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Lookout to Lookout - 19 Apr |
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TRIP REPORT: LOOKOUT TO LOOKOUT
Fundraiser for St. John
Date: 19/04/2009
Trip leader: Phil & Sam Madill
Trip report: Andrew Mackie
It was a fine and clear Nelson morning and 23 members of the Public in an assortment of 4WD vehicles and 14 or so helpers from the Nelson 4WD Club joined Phil & Sharlene Madill at the Wakefield domain for our fundraising safari. Mountain Man was selling raffle tickets and the prizes were spectacular!
The majority of this report has been taken from the excellent trip notes provided by Phil and Sharlene at the beginning of the trip.
The aim of the day was to give owners of 4WD vehicles a chance to get into places not normally accessible to the Public and to try their beloved 4WD vehicle out! The purpose of the day was to also raise funds for a worthwhile local charity, this year the Nelson Order of St. John was chosen and just over $1500 was raised for them.
All participants were given comprehensive driver’s notes covering the day which covered the aim of the day, housekeeping and permit conditions, convoy rules, group leaders and exactly where we were going to be, and when.
Phil also carefully briefed all present before we left the Wakefield Domain and we headed through 88 Valley Road. At the top end of 88 Valley we passed the new water supply dam which was built and is owned by TDC. It can store up to 800,000 cubic metres of rainfall and catchment run off which can be released during the dry summer months and during the irrigation season. It was opened by Jim Anderton on 5th October 2006.
After leaving 88 Valley we then turned into Wai-iti Road. This is the public access road to DOC Richmond Range and we steadily climbed up the hill to Inwoods Lookout at an altitude of 1051 metres. Latitude is 41 34’ 40” and longitude is 172 56’ 25”. This lookout is not usually manned except when there is an extreme fire hazard. Many workers in the forest and improved communications means that they can raise an alarm quickly. These days the lookout on the hill above Richmond is the only manned lookout in the area.
The view from the lookout was amazing. If a fire was spotted a sighting device was used and a bearing to the fire obtained using a map and a piece of string. This information would be sent to the Richmond lookout who would be able to pinpoint the fire by taking a second bearing and using simple triangulation. After checking out the lookout we headed downhill to Reay Saddle and turned left to enter the Golden Downs forest. The area between the saddle and the Pistol Club is well known for the autumn colours in the various trees. These include red alderlarcheucalyptus and oak to name a few. These trees were planted by the old Forest Service and are now maintained by Nelson Forests Ltd. The forest is owned by Nelson Forests Ltd., who leases the land from the Government under a Crown Forest Licence arrangement. The forest is used by many recreational groups especially during the winter months. Access is by means of a permit.
Travelling further down the hill we passed Kerr’s Hill Road and the Pistol Club, and then crossed Janson Bridge over the Motueka River and turned right onto Gibbs Road.
It was suggested by the organizers that this stretch could be a “little dusty” and this proved to be an understatement and from this point on dust became quite a problem.
Continuing down Gibbs road we passed Wellington Gully, went across a ford and onto Trig E Road. There were good views of the Motueka River, Pistol Club, Inwoods Lookout and Gordon’s Knob.
The Wellington Gully area is the oldest part of the forest where first plantings were made in 1927. The forest is now in its 3rd and in some areas 4th rotation. In 1927 this area had a small village including a single men’s camp, a cook house, a seedling nursery, workshops and the old farm homestead which was used by the first officer in charge of the new forest.
Prior to 1927 the area had been farmed on and off since the 1840’s and was acquired by the Government under the National Endowment Act of 1907 and was used by the Soldiers Settlement Scheme for soldiers returning from the Great War of 1914 – 18.
By the mid 1920’s it was evident that the scheme was set to fail due to poor soil, many weeds, lack of finance and poor markets. Some families literally walked off the land.
The Government decided to utilize the land (hence the beginning of the forestry) and began a controversial purchase program from the unfortunate farming families. There is a very good book written about Golden Downs Forest by John Ward and Don Cooper which can be obtained from Phil or Sharlene for $35.
In our travels we passed a section of newly planted forest which had been “line raked” by a tracked digger. This is done to ease plantingimprove the soil and it increases seedling survival. Nelson Forests aims to replant all logged areas within 12 months. Various ponds along the way are used for fire fighting.
Eventually we turned into Ridge Road 14 and then into Western Boundary Road 13 and passed a Beech Conservation Area. This area will always remain a native area. As we travelled further good views of Mt Owen and the Wangapeka area were had and a little dot in the distance signalled our final destination: the Sherry lookout!
We passed through some newly formed skid sites with douglas fir on the left and native bush on the right.
We passed a trig station which had an automatic weather station next to it. This station records wind speed and directionrainfall and temperature. The information is transmitted to Nelson Forests Ltd. and to the Rural Fire Network.
Just past the weather station a number of damaged trees were seen. The damage was caused by snowfall in August 2008.
Proceeding further we turned into the unmarked Long Gully Road and eventually crossed the Motupiko River without any problem or incident. After rejoining SH 6 we turned left and travelled south about 12km to the Clark Valley where we had a well earned lunch. The sponsors’ raffles were also drawn just prior to the end of the break. Thanks to Mountain Man and our sponsors for making these raffles possible.
After lunch we travelled 2km further south and turned into Elvy’s Road and slowly and dustily wound our way to the top passing Big Bush Road and turning into the unmarked Donald’s Creek Road. In this area there were a number of skid sites which had “book stops” which are designed to prevent logs falling off. Just past Longford Road we got another glimpse of the Sherry lookout.
On turning into the Sherry Road we passed a number of houses and the entrance to the Sherry Quarry which is owned by Nelson Forests Ltd. Here limestone is mined and crushed for use on the forestry roads.
After passing through the Sherry River Forest(owned by TDC) we turned into Christian Creek Road 136. Near the locked gate the soil changed to granite and this formation continues from here through to Kaiteriteri. We shortly passed through an area where recent work had been carried out on roads and skid sites in readiness for future logging. After passing a sign “4WD ONLY past this point” the road became a little narrow and there were some steep drop offsand some wind damage to the trees was also noted.
Turning right at Vanders Road we entered the Dart River Road and crossed the Christian Creek ford. Good views of the Devil’s Thumb from here.
A hard right turn took us into Trig R Road 97 and we climbed for 7km until we reached the Sherry lookout at an altitude of 961 metres. Latitude is 41 26’ 40” and longitude is 172 56’ 25”.
Like Inwoods this lookout is not manned and some members may remember Lofty Weir who manned this site many years ago. The view was spectacular and equipment inside was very similar to Inwoods.
Shortly it was time to head home and there were some great views as we headed down the hill as the trees in the area had been logged. Following Dart Road we arrived at a locked gate on the Wangapeka Road close to the Dart ford. It was here that a quite long but most enjoyable trip ended.
Thanks to Phil and Sharlene Madill, Mountain Man and the helpers from the Nelson 4WD club and the following sponsors and supporters who made this great day possible: Bowater Toyota, Brownlie Property Services, Cutting Edge Signs, Dollar Save Autos, Evan Nolan Plumbing, Fastway Couriers, Magoo Mufflers, Pit Stop, Repco, Ron Amberger at Summit Real Estate, Star Trucks, The Car Company, The 4x4 Centre, FWD Spares, Translog Services, Youngs Automotive, Nelson Forests Ltd., TDC Sherry Forest
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Past club trips 