This article was published in Tararua Tramper October 2025
Climie Creek - chasing Peter
MF - Wednesday 27 August
Trip reports on the club’s website go back nearly thirty years and are a great source of ideas for tramps. Climie Creek was a popular day trip destination around the turn of the century but hasn’t been much visited since. I settled on a trip to the headwaters, led and reported by Peter Jagger in 1999, as something that we could complete on a winter Wednesday. Peter wrote of a pretty stream forks and a spectacular waterfall but his report has no map or trace as GPS wasn’t available then.
We set out on a fine chilly morning from Tunnel Gully to go round Peter’s loop (or what we thought was Peter’s loop) in the reverse direction. From the seat on Tane’s Track we climbed up an informal track to the long ridge that leads south to Climie. Through gaps in the trees we saw Mangaroa Valley and Hector and Alpha covered in snow. Just after .865 we left thetrack for our descent into Climie Creek. After some initial casting about we found our spur and followed it down quite a way. Then the broad spur that we were following split into rocky ribs separated by steep gullies – not at all what the map showed – and after some uncomfortably steep bits we came down to a little creek. Was this the stream with the spectacular waterfall? And were we above or below it? Anxiously we scrambled downstream but found nothing more than slippery rocks and small pools before reaching a forks and a flat lunch spot.
We hadn’t found the waterfall but thought we could go downstream to visit the forks that Peter had found attractive. But we had gone only a short distance before our way was blocked by a rocky, slippery cascade. Sidling it didn’t look good either, so we started up the hill toward Climie. It was a steep climb through lovely bush and, at the top, open flax and grass. Nowhere did we find Peter’s ‘belt of fierce scrub’. We stopped at the top to admire the spectacular view before hustling down the 4WD road to the cars.
It wasn’t until after our trip that I was able to reconcile Peter’s report with the map, though allowance has to be made for some changes to creek bed and vegetation over the intervening years. Can you work it out? You can read Peter’s report here. (J M)
Jenny Mason (leader), Karen Baker, John Dement, Catarina Fisher, Leonore Hoke, David McNabb, Sieny Pollard, Tina Stewart, Mike Wespel–Rose, Lynne White.