This lesser known walk in New Zealand’s own Blue Mountains ascends through beech forest to a high point of 1019m at Tapanui Hill. The views of surrounding farmland are extensive, but the forest is probably the highlight.
This walk is a reasonably short side-trip off Route 8 between Dunedin and Queenstown. It’s near nowhere in particular, so if you are passing by this way it’s a good opportunity to stop and do the walk. The loop track starts at Black Gully and ascends through very attractive beech forest to tussock grass on high ground. Views of the surrounding farmland are extensive, but for me the beech forest was the highlight. There are also some lush sections of gully forest towards the end.
The Blue Mountains were apparently named by gold miners after their likeness to Sydney’s Blue Mountains, but to be honest I can’t see much similarity. Track notes at the end.
Black Gully Loop: The Scenery
Contrasting colours on top versus the farmland below. One of a number of panoramas I took. They all looked a bit the same. The high point of the range at 1019m asl, called Tapanui Hill. I guess even a thousand metres doesn’t get you a mountain title in New Zealand. Very green farmland below. Alpine flowers. Descending along the track that doesn’t appear on the maps, but you can clearly see the orange markers in this shot. The beech forest looked quite different depending on the lighting, and perhaps also on the species. Here it looks silvery.
Beech forest looking golden in the sun. Sophia in the forest. Hairy trees. Fungus. Lush sections of forest in the gully below.
Track Notes
We ascended on the Black Gully Track, walked north-east to Tapanui Hill, then backtracked a bit and descended down an obvious track that does not appear on any maps I can see. So the dotted line is a bit of a guess, but I do remember it was obvious, not far back from Tapanui Hill, and we crossed a stream in a gully to return to the outward track near the start (you can see that in my last two pictures). Keep your eyes open for the fork in the track when you set off, and that will give you some comfort that you know what’s what.
We used track notes in Day Walks of New Zealand: Central Otago and Queenstown,although they didn’t describe a loop, so we just winged that part. It starts at Black Gully campground, ascends pretty directly up through beech forest, then you walk north along the tops for a couple of kilometres to Tapanui Hill at 1019m of elevation. Head back just a bit to find another track down the mountain through even more attractive beech forest to complete the loop (rejoining the track out very near the start, I think). I can’t see this track down on any maps, but it is easy enough to see when you are there.
