I guess a rainy trip was bound to happen one day, in fact I think we have all been surprised that 56 trips have been completed with good weather so far. Waking up to the gentle pattering of rain on the roof I knew our luck had run out, and so ensued the mental battle of “do I roll over, snuggle into my warm bed and go back to sleep OR do I drag myself out of bed, don my wet weather gear and go tramping?”. Obviously tramping was the winner, so despite the misty rain I headed to the designated meeting point, curious to see if any other OTMCers were crazy enough to join me.
Surprisingly by 9am there were seven of us huddled outside the clubrooms, which was six more people than I was expecting. We set off for Highcliff Road in good spirits, however these were soon dampened by the dense mist and relentless rain which only seemed to get thicker the closer we got to our destination. By the time we had disembarked the vehicles and got our gear sorted we were already a wet soggy mess.
The first kilometre or so of our walk took us along Highcliff Road to the start of the Buskin Track, which normally would give us panoramic views over the coast above Boulder Beach. However this was not the case today, instead we had our heads down battling through the stinging rain which felt like ice cold bullets hitting our exposed legs. We made record time along this section of road, reaching our destination in just over 10 minutes, motivated by the prospect of dropping down out of the wind and pelting rain.
This was one of those trips where those of us who need glasses were at a disadvantage, as it was impossible to see through wet, fogged up glasses yet equally impossible to see without them. Whoever invents window wipers for glasses will make a killing…
You certainly needed good eyesight as the first section of the Buskin Track descends over some deceivingly uneven terrain, which coupled with long wet grass created quite the hazard. As we lost height, the cloud started to clear (or maybe we were just dropping out of the cloud) and the views started to open up. Boulder Beach stretched out in the distance, surrounded by the rolling hills of the neighbouring farmland.
The track we were following through farmland soon changed as we reached a small cluster of trees. We traded long grass for a boggy track with slippery planks of wood to help us over the worst of it. This was no obstacle for the mighty OTMC so we quickly skipped our way across with no mishaps.
Our respite from the rain under the tall pine trees was short lived as we were soon back out in the open, with the beach much closer and the terrain flattening out. From here was a short meander to a private cottage which marked the crossroads between the Buskin Track, the Paradise track and the short route to Boulder Beach. As the rain was holding off, we opted to take the short detour to Boulder Beach, which wasn’t as straightforward as one would have thought.
There was no marked route onto the beach, but thankfully there was a track worn in by the multitudes of people who are sure to visit this remote beach each year. Some parts of this track involved pushing our way through thick, head high flax - if we weren’t wet before we were absolutely soaked now. We had to watch our footing as there were troublesome vines hiding in the undergrowth which could easily trip you up if you unknowingly got your foot caught in one, which more than one of us did.
In order to stand on the sand of the beach, we had to slip and slide our way over the slippery boulders (more like rocks) that bordered the sand dunes, giving Boulder Beach its name. Once on the beach some of us went for a wee wander along the water's edge to see if any wildlife could be spotted while others took the opportunity to have a snack and drink. Although it wasn’t raining on the beach, the wind was certainly chilly and we were mindful of the fact the weather was forecast to worsen in the afternoon so we hastily set off again.
Unfortunately we had made a mistake in our excitement to reach the beach and did not take notice of where exactly we had exited the sand dunes onto the beach. However, it only took a short while of wandering around the dunes before we found the track we had followed and thankfully none of us stumbled onto any sleeping sea lions! It was another quick stop in the shelter of the trees at the crossroads to re-energise ourselves before the climb up to Highcliff Road.
While the Buskin Track seemed to snake its way around the hills, the Paradise track took us straight up along the edge of some paddocks. Maybe it was the steeper terrain but the track up certainly seemed to be muddier, which made me glad we didn’t descend this way as it would have turned into a bit of a slip n slide in places.
Before long we left the coastal views behind as we ascended back up into the cloud, which surprisingly was quite dry. We were all pretty soaked by this point so perhaps it was the thought of a warm shower and dry clothes that helped us to make good time up the hill - 30 minutes from the crossroads to Highcliff Road, not bad for close to 300m of elevation gain!
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but the rain seemed to intensify once we were safely back in the vehicles heading for home. The loop took us 2 ½ hours to complete, including stops with 6.7km traveled.
by Jade Pettinger
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