A Timeless Land- Hawkdun Range, Central Otago; Part 3

Catch-up

Continuing on from Part 2

Though we were both disappointed we didn't make it around the Hawkdun Range/Manuherikia Valley loop, I knew David would be less keen than I to venture up the other side of the valley on our way home. But he's also learnt from experience that I like to join the dots on our road trips so I was very pleased when he suggested we turn into Hawkdun Runs Road as we approached it on our way back to St Bathans. And it's only 13kms to the Oteake Conservation Park from this side.

I had said not to worry about it, we'd do it in summer or I'd come back and explore it while we were parked at Ranfurly, our next camp, but I think he thought he might just as well do it now and then only have to clean the ute once.

We flew along the first 8kms or so of the barely gravelled road, it was bone dry with no dust. And no sign of the Hawkdun Range either until the road curved around the low line of hills we'd been following and there it was, a beautiful row of flat-topped, snow capped mountains.

The road condition also started to deteriorate from here, with surface water lying in potholes and a couple of fords to cross.

We could also see the two sets of tyre marks from the off-road 4WD vehicles we'd followed up the other side, now coming towards us; they had managed to drive the loop, which was no surprise.

With all the gates open, we were covering ground too quickly for my liking. I use the gate openings as a chance to shoot photos.

But I had to shout 'Stop!' when this view opened up before us... 

...nearly the full length of Hawkdun Range (click to enlarge).

We don't hang about though, it's getting late in the afternoon and the temperature is dropping fast. The road is also getting a little sticky in places. Then around the next bend...

...the most spectacular and breath-taking view is before us; a vast tussock plain with the Hawkdun Range as a backdrop. Of course we had to stop again.

The road dissects the tussock, straight through the middle and heads off over a small rise at the far end.  David reckons he's seen it all now and we can turn around and go home. I remind him about those dots and I also bribe him. 'There's a cup-of-tea waiting for you at the end of the road', I tell him.

The Hawkdun Range- the full length! (click to enlarge)

We carry on and towards the end of the straight there's one very lonely hut with an even lonelier long-drop to photograph. It looks like there was once a pine forest surrounding the hut, it's gone now and only slash piles have been left behind. This unique and beautiful landscape looks so much better without pine plantations, and especially the pest of the high country; wilding pines, blotting the view.

The cup of tea is beckoning and it's not long before we see stock-yards and a ring of tall pine trees ahead of us. Shelter trees like this usually indicate a farm homestead and out buildings were once located here (or still are).

And sure enough, we have reached DOC's Homestead Campsite; the trees surrounding the campsite are the only remaining sign of where the old Michael Peak Station homestead was once located. 

The homestead site dates from the 1850s, when pastoral licences were issued throughout the South Island high country, creating large lease-holdings in the surrounding mountain ranges such as Hawkdun, Omarama, Otekaike and Morven Hills Stations. Many of these stations have now returned to the Crown or were purchased back by the Crown for the pleasure of all New Zealanders to enjoy.

A corrugated iron DOC hut sits beside a nearby stream, looking very much like an authentic settlers cottage.

While we have our well earnt cup-of-tea, we scan the far side of the valley to see if we can spot the track and our earlier turnaround point but it's just about impossible, all the features are similar.

We can see a musterer's hut on the edge of a large plateau but it's not the one David saw when he drove up to the beehives, this one is further along the road (click to enlarge, the hut sits centre towards the bottom of the photo).

With the shadows lengthening fast we head back to the road.

And even though the road looks OK further on, this'll be as far as we go today. It's time to head for home, it's bitterly cold and the sun will be soon gone. 

I checked the map later and it looks like 4kms was all that prevented us from joining the dots (the total loop was 41kms). I'm sure we'll be back in the summer to complete the job.

David spent the next morning water-blasting the ute and cleaning our gear.

Here's a good tip; the old beachtowel is used to cover the front windscreen at night when a frost is expected. Then when I get up to go shoot sunrises I don't have to spend half an hour defrosting the screen before I can drive out.

And just four days later the snow came- Home Hills Runs Road.

Hawkdun Range with my 'Grahame Sydney' historic farm buildings just visible to the left of the trees. 

A Timeless Land- Hawkdun Range, Central Otago; Part 2

Catch-up

Continuing on from Part 1 

We leave Falls Dam behind us; a far away blue scrape in the surrounding tawny landscape.

Not far from the turnoff back onto Home Hills Runs Road we stop to read the DOC information panel which has a map of the various tracks that crisscross the conservation park- the map can be downloaded here.  A 4WD & walking track leaves from this point and heads up towards the mountains to the Mt Ida Water Race Track which can be followed in either direction along bottom of the mountain range. A pair of old trainers, which look to have done their job well, have been abandoned underneath.

The road carries on towards the Manuherikia River and it's becoming quite tacky underneath.

We cross a couple of fords...

...which, unless it's a raging torrent, are easy to cross. They are usually dedicated streams with gravel bases.

It's the burns that have a mind of their own, they seep water out anywhere and will track wherever they want to go, often turning the track to mud and deep bogs. Someone has helpfully diverted this burn into a manmade channel here. 

As we head back towards the mountains the road is getting worse by the metre.

It doesn't help that we're following in the tracks of two heavier off-road 4WD vehicles that have driven through not long ahead of us. They have broken through the surface and cut the track up quite a bit in places, whereas our lighter ute wouldn't have dug so deep. We don't see them but we sure can see where they've been.

Looking back towards the dam

We make it through to the other end of this soft section and stop to open a gate; we're now leaving the conservation park...

...and entering one of the numerous stations that farm across this vast river basin which lies between the St Bathans & Hawkdun Ranges.

The surrounding land is a lot drier through this section of farmland and we're hoping we've got through the worst of the mud and we'll make it to the top of the valley and be able to join up with Hawkdun Runs Road...

...but in fact it doesn't last and before long we're slipping and sliding through mud again. 

At the next gate, David spots a hut way up on a nearby plateau so while I'm opening the gate he takes himself off up a side track. The track actually ends at a circle of beehives and it's not long before he's heading back down (luckily, because he'd have had to drive up it again had he made it to the hut so I could take some photos).

When I zoom in on the top of the valley, I can see the sliver threads of the river weaving through the valley towards us. And I'm thinking that we'll have to ford the river to get to the other side. I hope we don't get all the way there and find that it's too deep or fast flowing to cross and have to come all the way back.

We continue on, crossing a couple more streams along the way, the top of the valley can't be too far away now.

 The track's great, we might just do this...

...and then we round a corner and find one hell of a mess. A stream that has been diverted into a culvert under the track has broken free.

David heads off (at a fast trot) to check it out further up the track. It doesn't look good, this muddy section stretches off into the distance.

And even if we get through the initial water hole...

...there's no guarantee we'll get through the rest. And if we do, it could well be that it's similar all the way to the river. 

We check out the tussock on the edges of the track, maybe we can bump our way through that, past the worst of it. But there are too many hidden rocks and large lumps of tussock and the ground's quite wet under the tussock too. 

I walk to the end of the straight to check around the corner and it's a little drier but not much. I head back and we have a discussion. We probably could do it but we've not seen another vehicle all day, there's no phone reception and it is getting late in the afternoon. We also have to be a careful because the ute tows our home and if anything happens to it we're stuck where we're parked for however long it would take to recover the vehicle and/or repair any damage. 

If we had a buddy vehicle with us we'd probably attempt it but we decide discretion is the better part of valour and we turn around. We'll leave it for another day. So close yet so far. 

See you late Hawkduns.

The trip back takes a quarter of the time...

...with very few stops to take photos. Although I do manage to get David to pull to a halt when I see the chance of getting a reflection in a roadside tarn. Though it turns out to be not the best reflection shot I've taken. 

If only all the waterways were this easy to cross.

We're moving fast along the road now and the merino sheep that have gathered for the night on the warm roadway take off ahead of us into the matagouri & tussock.

We're nearly back to the start of the road and there's one more stop to be had. The light has changed a little  on my 'Grahame Sydney Timeless Landscape' scene since we passed earlier (although still not the best), with the historic Home Hills Runs Station buildings; the shearers quarters, cook house and barn more visible. There's even a row of sheep walking across the front.

We turn out onto the highway not long after and head back towards St Bathans.

But we're not quite finished with the Hawkdun Range just yet.

To be continued...Part 3