| Leader | Mentor | Understudy | Tail Ender | |
| Standards & Alternates | Peter | Evan | Ali | Marg E |
Distance 9.5km; ascent 250m; time 4hr
Vice-president Jen was at the helm again this week as we headed out of Christchurch on a day that promised sunshine and warmth. Our total of 47 keen trampers included Ming-ming, a guest of Frank W, farmer Evan and four extra local trampers we collected at Darfield. Driver Alan drove us all happily onward and we didn’t stress about the forgotten grey sign-up folder, nor the forgotten instruction sheets that describe the tramp. Evan would save the day with his guidance! And again this year, we’d been given permission to walk through the no-longer-mined Bathurst area.
The happy drive continued until – shock, horror – we reached a locked gate at a point that was not in a friendly bus-turn-around position! The key that Evan was given did unlock a bright yellow padlock but another padlock determinedly blocked access. A very resourceful team of Evan, Alan and a couple of BTC men worked steadily for around 20 minutes to completely lift the gate from its hinges. They used a metal bar (which snapped a couple of times), logs and planks of wood, the bus wheel jack, and oil and overall they provided quite an entertaining stop for us on the bus.
Our walk started only a short distance further on, but Alan was able to turn the bus around at that corner and we all tramped as one group for the day. Evan had explained that he’d been on the farm since 1972 and was hoping to retire very soon. Coal mining by Bathurst stopped two years ago, but the process of remediation of the land and complying with all the requirements of Selwyn District Council and ECan means that the process of final sign-off and closure could take many years. At our morning tea stop by the manmade lake, we met Andy (our farmer guide from last year) and admired the stability of the hillsides that had been developed as well as the colourful rock waterways. Rayonier Matariki Forests have already planted some trees, but the timing of consents about where trees may be planted is making progress slow. In addition, there is a proposal to set up a covenant in perpetuity that includes native tree planting areas and a specific predator-free lizard reserve area. Native lizards apparently live in the area – though we saw none at all! All this has very complicated implications for landowners and most of our trampers agreed we were quite happy to be city dwellers.
We also saw the solar powered water measuring station that allows ECan to remotely monitor the purity of water run-off from the hillside. This water flows into a stream in the area that is home to the critically threatened kōwaro/ Canterbury mudfish.
After the ex-mine section, our tramp continued over a fairly familiar route, mostly on 4WD type farm roads and after an energetic climb we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch spot at 12.15pm with magnificent views in all directions. After lunch, as we climbed higher and traversed the farm’s hilltops, we battled a classic nor’westerly wind patch that made tramping very unpleasant for around 20 minutes.
Progress was steady after we descended out of the wind. Evan provided the magic key to unlock a deer fence gate that blocked our way and we continued down beside patches of trees, under and around fallen trees and eventually to a “new” fence crossing into a final paddock that led us to the waiting bus in Farr Street, Whitecliffs. It was another good day of non-technical tramping, with great views, and not marred too much for two or three trampers who found they had missing or empty shoe-bags at the bus, or poles nearly left behind, or a dropped car key discovered (thankfully) by driver Alan. And we even had time for a refreshment stop in Darfield as we dropped off the crew of extras. Most of us were home by 4pm.
Text by Janne R
