A great summer trip

Pearse Valley - Sunday 26 January 2020

Fifteen trampers met at the Badminton Hall carpark at 8am and drove as far as the ford in the Pearse Valley. Although the last kilometre was a bit rougher it was reasonable for higher clearance vehicles and saved us walking along this dusty road. The first ford was relatively easy to walk across, being shallow and without many slippery rocks. Care needs to be taken as the track narrows around the limestone bluffs with vertical drops into the river. We had one mishap when one tramper slipped and was saved from falling further by a few trees and shrubs below the track. The river crossings varied with some being deep enough to wet the shorts of some but many crossings had very slippery rocks and boulders. Two of our group managed to cool off by taking a dip in the river. There is a certain technique in sliding your foot along the slippery bottom of the river and only moving the second foot when a stable place is found.

We were impressed by the recent improvements made to the track in places. Being hot we had morning tea in the shade near the second river crossing. We arrived at the resurgence in time for lunch and enjoyed watching a pair of whio very close by. These whio were not at all concerned by our presence and continued to rest or feed around the resurgence. We didn’t have enough time to find the Nettlebed Cave and proceeded to return down the river to the cars.

It was definitely a great time of year to visit the resurgence with our cool wet feet helping to combat the day’s high temperatures. Some of us enjoyed a stop at the old Upper Moutere Pub on the way home and can recommend their homemade ginger beer.

Participants on this great summer trip were: Chris (scribe), Jo, Julian, Alison, David, Daniel, Dave, Gael, Julie, Robyn, Di, Ann, Mary and visitors Liz and Hella.