DATE: Sunday 05th July 2026
Departure: 9.00am (Please arrive 15 minutes early).
Meeting point : The corner of Cornerstone Dr & Oteha Valley Rd, Albany (bottom of Cornerstone Dr) - FREE ON ROAD PARKING!!!
(No need to park in the bus station parking).
Organiser: Imogen 027 289 8440
(New & non financial members please phone before 9pm, no texts please!)
Cost: FREE. No Bus Today!!!
Today we will enjoy quite a few of the forested tracks around Albany. These are strips of forest that back in the day managed to escape the saws when most large trees in the area were logged for housing, dating back to the mid 1800's. Tracks of Fernhill Escarpment, impressive forest escarpment where there are Kahikitea (tallest trees in our native forest) that have been carbon dated in excess of 800 years old, plus one absolutely humungous Totara! Fernhill also has etheral fell about it, with the gorgeous tracks skirting the river. Other parks will be Gills Road Reserve and Tornado Alley, Kanuka Reserve and Kell Park. One spectacular flight of steps that works it's way through a beautiful grove of very tall Totara, quite special. All these areas have a lot of history, which we will talk about as we pass through each area.
We wil be walking alongside the Oteha Stream and Lucas Creek all day. With many lovely little waterfalls along the way and one special one that's a mixture of fresh and salt water!
If you've done this tramp before, join us again as there have been many awesome alterations to enjoy and it's a good workout.
Expect a variety of surfaces from usually not muddy tracks, gravelled tracks & council tracks as well. There will be hills, including a couple of short, sharp step climbs.
We will be walking for approximately 4-5 hours.
Running shoes, trail runners will be fine or boots if that's your choice, but they maybe a bit heavy on any concrete sections.
Please ensure you have plenty of water so we don't need to stop.
(There is a cafe near the start of the tramp, for those that require caffeine).
Please ensure you have your morning tea and lunch with you and plenty of water, around 2 litres as we will be covering a reasonable distance.
* Massey University, UNICLUB, if you can meet us at the normal start point as everyone else, so you may like to head back to the campus when we head out of Fernhill Escarpment.
PLEASE ENSURE YOUR GEAR IS CLEAN BEFORE (footwear, poles, bags, anything that might come into contact with the ground) TO PROTECT THE KAURI, REWAREWA & TANEKAHA AND OTHER SPECIES AND THOROUGHLY CLEAN YOUR GEAR WHEN YOU GET HOME!!!
AND A CHANGE OF CLEAN FOOTWEAR FOR AFTER PLEASE!
Maps: Online / Printable / GPS
Pease make your own way & please note this event is on public bus routes.Trail
Trail Runners would be ideal for this tramp, as there maybe the odd slippery or muddy area if we have any rain overnight. Tramping boots would also be ok, maybe a little heavy for the distrance, approxximately 17-20kms, depending on if we do an extra side loop.
PLEASE BRING A CHANGE OF CLEAN SHOES FOR THE DRIVE HOME!!! There are healthy Kauri in the general area & we don't want to transfer dieback, in or around other parks and places.
Cost: Free
NO BUS TODAY – Please make your own way.
Meet at: Long Bay Regional Park, Long Bay, entrance over the one lane bridge & meet by the large toilet block at the Southern end of the beach at 9.15am, so we can walk to the planting site and get to see more of this stunning, white sand, coastal park.
Organiser: Imogen 0272898440
(new people or non-members please phone to assess suitability - no texts and no calls after 8.30pm.
Register by 8.00pm Saturday 23th May.
* Massey University UNICLUB, you may like to carpool or catch the public bus. Please organise via your Whatsapp page.
