Trip Report - Black Forest Station - Benmore Dam
Greg’s Black Forest Station/Te Aka Station Trip. Sunday 12th September.
We assembled at Waitaki Transport for 9.30 start, a brisk spring wind blowing.
A few words from Greg and off in convoy, first stop at the Kurow toilets where we collected more members – 17 vehicles in total. Off up the Haka Valley which is looking green. Stopped at Cattle Creek Hall for a morning cuppa temperature was 15 degrees.
On over the pass, the boundary sign post is looking a bit shabby having been used numerous times for target practise.
Unfortunately the snowy mountains were clagged in but the Grampions had quite a bit of snow. We travelled on Halden Road which was very smooth, stopped for lunch at the Halden Arm Camping area 17 degrees. The pussy willow hedges had recently been trimmed and we were amazed at how many vans appeared to be set up permanently.
Lunch completed, then travelled along to Black Forest Station and Greg stopped to deposit our donation into the honesty box attached to the Black Forest/ Te Aka road sign. We headed into the valley which was very dry, no irrigation up there. 16 degrees and still a brisk blustery wind.
Through a few gates, loose rock had tumbled down onto the track in several places with us crossing scree at one point.
Our turn to open a gate, it was a bit tricky and I required assistance as I discovered it was off its pins, Greg helped Michelle and I to rectify the situation and the convoy proceeded through.
Back in the Jeep and around a couple of corners with quite a lot of sharp rocks on the track --- oops was that a hissing sound, oh yes – Bugger blown the side wall of the back left rear tyre. Team Thompson and Bain into action. The convoy continued on to one of the bays while Russ and Noel made quick work of changing the tyre. We have been in the club since 2004 and that was our first flat. We travelled on and caught up with the rest we were amazed at how the wind crossing the lake was lifting up spray – check out the photos on the web-site, I have witnessed this happening on Lake Wanaka. As we headed on towards the Dam we observed that Te Aka Station workers had been busy cutting wilding pines and some were lying beside the road. We observed several Wallabys on the track in various states of flatness. Through the gate exiting at the Dam where we had a debrief from Greg and we expressed our thanks to him for putting the trip together. Members were reminded that the next trip would be Norm Morton’s trip south based at Mossburn in November. Some members headed into Otematata for a mouthwash at the pub. Very gusty winds travelling home but it was behind us so it didn’t make driving too bad.
A great way to spend a Sunday, thanks Greg and Michell for an awesome trip.
Chris Thompson.
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