk, although on farm tracks, was enjoyed by all. – Ken

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2. 13/3/2013. Trampers. Reid-Beattie Farm Walk.

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1. 13/4/2011. Trampers. Reid-Beattie Farm Walk. 15 km ret. Moderate. Leader: Ria

We had programmed this day for Post Office Creek, some of us imagining we could have laboriously track-cleared our way through the ever-thickening gorse beyond the old school-house. However Ria had recently tramped on a property adjacent to Reids’ farm and was willing to lead us there instead. Good choice. We started the GPSed route in the far distance on the pic below.

A couple of fences and a gully later and we emerged onto the Verter Burn, with a nice bridge spanning it in contrast to the wading the originally-planned route would have immersed us in, further down-stream. A neighbouring dray made a dry seat for a tea-break.

A short stroll up alongside the stream and then it was a swing right and a climb into the rolling hills to the east, taking us ever upward. At midday we stopped for lunch on the left of the forest seen in the next pic.

The day was warm, the air still. A lovely lunch stop.

After that, it wasn’t too far to walk on and up a little and across the top of the hills to enjoy a vista of flats beyond. We were adjacent to the southern end of the Maungatua. Had we further climbed a little to the left we could have continued on and across to the Three Kings. But this was enough for us for the day.

Beyond us was the blue of what we worked out to be Lake Waihola. The view was a fine reward for the day before turning to retrace the way we had come, reaching the cars just after three. – Ian.