Anyone travelling past Woodhaugh Gardens early on Saturday morning must have thought we were mad! 10 trampers gathered in near zero temperatures, many in shorts and bare legs despite the thick layer of ice covering the nearby cars. The closer it got to 9am, the more time seemed to slow down as our feet were slowly turning into frozen lumps inside our boots. Hopping from foot to foot and jogging on the spot did little to alleviate the pain so it was a relief when it was finally time to depart.
Today’s trip was a circuit linking up many of the lesser-known tracks on Flagstaff’s northern side, and would require top-notch navigational skills to ensure we stayed on the planned route. The one thing we weren’t entirely sure about was where exactly the track started, so we found ourselves wandering along the road looking for a way into the seemingly impenetrable bush. We shouldn’t have worried as 200m or so up from the cars was a large sign which read “Lake Whare Track” which we couldn’t miss.
We opted to head in a clockwise direction, which meant about 5 minutes after we set off we arrived at Lake Whare - a lake so small it doesn’t appear on the topo map! The winter sun was quite low in the sky and was hitting the lake in such a way it was almost blinding to look at. Our attempts to circumnavigate the lake were short lived, making it less than 100m before being turned around by a dense wall of bush. Tucked away in the bush was a long-forgotten lean-to shelter, which was slowly being claimed by nature.
The lower section of the Swine Spur track was muddy and boggy, a sign that we were well and truly in the depths of winter. Many of the tracks on the northern flanks of Flagstaff are well-maintained, which was evidenced by a series of bridges over the worst of the bog - some quite official looking whilst others consisted of some strategically placed sticks that acted as a makeshift boardwalk. The sound of boots squelching through the saturated ground accompanied us as we meandered along the flat.
It wasn’t long before we traded in the idyllic meadows of the flat with the steep, grovely, muddy climb through the bush. We took our time on this section, making sure we had a good footing with each step to avoid tumbling downwards. We seemed to barely get going before we popped out at a small clearing, giving us clear views over Mosgiel and Maungatua, and inland to the Rock and Pillars which had a fresh dusting of snow on the distant tops. Having spent most of the morning in the bush, it was a unanimous decision that this would be the perfect place to have morning tea.
From here the Swine Spur track continues upwards towards Swampy Summit, however as that wasn’t our destination today we branched off onto the Possum Busters track. Sideling eastwards, this was a very pleasant section of track as it was more open than Swine Spur, providing occasional glimpses of the distant hills. We had a few side streams to negotiate, which thankfully were minor enough that our feet stayed nice and dry inside our boots.
Aside from the odd muddy section, we enjoyed an uneventful hour or so chatting away to each other as we had the track to ourselves. It is places like this that remind you of just how lucky we are to have such a wide variety of tracks on our doorstep in Dunedin, and to be able to enjoy them without being swamped by hordes of people.
We stopped at a small clearing at the Porkies / Smithy’s Track junction for an early lunch, before carrying on the Smithy’s Track towards the road. The journey out to the cars was not as straightforward as we first thought, as we had some steep sections of track to contend with. Some of the uphill sections had us scrambling up on all fours, clinging onto any handhold we could find to haul ourselves up. Once at the top we were greeted by a rope anchored into the hillside to aid in the descent on steep, loose dirt. After we had conquered the hill, we had one last obstacle to overcome - a narrow path snaking around the edge of a small cliff. Not for the faint-hearted, we carefully picked our way around making sure we remained upright and on the track.
All of a sudden, we rounded a corner and just about fell onto the road! We had no idea it was so close, and were a little sad that the trip was over as it was such an enjoyable circuit through an ever-changing landscape.
By Jade Pettinger
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