Trig Q, Steve Amies track tramps

No. 57 on old hardcopy list of 113 club tramps. “Trig Q from Whare Flat. N Strang. Key from WEA. Year Round”

15 km from car-park.

Racemans, Steve Amies Loop,Coal Creek – Information and Trips Library


9. 1/5/2013 Both. Steve Amies. Leaders: Ian and George.

This time we left from the schoolhouse, making it more of a road walk. We had morning tea on the lower  Rollinson Rd and lunch in the track clearers’ picnic area, after inspecting the helicopter landing pad a little beyond.

As we returned down the road, we were surprised to see the helicopter, and shortly after the tank truck making their way towards where we had been. Apparently this was the day to carry out the weed spraying we had been notified about – and we were now making a timely exit. A tramp for 25 of us and of 10.5 km according to Peter’s pedometer and 25. – Ian.


8. 1/2/2012 Both. Steve Amies from Access Road. Leaders: Arthur and Barbara.

Sixteen of us left our cars at the locked gate on Rollinson access Rd and made our way up to the Track Clearers’ Picnic area. The leaders took us round many of the little nooks and crannies (they just seem to multiply of their own accord), stopping to inspect the labels fronting each bush planting. Of poignant note in front of one bush was a label printed with the name of Les Murcott, whose funeral a number of us had attended only a fortnight earlier.

We stopped off for our tea break.

Arthur led us down and across to Trig Q, and then on down Little Coal Creek until we got to the look-out. We careful negotiated some quite steep parts of the track and avoided any casualties. Then came the more  arduous climb back up to the trig and across to the Steve Amies.

This latter track had a much more moderate decline (we stuck to only its upper reaches!), past another look-out, before making another turn around further down, to wander back up to the trig and on to the picnic area for lunch.

On the way across the wee saddle, we stopped to investigate the meaning of a sign indicating a sheltered area, whose side track opened out to a large open area in the bush, marked with a large white wooden equal-armed cross, laid flat on the grass. After some discussion, we decided the area was also to serve as a helicopter emergency landing spot. (There was even a ‘waiting room’ bench for passengers.)

Back up at the picnic area, our leaders discovered for us yet another alcove with ample tables and seats for a comfortable lunch.

A large ‘table’.
A smaller one. (Admire Bruce’s head attire.)

Our leaders took us out to the road by a route different from the one we had entered by, and lo and behold, a salubrious shelter, doubtless erected by the track clearers for their comfort. Bravo.

Doug

Then we had only a stroll back down Rollinson Road to the cars. A leisurely 5.5 km walk, (as measured by two with their measuring devices.) Thank you, Barbara and Arthur for your careful leadership. – Ian.

7. 18/3/2009. Hikers. Steve Amies from Access Rd Hikers E+ Bev H, Joyce S

6. 25/7/2007. Hikers. Access Road, Steve Amies. Leaders: Bob H, Graham.

click to enlarge

Picnic Area nr Trig Q
Picnic Area nr Trig Q Fred, Marjorie, Joyce, Angela, Mollie, Wendy, Bev, Peter, Margaret, Elaine, Lesley
5. 19/5/2007 Trig Q from Silverstream via Steve Amies track. Steve Amies Track Circuit Leaders: Ria L, Hazel
4. 27/7/2005. Hikers. Steve Amies, Trig Q. Bob H, Les W, Mary M.
3. 2/2/2000. Trig Q from Silverstream via Steve Amies track. Steve Amies Track Circuit Leaders: Peter B, Lex
2. 23/10/1996. Trig Q. Average. Leaders: Margaret and Les, Doug J.
1. 7/6/1995 Trig Q from Whare Flat School. Medium+. Shorter trip available. Leaders: Bob H, George, Jack R, Nancy

Clifden – Te Anau Trip

2-3/2/2013. Trip. Clifden Caves, Te Anau, Lake Henry, Kepler Rainbow Reach to Moturau. – Leader: Heb.

Heb pick us up at 7.30 on Saturday and drove us in the Mosgiel RSA Courtesy Van via a Cafe stop at Gore, Nightcaps, and Ohai to the stop pictured below for lunch.

Lunch
Lunch at Clifden Swing Bridge (Ken pic and caption)

Then it was up to the Clifden Caves carpark and the start of the underground expedition.

Entrance
Intrepid Cavers (Peter pic, Ken caption)

Click Clifden-Caves for DoC article. Its “Activity” section describes the actual experience.

Marker
Inside cave showing direction maker. (Ken pic and caption)

The silver markers kept us on the safe route. Yellow ones warned us of sidetracks to avoid. The route involved quite a bit of stepping over, crawling under and squeezing through.

And then we arrived at the large deep Moon Pool which could be navigated only by stepping around its left side on a narrow , sloping but nice and grippy, ledge. However immediately prior to beginning the ledge experience, Heb slipped into and jammed in a much smaller narrow pothole on the track just before it, (one he had never noticed before) and it took all Ken’s strength in one arm to hold onto him and enable him to eventually lever his wet self out. A sobering moment.

Only two then took to the ledge skirting the pool to its further side and on out, the way incorporating several very helpful longish up-and-down fixed ladders en route.

 

The impressive Ians
The impressive Ians

The other three  more prudently (discretely? wisely?) turned back.

Back at the van, with Heb dried out and into a change of clothes, it was on to the Te Anau Sea Scouts Hall at Te Anau for the overnight stay.

cuppa
Cup-o-tea in Te Anau scout hall (Ken pic and caption)

An evening stroll was a circumnavigation of lake Henry nearby.

Henry
Evening walk to Lake Henry (Ken pic and caption)

Later it was Petanque for some; later bed for all.

Next morning, after breakfast, we drove to and walked the Kepler from Rainbow Reach to Moturau Hut.

track
On the Kepler Track (Ken pic and caption)
IMG_1680.View from below Moturau Hut
View from below Moturau Hut (Jill pic)
Moss
Moss-lined part of track on return

We returned from Te Anau via Mossburn and Gore, arriving back at 6.00 p.m. Thanks to Heb from  the other six of us for a well-organized weekend trip – Ian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Mahinerangi, Verterburn Road, Picnic Place

21/11/2012. Hikers. Mahinerangi Picnic Area. M.  Leaders: Wendy and Peter.
2/5/2007. Hikers. Mahinerangi Picnic Grounds. Leaders:Neil, Catherine
30/3/2004. Hikers. Mahinerangi Picnic Grounds. Leaders:Ria L, Catherine
12/11/2003. Hikers. Mahinerangi Picnic Grounds. Medium. Leaders: Joyce, Ray
20/9/1995. Mahinerangi, Picnic Ground. Easy+. Leaders: Ria L, Catherne, Peggy M, Colleen.
29/6/1994. Lake Mahinerangi, Verterburn Road, Picnic Place. Leaders: Catherine, Ria L, Peggy M, Heyden.

Bull Ring, Spiers Rd, McQuilkan, Jim Freeman

 

Bullring, Spiers Rd, Skyline, Swampy, McQuilkans, Whare Flat Rd. We travelled 10km; Moving ave. 3.5km/hr; Moving time 2h 50m; Total ascent 491mtrs.

Only 4 trampers went on this walk, which was very uneventful, until we couldn’t find the Jim Freeman track going back up to Ben Rudds shelter. We must’ve walked past it but didn’t see it. After looking around a bit we set off back up the road to return to the cars, vowing to do a recce from the top, to find where the Jim Freeman track meets up with McQuilkans track. – Ken.

Parero Road turn-off from Hindon Road.

George King Memorial Drive – Hindon Rd – Parero Rd turn-off, just before T-Junction.

Seek Permission: Inverlochy Station. (Hindon Station.)

Not during lambing Aug-Nov.

From Parero Road we go ahead to a white tank, through an airfield, to left of trees then and clockwise round trip down to the river and back.

7/11/2012. Both. leaders: George, Ken.
Topo Map of area

Trampers’ note: We walked 8.32km in 2hr.13mins (moving time); ave 3.8km/hr.; climbed 419 mtrs (Accum.) – Ken.

Morning Tea stop on Parero Road. (Ken pic and caption.)
Lunch at the river for the trampers. (Ken pic and caption.)

Lunch further along the ridge and down a track for the hikers.
14/5/2008. Trampers. Parero Road off George King Memorial Drive. Medium. Leaders: George, Ken

Big (Bivvy) Rock, Pineapple, Davies, Firebreak.

Click Pineapple Track for background information.
Click Pineapple and Flagstaff walk for background information.

3. 31/10/2012. Trampers. Bullring, Fence-line, Upper Spiers Rd, Flagstaff Walkway, down Pineapple, up Davies, Ben Rudd.

GPS
Tea break at Flagstaff large rock.

2. 24/9/2008 Bullring, Pineapple, Davies, Firebreak, Big(Bivvy) Rock, Bullring Leaders: Ria L, Hazel

Resting at Forestry 100 years memorial. Ian, Leonie, Abe, Ria, Glenice, Angela
Resting at Forestry 100 years memorial. Ian, Leonie, Abe, Ria, Glenice, Angela
Ria and Hazel took 7 of us from the Bullring up over Flagstaff, on and down the Pineapple track, then crossing over to the top of Ross Creek where we rested on seating by the Memorial celebrating  the Dunedin City Forests 2006 Centennial which had suffered recent vandal damage and returning back up the Davies track,
Emerging from bush on Davies Track. Abe, Glenice, Ria
Emerging from bush on Davies Track. Abe, Glenice, Ria
over onto Firebreak track with the majority returning to their cars but Ria taking Abe and Ian down to Big(or Bivvy)  Rock.
Big Rock. Ria Abe
Big Rock. Ria Abe
Hazel brought along a friend, Angela, a former neighbour of Ian’s back in the 70s! A delightful surprise for the two of them. – Ian

1. 31/7/1991. Booth Road from Pineapple Track and Bivvy Rock. Average. Leaders: Betty, Judith and Hugh, Peggy M, Frances.

Big Rock (Chimney)

It is possible to visit this rock by using a roughly marked route which has been cut from the Fire Break Track. The is also a possible route slightly further to the west. This massive rock outcrop has been used over many years as a place to bivouac and for rock climbing. There are good views over the valley.
– From Club’s Friend of Ben Rudd’s Certification – 1999.

An exploration day in Silver Peaks

GPS of Exploration Day in Silverpeaks – Ken

On Monday 29th Oct 2012 Dermot & Ken went exploring in the Silverpeaks. We parked at the first locked gate on Mountain Rd. & walked Nth. to where we had seen an old forestry road heading into the bush, on the west side of the road. We actually walked past it to start with, as you can see by the Google pic. After locating the correct track, we ventured off down it towards the Waikouaiti stream,
[or a branch of it.] Continue reading “An exploration day in Silver Peaks”

Annual Report 2012

 

TAIERI RECREATIONAL TRAMPING CLUB

ANNUAL REPORT

FOR YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE 2012

It is my pleasure to present the 25th Annual Report for the Taieri Recreational Tramping Club.

Another good year of tramping, hiking and rambling enjoyed, I am sure, by everyone. It never fails to amaze me how many Wednesdays are fine. No matter what the weather has been like on Tuesday it seems to clear by Wednesday. We have lost very few tramping days as, by not cancelling, we mostly get to have a walk somewhere.

(Thank you Bill for working out Stats)

2010/2011 2011/2012
Tramping Days 1 July to 30 Jun. 47 44
Numbers:
Trampers 250 243
Hikers 624 590
Ramblers 72 8
Total 946 841
Averages Per Tramping Day:
Trampers 5.3 5.5
Hikers 13.3 13.4
Ramblers 1.5 0.2
Total 20.1 19.1

We have had a pretty trouble free year as I recall. The advantage of having three levels of tramping means that there is usually a walk, hike or tramp that we can manage, depending on our health or fitness on the day. It is very hard at times to come to terms with the fact that our body won’t always keep up with what our mind thinks we can do. Something we all have to face at some stage. We should always remember the basic aim of our club is the recreational side of the tramping so that most of the people get the most enjoyment most of the time.

The end of the year walk and finger food lunch at Brighton Domain was a very happy day out and we really appreciated Bruce Spittle taking his guitar and song sheets for us to have a rousing sing along to end the day and TRTC year.

Our mid-winter lunch this year was held at the Waihola Tavern where we had a good meal and service in pleasant surroundings. Some of us enjoyed a walk in the morning round Waihola which gave us a good appetite for our meal.

Apart from these special days all our tramps and hikes have been very good and given pleasure and gratification to the majority. Whether we have pushed ourselves hard or found the track easy we all go home feeling satisfied with our effort as well as having enjoyed the good company of like-minded friends.

I would like to welcome the six new members who have joined us this year. Eric Callaghan, Neil Morrison, Bruce Thomson, Janice Yardly, Lester Harvey and Ian Hebbard. It is good to see some new and younger people coming into the club and I hope you will enjoy your tramps or hikes with us.

Sadly we have farewelled three of our members since our last AGM – Lesley Stapleton who died in October 2011, Carmel Lucas who died in January 2012 and one of our very early members, Peg Chisholm who died in May 2012. Peg joined the club in January 1987.

We also said goodbye to Linzi Murray when she returned to her home in Cornwall.

A big thank you to the Track committee for the time and work that goes into sorting out and finding suitable tracks for both trampers and hikers. This is not an easy task and takes all morning every six months as well as time before the meeting going through old programmes. Ideas for new places to go, as well as requests for favourites we have done before, are always welcome. The more suggestions that are given the easier the job. We are very lucky to have such a variety of places to go for tramps/hikes within reasonable travelling distance, thus not taking too long to get to the start of our outings. Seasonal and lambing conditions have to be taken into account as well as getting permission from land owners, DCC or forestry.

My sincere thanks to the committee for their help and support over the year. A special thank you to Ian Fleming for the sterling job he does as secretary/treasurer and has done for the last 7 years. Without him my job would be considerably harder. He also does an excellent job as webmaster of the blog site he created and keeps up to date.

I wish to say a personal thanks too to Shirley Fleming for her hospitality on our committee meeting days.

Thank you also to the following for their services to the club. Pat, for conscientiously recording the attendance at the carpark every week, Hazel for the lovely cards she creates and sends out as required for the club. Tom, our auditor and a special thanks to Fred from the hikers for the sweet boost after lunch.

To all members for your support and encouragement, my grateful thanks.

Beverley Harvey

President

Taieri Recreational Tramping Club