Careys Creek Track

The Low Down

Careys Creek Track is a tramping track alongside Careys Creek through regenerating bush near Dunedin, New Zealand.

Getting There

Careys Creek Track entrances:

• from a small public picnic area, Evansdale Glen, off State Highway 1 about 200m north of the township of Evansdale by Blueskin Bay
• at a car park on Semple Road near the southern entrance of Silverpeaks Forest at Double Hill

Honeycomb Track and Rongomai Track, which both connect to Careys Creek Track, can be entered at a car park near a quarry on Mountain Road in the middle of Silverpeaks Forest. The sign here implies that both tracks start at this point, but Rongomai Track's starting point is actually a few minutes walk north along Mountain Road, where a sign marking the start can be found.

Route Finding

All tracks are described here heading upstream or uphill. Careys Creek Track and its branches can be enjoyed in several ways:

• walk in from either end then walk a loop of the two branch tracks and head back again
• start at the Honeycomb Track entrance and go down one branch track, along the main track a short while and back up the other branch
• start at either end, walk the full length and get picked up at the other end

Starting from Evansdale Glen, the first section follows an old farm vehicle track (now prohibited and impassible to vehicles). This mostly runs along the "true right" (that is, as you are facing downstream) of the valley but briefly criss-crosses the stream for two brief stretches as the easiest vehicle route was sought: this results in four river crossings being required. The first of these pairs of crossings can be avoided by a rougher alternate route which scrambles over a steep bluff and becomes gradually less distinct until the main track is rejoined at the second crossing.

The track continues up the "true right" bank for some distance, at one point scrambling over an old landslide of dirt and boulders.

The second pair of crossings takes the track over to the "wrong" side (the "true left") again briefly as the Kilmog Creek flows in from the north. Here the Careys Creek valley swings south. The track continues on its usual "true right" side of the valley to a signpost marking the junction of the Rongomai Track at the foot of Rongomai Ridge.

From here the track becomes a narrow foot track. This section probably dates back to the construction of a water supply pipeline in the early 20th century, for a psychiatric hospital at Seacliff. After a short distance, an old dam of large stone blocks has been built over the Creek. The dam no longer forms a lake as it has entirely filled with gravel and silt. There is a good waterfall over its crest.

Further up the valley from here the Honeycomb Ridge Track branches off. The main track continues south to the head of the Careys Creek valley. This southern section of the track, from the Honeycomb turnoff to the Semple Road carpark is by far the more interesting and follows the old pipeline closely. Previously little-used and often overgrown, it was extensively worked on in 2006 and is now clearly passable. Green Hut Track Group volunteers spent way over 700 hours clearing, benching, and making it safer. The track passes another dam, Black Gully Dam (this one with a small lake) at the creek's source. The steps up from Black Gully Dam are steep and require caution. The track ends at a car park on Semple Road.

Branch tracks

Rongomai Track has a steep climb from the valley floor up a ridge through dry native forest until the pine plantation is reached. Here the track continues as a forestry access road to Mountain Road. A short link before the end crosses over to Honeycomb Track: during logging operations, walkers may be diverted along here for safety.

Honeycomb Track branches off further up the main valley and heads up steep climbs to emerge at a parking area opposite a quarry on Mountain Road. The sign here implies that both tracks start at this point, but Rongomai Track's starting point is actually a few minutes walk north along Mountain Road, where a sign marking the start can be found.

WikiPedia:Careys Creek

Trail Resources

There are clean but low-tech "long drop" toliets at Evansdale Glen, which also has a good swimming hole in the Creek. The washbasins in these toilets provide rain water which is probably safe to drink.