Snow Over Ashburton Lakes- Canterbury

Catch-up

So, the conversation the next day went something like this... "Lets pack up a lunch and go for a tiki-tour to find some snow......I know where there's a lot!"

Which is how I found myself  back at the snow covered road to the Ashburton Lakes for the third time in a couple of weeks! There'd been a fair bit of traffic over the road since yesterday, if it had looked like this I might have carried on.

A winter wonderland with snow as far as the eye could see. 

And we were worried the other week when there was a sprinkling of snow on the road between Lake Camp & Lake Clearwater.

Much of Lake Camp was frozen.

Here's a panorama shot of Lake Camp- click to enlarge

The village at Lake Clearwater also looked very different.

And Lake Clearwater looked absolutely spectacular, with just a tiny section yet to freeze.

We had lunch at the picnic table overlooking the lake and village... 

...watching families play in the snow...

...and tourists on this LOTR tour exclaim in amazement at the view and snow when they surrounded our picnic table for a 10 minute break. They couldn't have picked a better day to to do the tour to Mt Sunday. This is the vehicle we saw driving to Mt Sunday's lookout when we travelled to the end of the road.

We watched as a couple of ice walkers crossed the lake in one direction and then make their way back again. We held our breath when they looked to be getting very close to the unfrozen water on far side at one stage (See the tiny black dots dead centre? No? Then click to enlarge!)

I couldn't quite twist David's arm to head to the end of the road again so after lunch we headed back down the road...

...where I convinced him to take the 17km road to Lake Heron, another one of the Ashburton Lakes.

Well, we did have a bit of time up our sleeve and we hadn't been able to fit it in when we visited the Lakes the first time.

We had a short interruption when a NZ Falcon/Karearea flew ahead of us for quite some distance before landing on a fence post. I carefully crept up on him along a farm driveway, while David fielded questions from a lovely old gentleman who stopped to see what we were doing.

And then we carried on through some stunning countryside...

...past untouched paddocks of pristine snow...

...until finally Lake Heron came into sight.

We drove past a couple of cars that could go no further due to an icy section through some trees and then past Arrowsmith Station's Lake Heron camping site which is closed for winter. Which is just as well....brrrrr!!

And on past a fishing hut down in a dip opposite Arrowsmith's farm buildings and Lodge...

...and out onto the edge of the lake again, where David backed the ute into the snow and we sat on the tailgate having a cup of  coffee and taking in the beautiful white and blue landscape spread out in front of us. It wasn't long before another couple of vehicles decided we must have the best view and stopped too...

Once they left, I was able to walk to the edge to take photos of the lake including this 'bad' panorama of the lake- it doesn't have such a pronounced curve in it! Although someone must have liked it because it was 'Explored' on Flickr, my photo sharing website and had over 99,000 views!

More photos of Lake Heron...

Further up the road I spied a whole lot of what I call 'tussock sheep', a weird phenomenon we've seen several times before...

...but none with so much snow weighing them down.

While I took photos, David drove up the road to find a turnaround, unfortunately we didn't have time to drive to the top of the lake.

 We headed back down the road just as this side of the lake disappeared into the shade as the sun dipped behind the mountains behind us.

We had one more stop on the way out at another of the Ashburton Lakes; the Maori Lakes, a series of small lakes and wetlands that form a nature reserve and wildlife refuge. Going by the amount of rocks and broken ice we weren't the first to check them out.

And one last photo, can you see the car on the road across the way? Proving yet again that New Zealand is such a small place, it was driven by a photographer acquaintance of mine, Francis, who we last saw in Arthurs Pass a couple of years ago when he saw our rig parked on the side of the road and stopped to say hello. Today he was out taking photos with his wife and at first wasn't sure it was us because we weren't towing the 5th-wheeler. His suspicions were quickly confirmed though when he saw me get out with my camera!

And that was high country Canterbury, it was time to return to Christchurch.

Snow Photos- Canterbury

Catch-up

You wouldn't believe I've just had four weeks to catch up on blogs and photos and yet I'm still posting about Canterbury and the snow! 

Mt Hutt

We've been having a few weeks R&R, parked up at the Kaiteriteri Holiday Park in Tasman at the top of the South Island (actually that should be just one R, there's been very little recreation). It's been great to just relax and see out the end of winter, although the weather could have been a little kinder. It has rained often. One day it's fine and sunny, the next it's cold and wet. Back and forth it's swung on a very regular basis, much like winter for many New Zealanders this year I hear. It's been a funny old season all round. 

Mt Hutt Panorama (click to enlarge)

I actually haven't minded the weather too much, I feel guilty if I'm not out there enjoying the sun and exploring if it's shining. So it's fine (no pun intended) if I'm stuck inside on a cold or wet day, I always have plenty to catch up on. It took a good two weeks before I actually felt settled here though, I always have 'itchy feet' to get moving again after a few days, but this time I had to give myself a stern talking to. 

Mt Hutt Station

We've had a lovely time relaxing, meeting new people and catching up with others we've met on the road previously. But now with two pairs of itchy feet, the time has come to pack up and pull out. When you're on the road full-timers, you know it's time to move on when your doormat needs a mow, the ants are taking over the kitchen and the birds line up outside waiting for their breakfast every morning! Where to next? You know the answer to that one. Ask me tomorrow.

Rakaia Gorge

And now after that quick catch-up, back to the photos. I'm going try and do the next few blogs a bit more quickly because I really want to get up-to-date before we start exploring again. I tell you, it's a never ending vicious circle (not that I'm complaining of course!). So I'm planning on less words, more photos....well that's the theory anyway. Lets see how that goes.

I  took myself on a tikitour two days after the snow fall and several downpours of rain...

Before (above) and after the snow- Mt Hutt from Windwhistle at the top of Rakaia Gorge.

From Windwhistle, a fogbow- like a rainbow but with no colour.

The rickety single lane Old Rakaia Gorge Bridge, built 1880-82, crosses one braid of the Rakaia River...

...and this slightly newer New Rakaia Gorge Bridge crosses the next braid, just a few metres further on. 

Then the ever curious me decided to return to Mt Somers and head down the Ashburton Lakes road to see what I could see. Well, surely they'd be a lot of snow down there, right? The roads had been graded, there was a lot of mud and slush (and stinky cow poop mixed in too), a vision of David having to clean the ute flashed past my eyes...just for a second though. I kept on driving.

You have to watch out for flocks of birds on the road when the snow covers their usual food source- finches, sparrows, magpies & blackbirds are looking for bugs and things on the only clear area which happens to be the road you're travelling on at 80-90kph. You can see some on the road above, they leave it until the last moment to lift off too. 

Mt Barrosa and an old farm house.

More farm stations up a side road.

No. 8 wire kiwi ingenuity at it's best. We so need this on the van for rain fade!

And look at the historic Hakatere Farm buildings, looking picture perfect covered in snow and looking very different to the other day.

Uh-oh! The road has only been graded to Hakatere, the gravel road to Lake Clearwater is covered in snow. Hey, but there are tyre tracks....

But I'm not too sure I should drive it. I'm in 4WD. I have Diff-lock. I should be ok. Yeah, I'm sure I'll be ok. Do I? Don't I? I am sooo tempted but it looks very slippery and there's no phone reception if I get stuck. And how's David going to get here to rescue me anyway? Darn! I turn around and head back down the road....I so wanted to go up there. 

As I head back to Methven I see a fogbow again...I wonder if it's the same one, I'm about 40kms down the road. This time I shoot it with my wide angle lens so I can get all of it in.

And one last photo before I get home; North Branch Ashburton River/Hakatere near Pudding Hill.