30/04/2025. Dunback Shag/Waihemo River Walk. Grade 2. Hikers. Leaders: Neville Griffiths, Dave Roberts.
29 hikers arrived at the designated meeting point in Palmerston to be greeted with persistent drizzle and overcast weather.
With the weather not dampening our collective enthusiasm we decided to proceed, and we travelled towards Dunback on SH85 to the rest area at the beginning of Grange Hill Road adjacent to the Shag/Waihemo River where we parked up.
Departing our cars surprisingly the drizzle had stopped and, although still overcast, the weather conditions had improved substantially from those we experienced in Palmerston. With everyone raring to go we crossed the Shag/Waihemo River and walked up the Grange Hill Road to the Dunback Domain. We stopped at the domain for morning tea and used the toilets although only 1 of the 3 toilets was open. Having enjoyed a good morning tea break we walked down Domain Road and across SH85 to the McCormick’s Creek Bowker’s Bridge. This Bridge was built in 1869 and is one of the last remaining arched stone coach bridges. From the Bridge we walked back down Domain Road towards the Shag/Waihemo River to the start of the 1.5km track which followed the river up to the Dunback suspension bridge. The track was formed by the Waitaki District Council 4 years ago and crosses through private property as there is no Queen’s chain on the Shag/Waihemo RIver. The WDC normally maintain the track and although not overgrown it was obvious there had been no maintenance for a couple of months. We walked up the track beside the peaceful flowing river with the trees on the riverbanks in differing autumn colours and came out at our property. Christine my wife and I had owned the property as a holiday house in Dunback since 1999, and we spend most of our weekends and holidays here. I stopped to show the group the stairs that I had constructed out of schist giving access from our house to the river. Our 2 sons had been married on the Shag/Waihemo riverbank with our property successfully hosting 120 wedding guests on both occasions. We crossed under the Dunback suspension bridge and walked another 300m upriver where the track came to an end at the old Dunback School property. The school closed in 2001 and has been owned as a private residence by Justin Waide and Julia Hickin for the last 8 years. Justin had kindly agreed to give a brief overview of the school’s history and was more than happy to show us around the property including the swimming pool enclosure. Thanking Justin for his time and kind hospitality it was nearly 1pm and time for lunch. We left the school and crossed Murphy Street to our property. At the entrance of our property there is the remains of an old creamery which operated from 1910 to 1915. Milk was brought here to be separated, and the cream was sent by train to the Peninsular and Taieri butter factories in Dunedin. Although the weather remained overcast the rain continued to stay away and lunch was enjoyed outside around the house or under the veranda and the toilet was made available. After lunch we walked up Murphy Street and crossed SH85. We walked around the War Memorial from where we viewed the old Junction Hotel. The hotel was named the Highwayman Hotel after that and is now open the Dunback Hotel and was built in 1864 from local schist and limestone. We did a short circuit of the Dunback township and come back down Blacksmith Road (in the goldfields days with waggoners and the Cobb and Co coaches there was a blacksmith shop here}. We passed the old church and the Dunback Memorial Hall both well over150 years old then back across SH85 and down Murphy Street to the Dunback swing Bridge. We crossed over the swing bridge 5 at a time as that was the maximum allowed by the sign on the bridge and we walked down Grange Hill Road to the cars. We arrived back at the cars just after 3pm and due to the time most people were happy to miss coffee and go straight home. I was delighted to have had the opportunity to share the Dunback area and its rich history with my fellow hikers. Dunback and our own little place of it has been an important part in our family’s life. Overall, we walked 10-11kms and although it was cold the rain stayed away, and I think most people enjoyed the day. 10 hikers enjoyed coffee at the Gallery Cafe in Waitati before arriving home about 5pm.