| Leader | Mentor | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Selwyn | Peter | Frank |
| Alternates | Ali | Wendy | Moira |
Distance 8.7 km Ascent 564 m Duration 4:00 hours
A lovely sunny morning for our Wednesday tramp to Washpen Falls greeted us. After departing from Bishopdale at 8.30am the trampers waiting at Yaldhurst were picked up at 8.55am. Jen, our President, welcomed 34 of us, including one guest and one visitor, with greetings in many languages. We continue to be impressed. The rest stop at Darfield was not so pleasant with a pesky very fresh easterly breeze which got everyone back on the bus very promptly, especially Chris S with his spanking new No. 2 haircut. Alan, our driver, then continued on towards our destination. The snow capped mountains and spring lambs made for a lovely sight and we arrived at the start of the track at 10.00am minus the wind!
The 23 trampers walking in the Standards group set off first at 10.10am followed by the 11 trampers walking in the Alternates group who do a shorter walk. Some of our number who hadn’t done this walk before wondered about the origin of the track’s name. The Washpen Falls are situated in the headwaters of the Washpen Creek which is the longest tributary of the Hororata River. The creek was dammed and pens were built so sheep could be washed before shearing as the first farmers in the area thought the wool would sell better in England if it was washed! So hence the name! The McElreas, who are the landowners of the farm the track is on, charge a small fee for the public to walk the track and they do a great job maintaining it (with very helpful wooden steps constructed in tricky places). They provide very interesting information in the brochures in their “office” at the start of the track about the history, flora and fauna, the Stone Lake and the hydro-electric power plant that powered the property for 40 years. Honey was also available for sale at the office much to the delight of those who had cash on them. There was also a lovely memorial to the 8 million horses that gave their lives during World War 1.
The Standards made our way through Pines, Douglas Fir and Beech trees and stopped at a very impressive cave for morning tea, the Alternates joining them soon after. The Washpen Falls Canyon was formed by a lateral volcanic explosion, and the bluff and the cave were created by the rapid cooling of the lava. After morning tea the Standards made their way to the Bluff Lookout for lunch arriving at 11.55am and the Alternates, avoiding this part of the walk (this is the hardest climb on the walk over open farmland), continued on the track to their lunch spot. The views from the Bluff across the plains, the Rakaia River, Lake Coleridge and the mountains beyond were spectacular. Peter M and Jen C had challenged each other to a “who could produce the best sandwich” competition. The stakes were high. Peter is renowned for his famous sandwiches. He even makes one every week for his golfing buddy. Even though he gave Jen precise instructions on how to prepare his magnificent sandwich, could she make the grade? Peter scored a 10 and Jen a 9 (they each ate one half of each other’s sandwich and self-evaluated). Apparently if you want to not have a soggy sandwich, put cream cheese on first then the relish. And you need the bell peppers and ham to be a winner. Jen will try harder! And for those of you who want to know what grasshoppers eat after observing a lovely specimen hovering around our sandwiches, they are herbivores but sometimes eat dead insects for extra protein. And as for why those nasty orange spiny plants are known as Spaniards, Mr Google tells me “in a paper on popular plant names of NZ presented at a scientific congress in 1921, Johannes Andersen said that Spaniard was a “fantastical” name and that he hadn’t been able to trace a source for it”. So there. That covers all lunchtime queries. And the Spaniards were not responsible for poor Kate’s shin injuries – they were caused by a rock.
At 12.20pm we set off back down the track. Passing through the Snowy Peak gate we made our way to the Washpen Waterfall. The waterfall looked stunning amongst the trees. Apparently some scenes from the film “Z for Zachariah” were shot at the Washpen Waterfall back in 2014. The rest of the film was shot around Banks Peninsula. Margot Robbie who played “Barbie” in the recent movie “Barbie” was one of the main actors. I don’t think this post-apocalyptic movie was that successful from my research but thank you Kate for this interesting piece of information. We then passed a sign in the trees saying “Jen’s Lookout”. We didn’t realise our President was so famous. We continued on to Stone Lake which was dug out by hand in the 1920s as a water storage pond for the hydroelectric power scheme constructed further down the bank. Chris S and Selwyn rowed vigorously up and down the Lake in a rowboat to demonstrate their athletic prowess as we watched in awe. A few further steps and we arrived at the bus which was ready and waiting to take us home. We departed at 2.10pm so had time to stop in Darfield for refreshments. We all enjoyed our day – stunning scenery and weather. What more could we wish for. I know – Brent’s maple syrup and date slice which he is bringing next week. No pressure.
Judy R
