Kahikatea Track, Grampians – Leader: Robyn Walsh

The day was clear and sunny, or so it seemed, when my party of 6 met at the southern end of The Grampians in Clifford Ave, Bishopdale, at 9am. It evolved into a day of passing snow-shower clouds and cool windy moments alternating with warm sun. We were soon zig-zagging up the well-bushed, shaded gully, passing a magnificent kahikatea specimen surrounded by a very expensive new boardwalk. Halfway up, a dark cloud that had been hovering in the south-east brought us 10 minutes of hail. We sheltered under the trees until it had passed, then carried on up to the Junction. Then over to the Lookout for a snack stop and a view of thick snow in the west, well below the bushline. Ben Nevis etc. with a good covering as well. Quite a surprise to see.

At 10.30 as the skies darkened again, we walked up the road to the Summit. The clouds passed round to the north, luckily. Any views were hard to see here with the overgrown shrubs. So we descended down the road and along the wide ridge track until we were overlooking Collingwood St. We found a good sheltered spot in the sun for lunch at 12pm. We watched another huge cloud approach from the west. It soon blotted out the sun as it absolutely poured over the sea and Boulder Bank. It looked like we were going to get our share very soon so with lunch consumed, we retraced our route back up to the ridge at 12.40pm. Amazingly, we got only a few rainspots and soon we were back in the hot sun again. From the Junction we did a short side trip along a bush track that descends into the Brook. This track was muddy and slippery. After 20 minutes we turned back. It was now a brilliant day. For the last stretch we descended the wide firebreak to do the Matai Track a little further on to zigzag down to where we had started. Arrived back at the vehicles by 3.15pm.
Present: David Nielsen, Roland Penhall, Christine Burn, John Olykan, Ken Holmes, and leader Robyn.