Once again, the weather looked ‘marginal; for the planned Sunday tramp. With the change to Saturday plus the cancellation of the long weekend trip to the Cobb, suddenly there were two carloads of hikers that would allow the cross-over to happen.After meeting in Nelson we made an 8.30 am departure for Havelock where there was a further change of passengers to allow each car load to have fellow passengers on the return and head straight home. Dry footwear and clothes were also placed in the correct cars for the two groups.
The south-bound group (SOBO) drove to Cullensville where they started walking soon after 10 am. The north-bound group (NOBO) drove further south and up Waikakaho Valley and started walking just before 10.30am. Hopefully we would meet close to the ‘Saddle” for lunch. The car parking for the SOBO group is clearly marked at the site of the old gold mining village. However, the information boards that had provided some of the history had been removed. So it was out of the car and get walking with an estimated 3 hrs to the Saddle based on a previous trip report.
For the NOBO group, the DOC signage was not clear about parking, and the local residents obviously didn’t want cars going past their property, so some road cones and bungy cord across the road implied “no further”! That group ended up parking approx. 2 kms down from the actual car park which was further up the stream and had one 4WD parked in it. That piece of road did need higher clearance cars with ideally 4WD due to many large puddles! The track for the NOBO group headed up a well-formed benched track built by the miners over 100 years ago. It was 2 hours to the Saddle. There were regular culverts across the track showing that it had been upgraded and maintained at some stage. But all were badly silted allowing the water to run down the track and erode it- badly in a few places. That seems to becoming our “normal” expectation these days!
The track climbed upwards at a steady but comfortable grade, and apart from a brief stop to “refuel”, the Saddle was reached in just over the two hours indicated. Along the way, there were stops at interesting rock features; an old goldmine; the “Village Green’ to inspect the old chimneys that were the only remains of the cottages that once stood there. (This was of particular interest to one of the group (Tony) who had camped there some 50 years earlier- and provided a picture to prove it!). 
Tony Village Green 1973
Tony Village Green 2023
On the other side of the Saddle, the SOBO group made steady progress up the gold miners trail enjoying the benefit of being on the sunny side of the ‘hill’. There were two major washouts on the trail clearly due to the heavy rain of recent times carrying forestry slash down the hillside and destroying much in it’s path. No restoration work had been attempted on a track that had lasted nearly 130 years! This track gets much steeper as it approaches the ridgeline, and slow progress, but they arrived at the Saddle within 10 minutes of the NOBO group.
Lunch was had with each tramper finding a spot of sunshine in which to sit, eat – and talk! After half an hour we were off again with talk of possible catching up in Havelock for a coffee. However, the SOBO group walked out much faster than the NOBOs and were well past Havelock and heading to the Rai Valley before we even had a signal. So, for the NOBOs, it was a matter of straight back to Nelson where they arrived some 10-15 minutes after the SOBOs and soon after 5.30pm. There was a colourful sunset welcome in the west.
Both Groups meet for lunch on The Saddle
Debbie’s GPX showed: 13.8 km ; 880 m ascent ; 5.3 hrs walking time
Trampers:- SOBO:- Debbie, Kath; Gino; Heidi and Catharine,
NOBO:- Tony, Pat; Olivier, Rich and Graeme (Trip Leader, scribe)