Trip Report - Arrowsmith Station trip Saturday 23rd November, 2019
The trip leaders Owen and Pam Phaup
The trip recce was being undertaken on the Friday by Owen and Ron. This allowed us to leave Oamaru around 10.00am and enjoy a leisurely run through to Mt Somers Domain.
A 3pm arrival at the domain coincided with the return of the trip recce crew and a very social debrief and camp pitch up followed. The informal happy hour concluded with a suggestion by Julie Pringle to adjourn to the Stonechrubie Lodge restaurant for the evening meal. They did well to cater for 18 meals at short notice as they had several groups in already. Back to camp by 9.00pm, make up the beds and hit the hay glamping style.
Trip day, Saturday 23rd we awoke to cool temps and misty rain, quite the contrast to the prior day 30 degree temps. Trip briefing completed by 9.15 and an assurance from Owen that the weather was okay up the mountain, 10 vehicles headed up the Ashburton Gorge towards the Hakatere Conservation Park. Turning right at the restored Hakatere Station homestead the group indeed encountered the sun shining through the misty cloud hugging the top of the hills along with considerable pink haze from the Australian bush fires. After a short stint on a very dusty corrugated road our first stop was the Lake Heron camping ground and conveniences. The age and state of many of the caravans and temporary accommodation structures were avidly discussed whilst some drivers deflated tyres. Upon entering Arrowsmith Station the group moved through the lowland paddocks noting the angus cows and calves and merino sheep all in good nick except for one. A wet patch just past a gate tricked the driver of a Ford Ranger into thinking his truck had rear wheel steer. At that point Norman decided to engage 4wd.
Subsequent to significant rainfall in the area, a comment was made that a metre of rain had fallen during the prior month, there was plenty of pasture growth and plenty of water flow in the South Branch of the Ashburton River. A morning tea stop in the valley provided a chance to take in the scope of the country and for Pam to inform us that the station consisted of 9000 hectares, 13000 stock units including Angus cattle, merino sheep and red deer. The station was purchased by the Wareing family in 1997.
The group proceeded along the side of the Ashburton river, negotiating a variety of ruts, wet clay bogs and scree slopes. A tricky set of ruts and a large rut being clearly marked as Owen and his swiss army knife toyota required a tow out during the recce. With the Top Hut on the DOC estate in sight the group negotiated the rather bumpy streams of the Ashburton River. With the westerly wind getting up the group enjoyed lunch in the lee of the Top Hut. Although the ‘pink’ haze persisted the views of the Arrowsmith range were amazing.
With lunch concluded the group back tracked to Arrowsmith Station and viewed one of their musterers hut and associated amenities, a coal range oven for cooking and hot water, long drop and a shower hut with only 2 sides. Pam and Owen had stayed in the hut on their various horse treks in the area. There was no comment from Pam on the quality of the mattresses.
Continuing on the group was heading up to the area called the Pyramids… the highest section of the track at 1650 metres above seal level. The pictures of the zig zag are an understatement of the steepness and sharp drop offs on a predominately loose scree surface. Quite a challenge for both drivers and passengers. However the 360 degree view from the summit of the Wild Mans Brother Range was very rewarding.
Arrowsmith Range to the south, Lake Heron and Mt Sugarloaf to the north and the Cameron River a long way below.
The decision to run the trip in reverse due to the wetness of the bogs and surface moisture of the ground at altitude became very apparent as the group descended to the river flats. On many occasions tyres became glogged with clay and mud and drivers were seen to be aiming for ruts and drier track edges as vehicles slithered their way down the mountain. Tail end Charlie Dave Feary encountering many a slide due to the proceeding trucks dragging additional water from the bogs onto the track.
After an unscheduled stop for Greg McFarlane to clear some no 8 fence wire from the front of his Nissan the group stopped at the Arrowsmith tourist accommodation block to have a cuppa and view the Thar in the nearby deer enclosure. I gave it our apple core however he wasn’t interested in that. He did enjoy playing ‘hold my horns’ in front of an audience.
With the trip concluding at this point the group headed back to a still misty clagged in base at Mt Somers. Master chef crew Les and Chris had the evening meal preparations well under control. Unwitting participants at the prior evenings happy hour were handed a new potato, pot and scrapper. The decision was made to wine and dine in the Mt Somers camp kitchen dining room as the warm summer evening temps did not eventuate. A very enjoyable meal and social evening ensued, concluding with a vote of thanks to Owen and Pam for leading the trip and a huge thanks to Les and Chris and all for a great meal.
Chris Thompson
Sunday 24th trip report will be published in the next newsletter
| 
