The Ship at Anchor is a large, distinctive rock tor on the Lammermoor range near Lake Mahinerangi and is also part of the Te Papanui Conservation Park. We had been to the southern end of the conservation park during trip #54 and were looking forward to exploring the northern end today. The drive to Te Papanui Conservation Park takes around an hour and because there are not many trips to Ship at Anchor, it wasn't surprising to have 14 people bundle themselves into cars to make the journey. Getting out of the cars at the locked gate on the edge of the Conservation Park was a little disconcerting as the cold wind buffeted everyone as they hastily put on more clothes, rain jackets and hats. The start of the track involves crossing the locked gate and following a four wheel drive track through the tussock and past the large pipes that take water from Deep Stream to Dunedin.
The track steadily climbs 180m to the top of the Lammermoor range before dropping to the weir intake. It was here that the group gathered behind a small communication hut to shelter from the wind and rain to regroup and taking into consideration the deteriorating weather, the distance and terrain still to go along with the fitness of some of the group, the decision was made for the slower members to leave the main group who would carry onto to Ship at Anchor while the slower group would take an alternative route to the gold diggings. Being one of the few who had been to the area before, I volunteered to lead the slower group and this meant that we needed to retrace our steps down the hill and take a side track through the golden tussock following a wide, broad ridge down to Barbours Stream
There is very little of the gold diggings left, just piles of tailings and stone walls are all that remains. We found a sheltered spot out of the wind to eat lunch and wondered about the hardy people that would have lived and mined here. We could see the odd rain shower further up on the hills but we were dry, happy and warm beside the stream. Once replenished with lunch, we faced an almost 200m climb out of the stream back up the wide, broad ridge to the four wheel drive track. We took our time, stopping often to look around and marvel at the wonderful landscape of rolling hills covered in tussock that changed colour from gold to brown as the sun and cloud chased each other across the sky. The cold wind continued to buffet us around and we could see dark clouds gathering in the distance so picked up our pace and made it back to the cars before the cold rain and hail arrived. The fitter group arrived about an hour behind us, cold and wet from having been caught in the rain and hail. While it was not quite the trip that I had planned, it was still an enjoyable day out in a picturesque place - a place that I hope to revisit on a sunnier and warmer day.
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