Trip Report - Dunstan Trail - Autumn colours - April 17 / 18
Eight vehicles left the South Hill New World car park at 8.30am Saturday the 17th April.
A nice clear crisp 10 deg. morning. Another vehicle joined the convoy at Maheno.
Next stop was Middlemarch for a toilet stop before heading to Clark's Junction where we started on the Dunstan Trail.
The first stop was Deep Stream for morning tea. A 10th vehicle joined us here, this was Russell and Chris's son Rick and their two grandchildren.
Just over the bridge was the remains of the Oasis Hotel, one of many that were along the trail for the weary travellers to quench thier thirst. From here we started on the gravel track.
The next stop after, crossing several fords was a side trip into the head of the Loganburn Reservoir. The Loganburn was originally the Great Moss Swamp.( The Miners called it Dismal Swamp) A dam was built and completed in 1983 for irrigation so it was no longer a swamp. Being a small group, we were all able to share information on the area and the formation of the dam. It was interesting to see an old trolley bus ( early EV) parked in here. It must have been parked here for someone's accommodation but has been sadly vandalised and used for target practice over the years. It must have been quite a mission getting it into this resting spot. This was to be our lunch stop but was a very cold 7deg along with a strong wind so we moved a few kilometres to a more sheltered spot by a hut where there was also a long drop toilet for the ladies.
Our next side trip was up to McPhee's Rock which stands at 1310 metres above sea level. The track was a bit of a challenge for those of us with less ground clearance, but was well worth it for the great views.
( McPhee's Rock was named after McPhee who had a hotel and accommodation in the area. he was known to have a whisky still near the Great Moss swamp but no one ever knew where.
This section of the trail finished as we headed towards the Styx. Coming down the Trail we got a great view of the Taieri river meandering down the Paerau valley.
We stopped at the site of the old Styx Jail and Hotel at Paerau. This site and buildings are now privately owned. To get a close up look, we had to don gumboots and cross the river. We were very fortunate that there had been a little rain in the last few days so very little dust. The ford crossings also had very little water. Two vehicles left us at this point.
From here we started up the next track across Rocky Ridge to the Poolburn Dam, from there to the Crawford Hills down into Galloway and then Alexandra for the night. The sun in our eyes , dust and corrugations on the Crawford hills made a slow drive into Alexandra. The dust spoilt the chance of any photos of the views. Another two vehicles headed home from this point.
We all ended up at Monteith's for a very enjoyable meal and fellowship after some confusion as to where we were dining and losing Harry.
A beautiful sunny Sunday morning 8.30 am 4 deg. The 6 remaining vehicles gathered on Galloway Road for a briefing before departing for the Poolburn Dam and more adventures on the Rocky Ridge Section of the Old Dunstan Trail. We stopped on the Crawford Hills Road for those that wanted to take some photos and enjoy the wonderful view that we were unable to see the night before.
We drove into the Southern end of the dam which gave us an excellent view over most of the dam with all the fishing huts dotted around it. We had a closer look at some of the huts before stopping beside one for a little shelter from the wind and had morning tea.
A few Km's further up the track we branched off and wound our way around the far edge of the dam before climbing up to the Long Valley Ridge Road which took us along and down to the Serpentine church where we stopped again and had lunch. After lunch we followed the track back the way we had come and stopped at the lookout for the Serpentine Stamping Battery. Three vehicles drove down to the stone huts while others walked down. The huts and lookout are where Doug Amour's plaque is situated. The club members that knew Doug reminisced and took some photos. Once back at the vehicles we followed the Long Valley Ridge Road back to the Dunstan Trail. From here was an easy drive back to the Paerau Valley. At the last gate we had a debrief and headed home. Some of us headed to Ranfurly for a well-earned coffee and cake before heading home.
A Big thankyou to Russell and Chris for all thier planning and organisation of the trip including a handout of the trip plan and history of the Old Dustan Trail to everyone.
Although we both grew up in Central Otago, over the two days we learnt a lot of history that we were not aware of.
Ken and Trish
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