Pioneer Park Conservation Area

RAINCLIFF
Pioneer Park

Adventure in the Pioneer Park Conservation Area and find lots of different trees, try out the two tracks from 30 min - 2 hr.  It is 32 km from Geraldine.

Follow the Geraldine Fairlie Highway (79) for 23 km before turning onto Gudex Road. Take the next right onto Middle Valley Road. Follow this road for 2 km before turning left through iron gates into Pioneer Park. This 390-hectare conservation area has links with the earlysettlers of the district. Pioneer Park got its name in recognition of the early pioneer families who settled in this area; “to commemorate the courage and forbearance of the early settlers”. Mr Burke was the first settler to drive a bullock cart over the pass (which now bears his name) into the Mackenzie country. Within the reserve, a chimney is all that remains of the house he built in 1885.

From Timaru take Highway 8 to Pleasant Point, turn right at the Hotel Corner and follow the AA signposts for the Raincliff Bridge or travel through Totara Valley - turn right (east) just south of Cave onto Cleland Rd through Totara Valley [map] and enjoy magnificent views of the Two Thumb Range and beautiful rolling pastoral sheep farming countryside. Again follow the AA signposts for the Raincliff Bridge and across the Opihi River, and pass the Raincliff Scout Camp and the Raincliff Youth Camp, you will view the quaint St David's Church on land given by Arthur Hope of Raincliff Station, pass the Raincliff Historical Reserve on Middle Valley Rd map with the fenced in Maori rock art under a limestone cliff overhang, drawn by Maori moa hunters more than 600 years ago using black charcoal and red ocher, barley visible in Nov. 2009, due to vandalism, weathering, time and natural processes of lichens growth and flaking, not worth stopping but note the totara tree, broadleaf trees and cabbage trees. 1 km along the road passes the poplar-lined driveway of Raincliff Station and continue on Middle Valley Road to the gates of the park.

Note that this is on a gravel road. 

There is a ford on the access road into Pioneer Park, this ford is usually dry but care is needed for vehicles with low ground clearance.

Dogs allowed. Keep dog under control at all times and there are 40 non-powered/tent sites (Bookings required)

 

The entrance gates, on Middle Valley Road, were given by the Burnett family as a memorial to Thomas David Burnett M.P. (1877-1941) of Mount Cook Station "A son of pioneer parents and a true lover of the great open spaces." My parents were at the opening ceremony for the gates in 1950. Through the gates follow the tree lined road and creek 2 km and ascend past the silver birches, the oaks, and the willows. Further up are tall spruce and pines, and then stands of manuka lead to the picnic tables and the sturdy shelter built in 1941 of timber from the original stable at Raincliff Station. A little way up a limestone block shelter protects the remains of Burke's first hut on Raincliff, the chimney. The limestone blocks were transported by Major Johnson from an abandoned blacksmith's forge at Totara Valley. The limestone building was completed in 1974 by the New Zealand Forest Service in conjunction with the Historic Places Trust using money left by Major Johnson.
The gate plaque reads:
Gates have been presented by
THE BURNETT FAMILY
in fond remembrance of and as a lasting memorial to their kinsman
THOMAS DAVID BRNETT Esquire M.P.
of "Mt. Cook" station.
a son of Pioneer Parents
and a true lover of great open spaces.
F.I.W. 1950

Learn More: doc.govt.nz/pioneer-park-campsite