Croesus Tramp Recount

 Croesus Tramp Recount

On Wednesday August 11 2021 my class and I went on a bush walk that was roughly 11 km each way. It was cloudy weather and it was freezing cold when we arrived at the school. We had to do a gear check which included a rain jacket, water, food and a beanie. When we left we had to go through Kaiata and Dobson and then Blackball to get to the road to the carpark at the start of the tramp. The road to the car park was made out of dirt and was narrow and enclosed by bushes. The car park was relatively new and had a little information board with a map and origin of the track. Then we headed off on our way.

A few metres in there was a Māori welcoming arch and then that was followed by a bar blockade that allowed bikes and foot traffic through but not cars. The trail itself was grey gravel and slightly on an angle going uphill. After about 10 minutes of walking there was a picnic table with some relics around it. We stopped and made sure everyone was caught up. The next bit was a lot of bush and even some parts had a rooftop of bush. The trail was not very muddy even though it had been raining. However there were some bits that had clay streams which looked slippery. 

Every once in a while there was a swing bridge that had a max capacity of one person. Most of the trail was uphill then downhill however at around 1-5th of the way there was an incline that went on for 1 hour until the Garden Gully sign. Garden Gully was a fork in the track which split up into 2 ways, one way to an old 1930s hut and the other way led to the current hut. We had a small break at the Garden Gully sign and then continued on to the current hut. 

We walked on and on through the bush until we came out to an alpine type area that looked like high altitude Canterbury with its tussock and dry tan grass or an area down South where tahr and mountain goats would inhabit. There occasionally was some snow that people were either eating or throwing at each other. We turned a corner and we could just make out an outline of the hut perched high up on the peak of a hill. The air was quite misty and thick, meaning that it was hard to see too far off into the distance.

When we got to the hut we had to take our shoes off and go inside. We had lunch there and took a quick break to admire the fresh mountain air. Then we headed off back down the mountain. Me and one of my friends were talking about a hunting trip most of the way back down and the walking was easy because it was downhill. It started to drizzle but not that hard. We headed back to school and that was the end of the tramp.