Bethunes Gully

Last Saturday we took a walk from the Bethunes Gully to Mount Cargill. Mount Cargill is a 680 meter (2230 feet) high volcanic outcrop which dominates the skyline of northern Dunedin. It’s only about 15 km from the city center and our apartment so it’s good for a day hike.

Being winter, the weather wasn’t great. It was chilly (in the 30’s) and there was a light rain; great hiking weather.

The hike starts in Bethunes Gully which was part of a tree-planting scheme & has these enormous pine trees which shielded us from a lot of the weather.

Looking out over the Gully. The trail was gravel and well maintained but was still quite a climb. We forgot our new hiking poles, of course.

I'm glad we brought the weather-proof jackets and wool hats. The rain just got worse as we got higher. The tall pines gave away to native species of ferns and shrubs which provided less protection from the wind and rain.

At this point we could just see the peak in the distance through the fog. It was like walking through a cloud...a really cold cloud.