20/08/2025. Wingatui Viaduct. Grade 2.5. Hikers. Leaders: Maria MacNee, Bill Cubitt..
The lead up to today’s hike was quite a process as the weather had been particularly inclement and the access road had caused some issues during recces.
However, the day dawned overcast but dry and 22 hikers assembled at Memorial Park. Six members had kindly offered 4WD vehicles and the assembled members were divided between these for the trip into the start of the track.
After an enticing view of the Wingatui Viaduct from the nearby lookout we set out on an ever-improving morning.
The track was muddy in parts but nowhere was as bad as we had thought it would be following all the rain that had fallen in the previous few days. A notable feature of the track was the extensive damage being caused along the edges and back into the scrub by rooting pigs – in places you would swear someone had worked the soil with a rotary hoe!
We stopped under the viaduct for morning tea and Maria presented a very vivid historical picture of the construction of the viaduct and the housing and schooling environment as it would have been back in the 1880s. (Maria’s background information)
The viaduct was the largest wrought iron structure in the Southern Hemisphere in its time and second only to the Eiffel Tower globally! They were completed within a year of each other.
Following morning tea, we walked along the banks of the Taieri River past the site of the Mullocky Gully school (40-45 pupils during the viaduct construction and gold mining eras) to Duck Point tunnel.
After a brief stop here for a photo op we backtracked to a pebbly beach on the banks of the Taieri River for lunch and for the inaugural World Stone Skimming Championships!
Debate will rage for decades re the eventual winner of the competition, but we learnt some interesting information about some of the contestants; in short don’t ever annoy Barbara or Maria with stones in hand, the two Peters demonstrated some very underhand Southern techniques and don’t ever underestimate a Catlins kid! Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.
The sun was shining for our return walk to the vehicles and we all adjourned to Wals for the after-hike refreshments. It was great to meet Catherine and Tony on today’s hike and let’s hope they have many more good days with us.
Maria and Bill
Link to background information and earlier tramps and hikes in the same area.