Four Camps, Two Walks

Real-time

Originally we planned to stay on in Winton (Southland) for 2-3 weeks but we were having such a lovely time with the family that it ended up being nearly 6 weeks before we pulled out from our cosy corner at the end of the driveway (we heard that the grandkids couldn't get over the size of their yard when they came home from school later in the day). You know you've spent a little too much time in one place when autumn comes and goes. By the time we said our goodbyes, the copper beech had lost all it's leaves.

We decided to ease back into our travels driving a short distance each day as we make our way up the South Island. David's having a few back issues and we need to be in Christchurch towards the end of the month so he can fly to Tauranga to see a specialist. We're hoping it's nothing too serious but want to keep on top of it because, as you can imagine, without a driver we ain't going nowhere fast!

Camp #1 Lumsden NZMCA Park- where nobody loved us, we had the whole park to ourselves on a cold and dreary day that matched our mood. We were missing the family and it always takes a few days to settle back into routine.

Camp #2 On the banks of the Mataura River near Garston. We've visited this hidden gem a number of times to have lunch or to fish but have never stayed overnight. It's a pity it's not the fishing season, and the trout know it too. They kept swimming up and down taunting us.

We had the pleasure of meeting the fifth generation farmer who has his farm on both sides of the river and the main road in the Garston valley. He was shifting a mob of sheep across his vintage 'bailey bridge' with five of his dogs, including Paddy 'the king of the castle'.

As you can see the weather hadn't improved by the next morning as we headed off towards Queenstown. Winter is well and truly underway down south.

Camp #3 Lake Hayes, Queenstown- another familiar reserve, this time we decided to test out the ambiguous freedom camping rules at the lake. On previous stop-overs we've had to park in a small area between the camping signs, but with one sign missing and anecdotal evidence that as long as you are CSC (certified self-contained) you can park anywhere in the reserve at the moment, we gave it a go. 

We found a spot under the willows near the lake's edge. If a ranger came by early in the morning (as had been the case in the past), I didn't see him. And we've yet to receive our recent mail, so if a ticket has been issued the fine may be growing in size as we speak.

Walk #1 Lake Hayes Walkway. For various reasons we had never walked the 7.5km loop walk around the lake even though we've visited the lake several times. I was looking forward to doing it when the autumn colours were at their best back in April, but it was raining when we stopped for lunch before heading to our next destination. 

The track climbs a short distance before winding its way around the side of a large hill that borders the west side of the lake. Ahead of us The Remarkables hide their heads in the low cloud.

And even though the weather still wasn't the best, it was a good time to complete the walk; the lake was a millpond and the reflections magnificent. That's an Australian Coot at the top right, they are usually quite shy but the ones at Lake Hayes are used to people.

We both couldn't get over how many abandoned, disintegrating and rotting dinghies, yachts, canoes, kayaks and sail boards there were, stashed right around the lake's edge. They were hidden under fallen trees, buried in the undergrowth, covered in mould and leaf litter and filled with water. It's such a shame, I'm sure there would be many schools or clubs that would love to have them. I don't understand why the council hasn't done anything about having them removed, many of them are an eyesore.

This dinghy was one of the better ones it also made a good subject, especially with the reflections behind.

Camp #4 Lowburn, Lake Dunstan, Cromwell- I want to say an old favourite but it's not actually a favourite just a very familiar camp site. We seem to stay here on the way to somewhere else or on the way back. This time we had the place to ourselves which is very unusual as it's a huge site and usually very popular. Another 3-4 motorhomes joined us later in the evening but they all stayed up the back. It also happened to be the long Queens Birthday weekend so we stayed a couple of days and expected to see a few more people but they didn't eventuate. They'd probably headed off to warmer climes. 

Finally we had some blue sky and I shot some lovely reflections of boat harbour at the south end of the park.

Walk #2 Bannockburn Sluicings Walk- a 3.5km loop walk we avoid no more! The last time we thought we'd do the walk it was the middle of a hot Central Otago summer. A barren dry landscape on a scorcher of a day does not hold much appeal I can tell you. We read the information board and slotted the walk in the 'must do sometime' folder and headed home for a cool drink in the shade!

The track loops through the former Bannockburn gold field which was sluiced and mined from 1862 into the 1930's. We walked the track anti-clockwise which saved us a bit of a climb in the other direction. Here the sluiced landscape mirrors the natural one of the range in the background.

The track winds its way through the sluicings past the remains of dams, water races, tunnels, stone walls and channels. There are also the remains of a few stone houses including the Blacksmith's shop, and caves and rock shelters where some of the poorest miners lived. 

Menzies Dam (bottom left)  was the largest miner's dam in Otago, the stone walls were at least 2 metres high on three sides of the dam holding water in an area the size of a rugby field. The dam was fed by elaborate stone water races from Long Gully and the Carrick Range up behind us. You'll recall the water race we saw multiple times as we drove the Carricktown 4WD Track and saw the Young Australian Waterwheel.  The dam provided 'liquid gold' for its owners, the water was sold at £4 per week for a 'head' of water, equivalent to 28.3litres (or one foot) per second. Gold sold for £3.15s per ounce in 1872 so it was a considerable out-going expense especially if you had a bad week mining.

The track winds it way through the middle of the sluicings and up onto a small plateau to the remnants of Stewart Town which is behind the dam, and named after one of the dam owners. Here there are the remains of several old stone and rammed earth buildings dating from the 1860s and a very old orchard of apricots & pears that still produce fruit. 

The track then follows the cliff edge back towards the starting point. We've walked right around the outside of this huge chasm. Piles of tailings sit in great mounds along the base of the cliffs. Another walking/mountainbike track  passes straight up the centre of the valley. 

You'll most likely not see it, but if you click on the photo to enlarge, there's a tiny black dot on the path, a person walking uphill. That'll give you an idea of how vast the expanse is. It's also a long way down to the bottom of the cliffs and quite scary to be on the edge- watch children if they're with you on this walk.

Towering cliff faces are all that is left of the hills that have been sluiced away to find the precious gold. Some of the pinnacles we pass were left by miners to mark the corners of their claims and give an indication of how much of the area the miners had sluiced.

Once off the plateau the track passes through this smaller canyon past caves and piles of tailings. Can you see David reading the sign in the top photo below? That also gives you some idea of how much earth has been moved and how the landscape has been changed.

Back in the carpark we can see the bare vineyards of Bannockburn below us, here looking towards the Kawarau Gorge. A new liquid gold. Such is Central Otago.

A River Destination- Southland

Real-time

I still have a couple of blog posts from the Catlins to do but thought while I have an unexpected internet connection, I'd let you know where we've been during the last week and over Waitangi weekend.

In a huge contrast to last year's Waitangi weekend, this year we swapped people for sheep (and sandflies). This was the view out our back window. The rest of the flock weren't so keen and gave the van a wide berth, although, going by the hoof prints and poop, I suspect they checked every inch of the van out while we were sleeping. 

The river was running very high, but not as high as it had obviously been not long before we arrived. We could see evidence of where the river has flowed over the banks and across the floodplain behind us. I told you it's been raining in Southland for all of summer.

If we'd heard anything more than a few soft splatters on the roof we'd have been hitching up and pulling out of there, quick smart. 

It was quite spooky once night fell, hearing the rush of water passing by just metres from the door. You wouldn't want to go sleep walking...

The river level slowly dropped over the next couple of days revealing a badly eroded river bank and great clumps of dirt and turf laying in the shallows. 

Although still quite murky, colour returned to the water and while I spotted a couple of trout checking out the new clumps of dirt in their habitat, David had no luck fishing along the banks.

'So, where are you?', I hear you shout. Well, we're parked on the side of a river in Southland. Not just any river either, this is the mighty Mataura River....190km long and famous for it's brown trout. 

We're parked along the Mataura's middle reaches, about 25kms inland from Lumsden, at the end of the road, at a place called Cattle Flat. The farmland that surrounds our camp site is owned by Cattle Flat Station and permission must be sought from the manager to camp alongside the river. Take note of the house number (1385) on the sign so you can call in on your way past- it's about 8kms back down the gravel road if you don't. 

I had a toss up with my conscience about making this site public- one of the first times I've struggled with whether I should post it or not. It's such a great area, complete isolation (well nearly) and not too far off the beaten track. But it has in the past suffered from abuse by freedom campers, hence the reason permission to stay must now be obtained. Vehicles have to be CSC and dogs are not allowed unless they have been treated for sheep measles (please don't let me down folks, thanks kindly).

Sunset at Cattle Flat

There's a charming surprise at the end of the road- a well maintained collection of fishing huts- and the reason the road is open to the public. Well, the huts and a bush reserve on conservation land. Please also, don't camp in front of the huts.

The huts have been passed down through the generations and I believe that they can't be sold (although I think that is a moot point). Unlike many other huts we've seen on our travels these are all in good repair and look like they'll outlive their current owners many times over.

There are even a couple around the corner...

and more alongside a stream that runs through the reserve. We had a little hiccup with this stream- we were collecting lovely crystal clear water for our tank from here....that was until I went for a walk and found one very smelly & bloated sheep lying across the middle of the stream a few hundred metres upstream. Eeuw.....yuk!

David drained our tank and we refilled it with water collected 20 metres above the sheep. I guess ignorance is bliss when you don't know what's around the corner. It's just lucky we don't drink our tank water, I guess you never can be too cautious though.

We stopped to talk to the owner of this crib on our way past- actually David stopped to talk to him while I took photos of the huts. The guy was very keen to show us his mobile BBQ- great Kiwi ingenuity there, and his hot-tub with gas heating system attached. A rotationally moulded foam filled hot tub too (our old industry).

One of the Cattle Flat's attractions for me was the fact that some of our favourites places along SH6; Nokomai Station (where we did the 4WD Safari), Athol & Garston are just over the mountains behind us. The rounded mountain at the back of the valley is East Dome, one of the three Domes (the other two being West & Mid) that form a triangle around that area.

The Mataura flows past those settlements and through Nokomai before passing us here at Cattle Flat and continuing on down past Gore, eventually exiting into the vast Fortrose estuary at the bottom of the Catlins. I wondered how long it would take for water that passed us at Cattle Flat to reach the mouth; going by the speed of the 'eels' passing by, not long at all. The 'eels' were similar lengths of dark smooth driftwood caught up in the flood waters that floated by in a never ending conga line. We couldn't decide why they were all mostly of the same length, like they'd been fed through a bean slicer somewhere. I do know though, that somewhere downstream, there's a whole heap of kindling building up.

The weather was mostly fine and warm, which was a relief after all our bad weather. It cooled down and clouded over most afternoons with the threat of rain. But in the end it was the wind that got to us; we left a day earlier than planned. The prevailing westerly swept down the valley and shook and battered us about for hours on end for a couple of days. And then we had one bad night when we had to pull the slide-out in to ease the strain on the van and the constant rocking and rolling. A shame, but that weather continues to put the kibosh on our summer.

We still had a great stay and thoroughly enjoyed the solitude. The crib owner and his wife were the only other people we saw during the first three days and we only saw them the once.

Out our back window again- the extend of activity once the holiday weekend arrived, when people replaced sheep for a very short time. The cribs are lined up along the road behind the macrocarpas.

Where to next? Not too far away and onto another 'flat'.

Winter in Winton

I thought I'd better do a quick blog post to let those that are wondering know, we have safely arrived at the family's home in Winton, and it was ahead of the big snow dump.

We've also managed to tuck 'Out There' up the driveway very nicely which has saved us camping at the local golf course (a NZMCA CAP- costs apply parking site). Mind you, parking at the golf course might not have been too bad, I may have finally managed to have a game of golf, give my clubs a chance to pay their way- they’ve been carted around in the storage box for the last year hardly seeing the light.

It's a tight fit and luckily the family cars are OK parked in the drive and on the road as there’s no way into the carport or the garage for them. There’s barely enough room for people to squeeze past, I may have to shift a shrub or two before too many days are past.

I must say my kitchen view is not the most desirable I’ve had on our travels; the carport fascia passes right through the middle of the window a couple of inches from the glass. But I can see over the top and out to the paddock behind to see if the weather is changing. Although I only have to open the door to know that it’s the middle of winter in the deep south- freezing cold, finger numbing and chilly even when the sun is shining.

It’s been great to see the family again of course, and the kids have grown so much in the year since we last saw them- grown up both in height and maturity. Ollie is now 8 and Ruby 5, nearly 6 going on 10. We surprised them on the day we arrived by going with Mum to collect them from school. The look on their faces when they spotted us was priceless. And yesterday the school had their weekly (or maybe its fortnightly) community assembly where family are able to attend. There’s nothing like a hall full of children singing the national anthem to give you goose bumps, took me straight back to primary school.

Lonely in Lumsden- we had a couple of nights at the NZMCA Park in Lumsden before heading down the road to Winton, the first night with one other van, the second by ourselves.

We also had some friendly visitors who called into see us. Paul & Amanda have a 5th-wheeler and Amanda saw a photo of Lumsden on the NZMCA Facebook page that I had posted and as they were passing through Lumsden they decided to call in and say hello. Wasn’t that lovely? Great things happen when you belong to NZMCA, it’s just one big friendly family.

The storm arrived during our second night at Lumsden; ferocious wind and rain that bucketed down. We survived it fine, although we were buffered and rocked about a bit. The gravel patch was a large pool of water in the morning and the temperature had certainly dropped- there was snow out there somewhere but not on our patch.

It was raining and miserable as we left the park and we had to stop in Lumsden on the way out of town to do our abultions (I’ve decided that’s a better word than ‘dump’). From the bustling village centre I could see a light dusting of snow on the hills behind the township. And that was the extent of our winter snow storm. More is the pity, I could have quite happily been caught back in Arrowtown for a few days, I want photos of lots of snow. I was a bit peeved off that we left Arrowtown just two days before the big dump (there’s that word again). David’s quite happy we missed that bullet. He is not coping too well with the chilly weather, but we’ve come this far and it’s a long way back to the warmth.

To ease his discomfort, I visited the ‘famous in the South Island’ Lumsden bakery, which is right next door to the dump station, and bought some of their famous doughnuts and pies for lunch to have when we arrived in Winton. The bakery has won the ‘Deals on Wheels Best Eatery On The Road’ competition three years running. The doughnuts were so yummy I forgot to take a photo of them before we ate them!

I should have a few more back dated blog posts ready to post this coming week- believe me I am trying to catch up!

Especially for Dad



....and Pam and Trish & Len and Rodger & Heather and Gladys and everyone else that plays golf & has been waiting to see if we were just taking the clubs along for ballast. We finally dusted (literally) them off and played a round of golf at the Lumsden Golf Course this afternoon.

 

 

When we decided to have a game this morning it was cool, grey & misty, by the time we got to the course early this afternoon it was blue sky, beating sun, and a scorcher of a day! We didn't plan that very well, we could have decided to have our first away game on a nicer course (we've seen plenty) & a cooler day (we've had plenty of those too!).  Lumsden is a very uninteresting flat up & down 9 hole course with plenty of trees & very dry fairways. We were the only silly buggers on it and we both started with a hiss & a roar but faded on the home straight, the heat was unbearable as were my golf shoes on my sore feet. All things considered we both had a few really good holes, some average ones & a couple we'd both rather forget; so that would be......the usual game of golf!

 

The highlight was back in the carpark, in the tree just above our ute. I wonder how many of you know what this is?

This is a black phase fantail & what a sweet little bird he(or she) was. Black fantails are not that common and are mostly found in the South Island, they are virtually non-existent in the North Island. This would be about the 7th or 8th one I've seen down here but all the others haven't waited around for me to take a photo. This little guy was more than happy to pose, I had my arm outstretched to within a foot or two of him & he didn't move for ages and then when he did, he flitted closer still. Unfortunately I only had my cell phone to snap him. I may just have to go back there tomorrow with my camera and try for some better ones.

We were so hot after golf we decided to go for a swim at the stream where David had been fishing. The water was just as cold as the other day but it was so refreshing. I've always preferred river (or stream) swimming to the beach, especially with it being so crystal clear on a shingle base; no sand or salt just ice cold fresh water.

Those brown trout were still taunting us too, we had a swim in the pool right beside their patch & they continued to swim in and out of the flow right beside us! Trout would usually hide away under the fallen logs until we were downstream or out of sight. Not them. One of them was a monster too.

On the way back home we stopped so I could get this shot of the Oreti River looking west towards Fiordland. We feel like we have a connection with the Oreti, the river flows south to Invercargill & it's mouth is beside Sandy Point, a recreation area where we went with the family & by ourselves walking & bird watching.

And one more photo from Lumsden, this is the local hotel with it's fabulous paint job. Originally named the Railway Hotel it was built in the early 1900s, it had 27 rooms, including 19 bedrooms, 4 sitting rooms, 2 dining rooms & a billiard room. The hotel stables had 20 stalls and the owner ran two coaches a week from Lumsden to Lake Manapouri via Te Anau. Lumsden was once the centre point for travellers, gold prospectors & drovers alike.

Well that's it for Lumsden, we move on tomorrow. We have actually been here longer than we intended but we've been waiting for the weekend to arrive. David saw a flyer back in Mandeville advertising a fundraising self drive 4WD safari through the private Nokomai Station. We've booked for it and are moving up to Athol tomorrow so we're closer to the starting point. It's a day long drive through the station and we exit near the Nevis, where there is a well known public 4WD crossing which we'll probably do when we get to the Queenstown area.

It's going to be a great day, apparently the views are amazing so lets hope the weather stays fine. The organisers Oked our Ute but suggested we put some weight in the tray, they didn't know about the fifth-wheel assembly & the deflated inflatable which will give us 100kgs extra. All diesel vehicles must have a spark arrestor fitted- on most new vehicles it's standard- they don't want us setting fire to the tussock. We also have to sign away our life, carry a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher & have suitable tyres, so this isn't just going to be any ordinary drive in the park!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, I think we'll be away from cell phone reception but I'll have a post ready to go as soon as I can with photos of course!

"Out There" doing it.