A Remarkable View

Catch-up; we're still parked up in Winton with the family. We've been here a little longer than expected (4 weeks today) and winter has finally caught up with us with a very cold Antarctic blast blowing through the deep south this afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing some snow soon, either here on the ground or when we eventually hit the road again. In the meantime thank God for diesel heaters and the family's power point; the electric blankets are heaven on a cold night. 

We've visited Queenstown at least a dozen times during the last few years and have managed to explore much of the surrounding countryside. But there's one road that we hadn't driven up; it's either been closed, the cloud has been too low, chains were required or we've just been too busy exploring elsewhere.

The Kawarau River outlet leaves Lake Wakatipu at Frankton with Peninsula Hill behind

While we were waiting for the family to arrive the next day we decided to finally check out The Remarkables Road, a 14km ski field access road that zig-zags its way up the side of the dramatic mountain range that forms a stunning backdrop to Queenstown.

Before we get to the access road though, we have to fight our way through the permanent traffic jam that passes by the airport and a shopping centre in Frankton. Next we join the queue to cross the single lane bridge over the Kawarau River, an inconvenience that will be a thing of the past by late next year.

State Highway 6 is the main route south from the centre of the South Island and it's always a bottleneck here at the bridge and especially during the ski season with skiers moving between town and the ski field. We'll see if it makes any difference to the traffic jams around Frankton in due course. I fear not as more and more planes bring in more and more tourists.

Anyway, back to the road. The views, as you climb, are absolutely stunning and it's hard not to stop at every corner to take them in. This is only a couple of kilometres up the road- you can see it weaving through the centre of the photo below- we're looking south down the Kingston arm of the S shaped Lake Wakatipu, with the Remarkables on the left and Cecil Peak across the water on the right, Bayonet Peaks are to the left of Cecil Peak and the exclusive development of Jacks Point is front and centre (click on the photos to enlarge).

The next stop is overlooking the Shotover River delta where it joins the Kawarau River directly below us and out of sight. The Lower Shotover Bridge on the main highway can be see centre right, with Morven Hill centre and some of Coronet Peak at the back right. The Wastewater Plant's settling ponds are also at the centre.

If you don't know Queenstown and were wondering what the perfectly formed terraces were in the above photo, they are reclaimed land at the end of the airport runway. That's the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu, with Queenstown proper hidden in the shadows down the right hand side of the arm.

We climb higher and stop again, this time looking to the right with Lake Hayes taking centre stage. The Kawarau River flows out of sight to the right and off towards the Kawarau Gorge. And at the far back centre of the basin and again partly in the shade, is Arrowtown. Part of the Crown Range is on the right.

Here's a pano of the Wakatipu Basin with the road we're following below us. Can you see the cyclist coming into view- phew, now that would be hard work! Excuse the sun flare, I'm looking straight into the sun.

I wonder if you spotted the plane in the photo, two above? Just above the top bend in the river? It's a Jetstar plane and this will be the same company & time slot that brings David's daughter in from Auckland tomorrow. He had the not so bright idea of sending me to take a photo of it arriving tomorrow afternoon, now I tell him we'll use this one and pretend it was her plane! 

And look at those houses in the Lake Hayes Estate. They remind me of the song 'Little Boxes'-

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same

Checking out Queenstown airport from above is very popular with sightseers and plane spotters alike because you're able to drive up the surrounding mountain roads and watch planes come in below you. The other viewpoint is near the top of the Crown Range, there the planes fly over the top of the range and then drop down in front of you and fly along the river corridor to the runway.

Here's the Lake Hayes Estate again, it's no wonder the main highway is so busy, there are roundabouts on the highway and the entrance roads lead off out of sight. The houses can't be seen as they sit lower down on the river terraces.

It's hard to imagine that it takes 14kms to reach the ski field which sits at 1280 metres above sea level. There are far too many switchbacks to count, and care must be taken, as much of the road has sheer drop-offs without railing. It's just as well 11kms of the road are sealed because once we hit the gravel, the road is diabolical, it's one continuous strip of deep corrugations and many potholes. David is not a happy chap.

But we've come so far so we must carry on (although David doesn't think so), and by the time we reach the carpark, we've had enough of bouncing about and don't feel like exploring any further....which means I can't bring you a stunning photo of the new Base Building!

We head back down, weaving all over the road and at varying speeds, as David tries to miss the potholes and ride over the top of the corrugations. If anyone saw us I'm sure they'd think the driver was drunk! We pull onto a newly flattened mound near the road and on the edge of a huge drop-off, it's seems too small to be a carpark, perhaps it'll be an area to fit chains although it seems a little high for that and they'll definitely need to put a barrier around the outside.

Across the valley in amongst the trees is Arrow Junction and nearby is the zig-zags of the Crown Range Road which crosses the range and passes through the Cardrona Valley to Wanaka, an hour away. 

The switchbacks take you up and across farmland on the Crown Range Plateau. here you can see the road cutting across the plateau and then start to climb through the range. The other lookout to watch planes from, is on that flat area just before the road heads inland. 

From the edge of our lookout I can see the road weaving down below us. To give it some perspective I waited until a car came into view, can you see it? Across at the back of the Basin, the sun is now shining on the autumnal coloured trees on the slopes behind Arrowtown.

Further on and Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown are ahead of us now, with Walter Peak across the lake, centre left. We have one more stop, there's a knoll ahead of us (and people standing on it) which has another great lookout over the airport. 

I leave David scanning for planes...

And join a couple of family groups on the knoll who are also checking out the planes and views below... 

It's not long before another plane heads in, this time one from Air New Zealand.

In between planes I take more photos of the views, this one is looking south again, towards the Kingston end of the lake. It's a lot higher this time, you can see the beginning of the road switching back and forward as it climbs the lower slopes. 

We watch a plane departing...

...and I take one last photo, a zoomed in shot of Lake Hayes before we head back to Arthurs Point and home...

 ...back through a traffic jammed Queenstown. Where else in the world could you see the surreal sight of paragliders floating down from above while you're fighting rush hour traffic through a busy city centre?

Autumn at Lowburn, Central Otago

Catch-up

With Easter weekend fast approaching and not needing to be in Queenstown until Easter Monday, we decided to have a few days at Lowburn near Cromwell (3 day limit) and then shift to nearby Rotary Glen for the long weekend. We were expecting Lowburn to be busy but were pleasantly surprised to find very few RVs there.

That might have had something to do with the weather forecast- Cyclone Debbie was due to blast into New Zealand although it wasn't likely to be any more than strong winds this far south. We never got the winds, but we certainly had a torrential downpour overnight. The mat got a free wash and the local ducks spent an age under the van finding tasty morsels before the puddle disappeared a couple of hours later.

The low cloud and grey dismal sky sat low over the lake and surrounding range for the next couple of days.

Which made for some interesting sunsets in the evening.

By the time the sun came out again it was time for us to move onto the NZMCA park at Rotary Glen. It's closer to Cromwell and beside one of the many boat ramps that access Lake Dunstan. You can see the gate into the park in the centre behind the car park.

We had to do the obligatory autumn photo in front of the poplars before parking up (just in case it was raining when we left later in the weekend.

Rotary Glen is a lovely park....when the weather's good. We've been here in the depths of winter when ground is frozen solid for weeks on end by the perma-frost and fog settles in low and doesn't lift above the trees for days on end. And if it rains, oh the mud! 

You also have to dodge the rabbit poo, there's a whole colony living in the slopes that surround the edge of the park, they come down to play over night and leave big piles of poo everywhere. If you watch quietly from inside your van during the day you can see the whole slope moving back and forward as they run about chasing each other. I'm sure it must drive any dogs sitting inside the vans crazy. There's a rabbit proof fence at the top of the park but they've burrowed under it and bounce off along the ridge heading for the suburbs....and no doubt some tasty greens.

It's still a great place to spend a few days away from the maddening crowds, and especially over Easter weekend.

There's a maximum of of 10 vans allowed (council regulations) so there's plenty of space and with park like grounds, there's no need to conform to the usual parking etiquette of regimentally lining up along the fences with a 3 metre gap between vans.

Rotary Glen was a good move. I passed Lowburn later in the weekend and it was packed solid. I think there was a rally of some sort happening there along with plenty of  single vans parked up too.

The weather was a bit unstable but the rain held off which was great for all those that had put off their holiday travel for a day or two due to the forecast.

I headed off to check out the autumn colours around Cromwell. This is our third autumn in Central Otago and I'd have to say the least colourful. I don't know whether it's to do with an overall climate change or it's just because the days haven't been so cold this month. Some trees had already lost their leaves when they had them other years and other hadn't even started to turn.

Though these poplars and willows on the edge of the lake near the Park, were certainly colourful enough.

I drove out to The Inlet at Bannockburn where I knew I'd got some fantastic shots a couple of years ago. I forgot though, being the Easter break there were a number of skiers and jet boats churning up the usually calm and reflective waters.

And without the reflective blue sky the Kawarau River wasn't the beautiful aqua colour I've seen before either.

Bannockburn Bridge

 And here you'll see how different the season is, this is looking across the river to the Bannockburn vineyards. Some lovely yellows on the poplars at the river's edge and on the foreground willows again...

...but this is a similar view in 2014. The poplars up the top have already lost all their leaves this year. The most surprising part is that the photos were taken just one day apart in different years. And the old one has a blue sky, which turns the river a much more inviting colour.

My next stop was at a 'secret' spot out the back of Bannockburn, I came across it while exploring a couple of years ago.

Luckily the colours were still quite intense there.

Hmmm....but still not quite the same as when the sun shines (this one was taken last year)...

On the way back to Cromwell I took the detour down to the Inlet foreshore and was happy to see these friendly guys making a beeline for me from way across the pond.

They were so cute and very forward, not afraid of me at all and very keen to check out what I had in my hands. "It's only a camera guys!" 

I managed to find a couple of rice crackers in the ute which I carefully crumbled above them while trying to take photos. I felt a bit mean teasing them like that, but then again bread is not good for them either, so it was best that I didn't have any. I felt a bit afraid for the ducks though, because I could easily pick them up for a cuddle with little protest, I hope they stay safe.

There were 8 ducks but one held back, you can see it in the background of the photo on the top right. She (I suspect it was a she and the rest were hes) stayed well away from us but followed along wherever we walked. Needless to say I got a little distracted chasing any more autumn colours and by the time I left, it was getting late and time to head for home. 

Old Cromwell Town & Lowburn Colours

The construction of the Clyde Dam and filling of Lake Dunstan in the 1980s brought major changes to Cromwell. Two narrow gorges with their wild rivers, many acres of orchards & Cromwell’s original commercial centre were all drowned by the new Lake Dunstan.

The old town centre & historic bridge were not forgotten though, many of the original buildings were deconstructed & rebuilt further up the road to form part of a historic precinct at the end of Melmore Terrace and overlooking the Lake Dunstan. Other buildings already at the high end of the terrace were restored.

Resited- Jolly’s Grain Store- built pre 1880

Resited- London House- (Belfast Store) built 1880

 

I wonder how many children have clambered over Toby & his cart.

 

The Masonic Lodge was built in 1901 & still stands on it’s original site which was once the top end of Melmore Terrace.

Lake Dunstan, the Kawarau River arm, looking towards Bannockburn & the Carrick Range which we crossed over when we drove the Nevis.

Cromwell was once known as “The Junction” being that the Clutha & Kawarau Rivers met here in two deep & rugged gorges. As it turned out, an ideal site for a hydro lake to form behind the Clyde Dam which is many kilometres downstream.

And the historic bridge? A bridge that crossed the Clutha River & one I can’t add to my Clutha River Bridges because it’s 11 metres under water! It’s beneath the clear water in the top right photo below. There is a urban myth that there’s still a Mkl Zephyr parked on it. The new Cromwell Bridge can be seen at the back of the top left photo below.

Most of the buildings in the old town & surrounding area were demolished to make way for the new lake, others like the facade from the old Athenaeum in the bottom right photo were left as they were & filled in with soil. This gives a good indication of how far Melmore Terrace of the old town has been buried, only the top half of the building is exposed. Some of the stone work from the old school also remains (centre photo).

Where once the wild Kawarau River flowed there’s now a calm & beautiful recreation lake with the vineyards of Bannockburn reaching up the dry & rocky hills behind.

Cromwell has many orchards along with the vineyards, these Y shaped apricot trees provided me with some good colour along with plenty of leading lines.

You may remember that we stayed at Lowburn on the shores of Lake Dunstan twice while in the area. The autumn colours were showing on our first visit but by the time we returned three weeks later the yellow of the poplars had intensified to a deep rich gold and looked stunning against the blue skies.

On some mornings the fog rolled in early and then lifted, once the sun came up, to reveal these golden poplars & willows across the other side of the lake.

There was also a row of poplars along the back fence of a paddock over the road from the camp site that always looked fabulous backlit in the late afternoon sun.

And even more stunning from the sunny side. I loved the decreasing height of the trees as they moved up the hill.

Just along the road from the campsite and up a side road is the (new) settlement of Lowburn, you’ll remember from my "Collecting Water” blog that there’s a spring beside the hall that we use, this is the small pond, complete with white ducks, near the hall with “Sugarloaf” behind.

The dam construction affected Lowburn too, much of the original Lowburn flat was inundated by the creation of Lake Dunstan. The church and hall were relocated to this higher site, but the old bridge, the camping ground and the hotel are forever under Lake Dunstan.