Saturday 12 October 2024

Leader: Shally Webb

Seven of us travelled in two cars and met at the Ashhurst carpark at 10 am. Inny also joined us for the first part of the walk (around an hour in) before driving to Auckland to fly back to Tasmania at 6am the next day! It was so lovely to see her and she is still very talkative, cheerful and being her lovely self as usual.

The track climbs steadily to the higher ground above the gorge. Along the way we stopped at viewpoints, taking photos and enjoying the views of the river, road, railway, reserve, and turbines at nearby windfarms.

The track is well maintained, lovely native bush and easy to walk.

Most stopped to have lunch in the sun; some at one of the viewpoints. JP decided to walk back to the car as he had just recovered from illness and wanted to take it easy. The six of us kept walking to the turnoff and walked down to the Upper Gorge Bridge. After the bridge we then walked along the old closed road, looping back to the car park.

We weren't too sure if we could walk back this way but after meeting and checking with a few people who were walking along the road, we knew that it would be okay.

We saw a few slips and lots of rocks on the old road - the last slip which is closer to the barrier was the biggest one. It was hard to tell that there had been a road there.

We reached our cars around 3.30pm and drove straight home after that.

Another good, easy walk with some sun and wind on the day. Thanks Shally and June for leading and organising the trip and I must say, it was so good to see Inny again.

Those on the trip were:

Chris Keating, Desiree van Kalsbeek, Glenda Robb, John Peterson, Nisa Promchot, Shally Webb, Yingjun Shelton, Inny

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.