TRIP REPORT : Christmas Trip - Western Canterbury

 28 December 2004 – 6 January 2005 :   Christmas Trip – Western Canterbury

Our base at Staveley Camp Photo: Richard Herbert.

Our summer camp, based at Staveley Campsite, on the western edge of the Canterbury Plains, was a success botanically and socially.   We thank the following people:
•   Bryony Macmillan, Canterbury BotSoc, for advice on accommodation, and sites to botanise;
•   Warren Jowett, tour operator, and local farmers Peter Howden and Bill Land for advice on routes;
•   DOC staff Nick Head for a collection permit for educational purposes, and Kennedy Lange for guiding us on Cameron River fan;
•   Tom, Jen and Valerie McElrea, Washpen Falls, for advice on routes;
•   Graeme, Gael, Rodney for plant lists;
•   Gordon and Sheelagh for organising the menu and food purchases;
•   Rodney for managing the accounts;
•   Rodney, Darea, Allison and Graeme for providing microscopes;
•   everyone who participated.

Joyce Stretton, President

Day 1, 29/12/04, Mt Somers: Bus stop route–Mt Somers Hut– Woolshed Creek.   Map K36.

Lunch stop. Photo: Richard Herbert.

We woke to the pall of mist which was to greet on us most mornings, but undeterred, we set off to climb from the Jig Road/Woolshed Creek car park to the tarns west of Mt Somers trig.   Occasional mountain ribbonwood, Hoheria lyallii, and knee-high, shrubby, southern rata, Metrosideros umbellata grew trackside, the latter a useful comparison for us Wellingtonians who are used to northern rata.   A sudden, sleety squall in the late morning forced us to fling on storm gear and struggle to stay upright on the spur crest, among snow totara / Podocarpus nivalis and Melicytus alpinus.   Here, for some of the party, Exocarpus bidwillii with its spiky, orange twigs emerging from crevices, was a new plant.   By lunchtime the squall was over and we sat among the tussocks just above the bushline to revise our route, confronted by the scale of the Mt Somers massif and realising the tarns would be beyond our reach that day.   Some of the party stayed to botanise the boggy tussock area with its comb sedge / Oreobolus pectinatus, sedge tussock / Schoenus pauciflorus, and the lilies Herpolirion novae-zelandiae and Bulbinella angustifolia flowering among the many forms of Anisotome aromatica, before returning to Staveley Camp.   The rest of us did a long trek to Mt Somers / Woolshed Creek Hut, and the track down to Woolshed Creek, some going via the “ancient forest” remnant to see the large red beech trees, and then to the road end.   Thus passed a ten-hour first day with lots of botanical interest.

Barbara Mitcalfe

Day 2, 30/12/04: Little Mount Peel / Huatekerekere.   Map J37.

Little Mt Peel emergency shelter Photo: Richard Herbert.

We started from Blandswood Road, Peel Forest, in sunny weather.   The track led gently up Deer Spur, through lush forest with some big, old trees, including a NZ cedar / Libocedrus bidwillii, with epiphytic Ileostylus micranthus, and many large pokaka with d.b.h. up to 50 cm.   At about 900 m we paused at a tarn with a pretty bank of flowering Aciphylla sp. and Celmisia sp.   After passing through patches of rata-dominant forest, the track became steeper and we found it hot work, but were rewarded with wide views across the Canterbury Plains to the Port Hills.   We enjoyed being among the subalpines, as we slogged on up a steep pull towards the top.   As the vegetation got lower, the temperature dropped, a wind rose, and we got some dramatic cloud action, with mist rising up both sides of the ridge track, often obscuring the trig (131 m), and the tiny shelter perched on a ledge below it.   As we watched the cloud swirling, some people reminisced about the twelve BotSoccers and two benighted, ill-equipped trampers squeezing into it, one snowy night in 1993.   On the descent we had cold wind, heavy rain and thunder.   Most of us descended by the same track but others descended a track on a spur west of Emily Stream.   Other highlights of the day were: circling falcon; Waireia stenopetala in flower, and Celmisia lyallii.

Jill Goodwin

Day 3, 31/12/05: Ashburton Lakes.   Map J36.

alpine mosaics Photo: Richard Herbert.

The Ashburton Lakes lie between the South Branch, Ashburton River / Hakatere, and the Rangitata River.   After two strenuous days, we appreciated a gentle exploration of the flats, University Endowment Land, either side of Hakatere-Heron Road, on the TR of this branch of the river.   In the morning we botanised a great variety of low shrub and prostrate plants so it took ages to progress more that 20 m from the cars because of the immense interest.   Then we botanised toward the river.   Highlights were Muehlenbeckia ephedroides, recorded by GPS, and a range extension for Pimelea pulvinaris, a compact cushion plant about 20 cm across, Helichrysum depressum, and Hebe pimeleoides, with tiny purple flowers.
For me, the highlight was seeing the bright mosaic patterns produced by a variety of cushion plants, and also the brightly coloured, and large (compared with the size of the plants) fruits of e.g. Leucopogon fraseri (orange), Coprosma atropurpurea (purple), C. perpusilla (red), Coriaria plumosa (black), and Pimelea prostrata (glassy white).
On the flats we also saw a pair of banded dotterel, black-fronted terns, black-backed gulls, a feral cat, and hare droppings, many full of native plant seeds.
We lunched at Lake Camp on Hakatere-Potts Road, then botanised the shore of Lake Clearwater and found bladderwort / Utricularia monanthos.
The Potts River / Rangitata River flats were covered with viper’s bugloss / Echium vulgare, and eight kilometres across the great, braided river bed we could see Mesopotamia Station, scene of earlier BotSoc trips.

Lord of the Rings forest in the mist Photo: Richard Herbert.

Richard Herbert

Day 4, 1/1/05: Awa Awa Rata Reserve.   Map K36.

The morning dawned misty so any thoughts of Mt Hutt Skifield were out, but the reserve at its base appealed.   Scotts Saddle Track climbs through rata / beech / hardwood forest.   Prominent species were black beech / Nothofagus solandri var. solandri and prickly shield fern / Polystichum vestitum.   From the first junction, the track took us through low mountain beech / N. solandri var. cliffortioides, on which we saw red mistletoe / Peraxilla colensoi.   After passing though more beech with a dense understorey, we emerged into the alpine scrub.   We lunched in calm, misty conditions amongst Hebe spp. and Dracophyllum spp., then botanised alpine shrublands and screes to the Mt Hutt road.   Finds of the day were Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides, Anisotome filiforme, Neopaxia erythrophylla and a Raoulia eximia hybrid.

Owen Spearpoint

Day 5, 2/1/05: Mount Hutt Range.   Map K35.

Examining the vegetable sheep Photo: Richard Herbert.

Advice from Peter Howden, local farmer and environmentalist and a friend of Julie McLintock, about obtaining the key to the Mt Hutt road gate, enabled our convoy to reach the alpine zone, once Rodney had resolved a problem with the locked gate.   We looked at a mob of vegetable sheep / Raoulia mamillaris, and in true BotSoc style found more than we had bargained for, spending two hours in that area.   Plant highlights were Ranunculus crithmifolius, Chionohebe pulvinaris, Ourisia caespitosa in full flower, Aciphylla monroi, Leptinella atrata, and Craspedia incana.   We then moved up to the bottom carpark of the skifield, at the start of the original access to it.   This road was abandoned because snow often blocked it.   We walked across a huge scree and found Notothlaspi rosulatum, Hebe epacridea and Haastia sinclarii, then further up the track, South Island edelweiss / Leucogenes grandiceps, Leptinella dendyii, Celmisia angustifolia, and Lobelia roughii.   Over the ridge was the skifield, devoid of any rock, having been thoroughly groomed, but down the slope were many plants of Ranunculus haastii.   This day was the highlight of the trip for me – it was beautiful, even though the plains were covered by cloud ...   A truly priceless day.

Robyn Smith

Day 6, 3/1/05: Mt Somers 1688 m, from Sharplin Falls Reserve.   Map K36.

Mt Cook and central divide Photo: Richard Herbert.

This trip, our biggest climb, 5 hours, began in black beech forest, passed through manuka shrublands and emerged into the subalpine zone.   Here the rhyolite outcrops created remarkable bluff scenery, and habitats for alpine plants.   Among the finds were parsley fern / Botrychium australe, in shrublands SW of Hookey Knob, female Coprosma pseudocuneata everywhere heavily in fruit, and at the tarns west of the trig, Nertera balfouriana.   A feature of being on the summit was that the plains were obscured by dense cloud below us, while we saw the broad valley of the Hakatere / Ashburton River’s south branch, to the west, and further south, Aoraki / Mt Cook.

Chris Horne

Day 7, 4/1/05: Rakaia Gorge Walkway; Washpen Falls.   Map K35.

Washpen Falls canyon Photo: Richard Herbert.

After the slog up Mt Somers, this was an easy day.   Our first trip began at Rakaia Bridge, following the walkway upstream on the TL of the river.   Its pale turquoise colour, caused by rock flour, was striking, and the view back to the two bridges and beyond, impressive.   Not so the track.   What could have been a pleasant walk was spoilt by the weeds.   Clearing the infestations will require a lot of work.   We believe that this is essential, and that top priority should be given to male fern / Dryopteris felixmas, then Cotoneaster sp., which seems to be a pest throughout the Canterbury foothills, and known to be difficult to control.   On a more cheerful note, botanically it was an interesting ramble with one of the finds being Asplenium trichomanes.   Corokia cotoneaster, always a pleasure, was abundant and we saw a large houhi / Hoheria angustifolia, and a sapling.   Creeping over shrubs was Fuchsia perscandens competing with Muehlenbeckia australis and Calystegia tuguriorum.   Another climber was leafless lawyer / Rubus squarrosus with its yellow thorns.   Easy to miss was Scandia geniculata, a member of the Apiaceae family, with its distinctive, aniseed flavour.   Perhaps the find of the day was the annual fern, Anogramma leptophylla, growing on a south-facing, weedy bank.   It is said to be widespread but because it dies way in early summer it is often missed.   Two orchids on the track were Pterostylis areolata and Gastrodia cunninghamii.
After lunch we went to Washpen Falls, a private conservation area near Windwhistle.   The owners run it as a commercial operation and we soon found the need for this as they have installed some amazing stairs to enable people to enter the gorge and see the falls and plants.   It is a fascinating walk with a great variety of plants and habitats from pine and Douglas fir forest to red tussocks and Celmisia species.   Among the pines we saw Mazus radicans.   By the stairway into the gorge, near the falls, Parahebe lyallii was in full flower among the rocks and Helichrysum intermedium hung down with creamy-white flowers and the shrub niniao / H. lanceolatum was in flower.   It was a pleasure to see three species of Wahlenbergia within two square metres.   Except for a sharp shower it was a great day, added to by the very interested owner and Valerie, his eighty year old mother.

Sally Warren

Day 8: 5/1/05: Cameron River Flat; Spider Lakes.   Map J35.

The day dawned fine, and we went to the Lake Heron area with Kennedy Lange from DOC.   Our first site was Cameron Fan, where a little local Craspedia, “C. heron”, is found.   It is tricky to spot, with its speckled, soft grey and brown leaves, but once found, there were many plants to admire.   The next treasure was Iphigenia novae-zelandiae, a little monocot.   Flowering was over in this dry turf, but many of the plants had set seed.   This was the first time many of us had seen this plant.   Both the multiheaded orchids, Pterostylis tristis, and P. tanypoda were identified by dissecting the dried labellum.
After midday, we went along Hakatere Potts Road to kettle holes near Spider Lakes.   Myosotis minutiflora, with brown, hairy leaves, and the tiniest white flower (1 mm) was quickly found.
After a quick lunch, it was “bums up” again in the wet turf around the kettle hole.   Many more species were flowering here, including I. novaezelandiae, Dichondra brevifolia, the wonderfully fragrant Stackhousia minima, the tiny Galium perpusillum, Neopaxia campylostigma, and the rumple-leaved Pratia perpusilla.
We took a circuitous route back to the cars, via more dry turf and boggy ground, where we found some lovely patches of Utricularia monanthos in flower.   There was also a small area of the unusual sedge, Carex tenuiculmis, which looked like a small red C. secta.

Graeme Jane and Gael Donaghy

Participants: Ted Abraham, Robyn Bridges, Barbara Clark, Sammy Craig, Barry Dent, Gael Donaghy, Sue Freitag, Ian and Jill Goodwin, Richard, Douglas and Margaret Herbert, Chris Horne, Graeme Jane, Allison Knight, Gordon and Sheelagh Leary, Rodney Lewington, Julie McLintock, Barbara Mitcalfe, Syd Moore, Donella Moss, Judy Russell, Darea Sherratt, Jeanette Skinner, Robyn Smith, Owen Spearpoint, Julia Stace, Joyce Stretton, Sally Warren.