Summer in the Ahuriri Valley

Here's the blog I promised, check the difference out between my last blog from the Ahuriri Valley in winter against the valley in January this year.

Before heading up the valley we stayed at NZMCA POP #8135 (park over property), one that I've wanted to stay at for awhile but one we seem to fly past in either direction, on our way further south or keen to get back into Mackenzie Country.

Longslip Station POP- all on our lonesome

This lovely POP is part of Longslip Station, a large farm station on the north side of the Lindis Pass. Located at the beginning of Birchwood Road, the POP is just 20kms from Omarama. The access track opens up into a large flat paddock ringed with white painted rocks right beside the Ahuriri River. 

Ahuriri River, Copper Butterfly

The weather was perfect; blue bird days, calm and very, very hot. David had the right idea though. Can you see him under the 5th-wheeler's nose? He's in the shade, sitting at the picnic table flying his drone & watching its progress on his iPad. 

Although the river looked inviting for a swim, it was actually very swift flowing and it wouldn't have been very relaxing trying to stand upright & balance on the rocky bottom. There were a couple of backwash areas where I could have dipped my toes but they didn't look as inviting. 

Every now & then we'd look up and watch a cloud of dust swirling along Birchwood Road. I know David was thinking to himself  'bloody hell', we've got to travel down there in a day or so. He'd also be wishing for a light sprinkling of overnight rain to dampen it down.  

His wish wasn't granted though. The sun set each evening over a cloudless sky.

There was also an ulterior motive behind our stop at Longslip Station. I've had a nearby 4WD loop track on our 'to do' list for a long time. The track is located at the far back of the valley on the east side of the main highway between Omarama & Birchwood Rd, in between the Wether & Ewe Ranges. What is more interesting to me than anything else is the fact that from the track start point it's just 25kms over the mountains to St Bathans in Central Otago. Whereas by road it's about 200kms!

The West Manuherikia Track crosses the Omarama Saddle, and if you take the loop back on the East Manuherikia Track, you'll cross Little Omarama Saddle at the tail end of the Hawkdun Range. At the other end, the tracks come out in the Manuherikia River valley & Hawkdun Runs Road right below the Hawkdun & St Bathans Ranges. This is where we couldn't finish the loop track when we did Falls Dam & the Home Hills Run Road last year. 

I had read it was better to do the West track first & return via the East track which was a lot more gnarly. There were several guys in the carpark (a paddock) off loading their trail bikes from a trailer as we headed through the farm gate & straight into a rough farm section around the edge of a hill.

We were heading to the break in the mountains at the back of the farm flats. The 5km farm track turned out to be quite rough & rutted in places & had a couple of swampy sections to cross. Our progress was watched with interest by cattle & calves who took off into the scrub bucking & twisting with tails flying as we got near. 

Eventually we reached the boundary gate opening into the Oteake Conservation Park & the track proper. The Oteake Park is a huge conservation park that stretches from Dansey's Pass in Central Otago through the Ida Range, all the way along the Hawkduns & down into Canterbury and including St Bathans & St Mary's Ranges on both sides. 

We drove along the dusty track for a kilometre or so until we came to start of the climb up and over the saddle. It looked pretty narrow & we couldn't see around the first corner. David was worried we might meet someone coming down & wouldn't be able to pass, so I walked up to the corner to check.

And it was borderline, not only were there several more corners ahead, the track was very narrow & deeply rutted in places, areas where we could belly out & get stuck (and I know in the photos it looks reasonably ok, but photos never do the actual condition of the tracks justice).  It was touch & go and in the end we decided it wasn't worth the risk to go any further. The ute tows our home & any damage or problems with it & we're stuck where we're parked. This time the 'shiny' wasn't going to get through.

While we were discussing the track the trail bikes flew past us, up and over the bank down the other side weaving up the track they went. And then after we'd turned around, a couple of heavy duty 4WDs passed us. We waited at the gate to see them head up the track (bottom right photo). One vehicle appeared first and stopped & then it took a long while for the 2nd one to pop out from behind the hill, although we could see his front through the binoculars, he wasn't moving. We couldn't see what was holding him back but he seemed to bounce out when he did get free.

Resigned & disappointed that we had to turn around, & now with a packed lunch going spare, we drove to the Omarama Aerodrome where we sat on the tail gate eating our lunch & watching the gilders coming & going.

Omarama Aerodrome is world famous for gliding, it not only has the perfect soaring conditions, it has some breathtaking scenery. The airfield is usually busy with gliders on weekends but we didn't expect quite so many. I found out later that there was a youth glide camp on. 

We especially enjoyed watching the gliders take off on the far side of the field. These gliders were attached to a bungy cord (well, I call it that anyway).  

Beyond the  far end of the runway, about 2 kms down, a huge hydraulic winch wound the line in pulling the glider into the air until it was high enough to let the tow line go and the line would fall back to the ground while the glider continued on its flight. A small truck would then race down to the end, grab the line and drag it all the way back up to tie it on to the next glider. I wanted to know who the brave person was that tried this out the first time! 

The next day it was time to head up the Ahuriri Valley. On a more sedate '4WD track'... 

...but with double the amount of dust!

The valley looked stunning on a warm summer's day, unlike the snow & ice we had on our last visit in July. There'd be no problems getting to the top of the valley at this time of the year.

Ahuriri Valley; The Lindis sculpture; Ahuriri River

Here are a couple of comparison photos taken not too far before our destination at the DOC camp. The first taken in early July last year...

...and the following one in mid January, 2022. You can now see that the puddle in the middle of the road has dried out and it's not that deep. During winter everyone heads to the outside (including us) because they can't see the depth. It's actually more boggy on the sides and the ruts start to get deeper & the mess larger. And all the while, through the centre has a gravel base and would be fine to drive through!

Once through the last cattle stop and into the Conservation Park we followed the track down to the side of the Ahuriri River & our usual parking spot in amongst the thick tussock. 

Any thought of setting up camp was lost when we looked over the edge into the river & right there below us was this big beautiful Brown Trout! We thought he'd shoot away as soon as he spotted us but he had no interest in us and carried on circling in his pool and sucking up any insects that were swirling in the eddy; including a poor ladybird in the bottom photo.

He was swimming around the pool every time we looked out for the next couple of days, but sadly on the third day, after we returned from a walk further up the valley, he was gone. There were two fly fisherman just up the river and I'm sure because we weren't at the van, they would have fished in the pool below us. We hoped they might have been 'catch & release' fishermen but the trout never made another appearance.  

Once the sun dropped behind the mountains, the temperature dropped a little & clouds spiraled in over the valley.

One last vehicle headed out just on dusk and we were the only ones left in what seemed like a vast wilderness with just the sound of the passing river for company. Total bliss!  

Sunrise was beautiful the next morning. 

After a day relaxing on what was one of our hottest days this summer (and me having my first swim of the summer; the water was breathtakingly cold), we headed further up the valley to complete a walk I'd attempted to do back when we visited in winter.

This involved several familiar photo stops on the way. Every season is different and with this being one of my favourite views, I had to have a summer photo overlooking the large wetland beside the Ahuriri River with Mt St Mary in the background. The 4wd track we're following is on the right skirting around the edge of the wetland.

And this one (a fav) was taken a few years ago in the middle of winter, I love the contrast between the bright green ribbon of water, the dark grey scree slopes and the rustic tussocks. 

This one is the summer view up the valley...

...and this one from our visit last winter (click photo to enlarge)

The 4wd track was of course much easier to travel although there were a couple of curly sections towards the end where washouts and gravel slides have passed through. Once in the carpark we headed off on the 3km track to Canyon Creek.

And here's the same track I attempted to walk back in winter. Then there was a river of water flowing along the track under a layer of ice & snow. I gave up after a couple of hundred metres or so.

This time instead of ice & snow we had long grass & hot weather. Canyon Creek flows out of the canyon on the right side of the mountain ahead but the track enters the bush on the left hand side and then climbs around the front and up above the bush line in the canyon.

The track was easy going although we missed a DOC marker pole (as had several others going by the tracks that crisscrossed each other) and headed out over the gravel banks which also meant we had to cross several streams before we found ourselves back on the correct track running along the edge of the bush... 

...until we finally reached the bottom of the mountain. The track crossed the stream and headed up into the bush at the DOC orange triangle ahead of us. But unfortunately- because I know there are some magic views of the canyon higher up the mountain- this was as far as we were going today. I had a bung knee on the mend and I didn't want to aggravate it. 

We had our lunch beside the stream, did a little bird spotting and then headed back down the valley.

It was a long hot walk home and I wistfully eyed up a couple of bikes I spied 'hidden' just off the track. We later spoke to the couple who owned them, one had been up to the top of the canyon and further on to a small hidden lake high in the mountains. He'd stayed overnight there and said it had been rather hard going & he'd been a bit worried about some of terrain he'd had to cross. His partner had tramped up the Ahuriri River to one of the huts and stayed there. 

At the end of each day the fishermen, trampers & day trippers headed off back down the valley leaving us to our solitude.

David did a bit of fishing each day. Could there be any better location to fly-fish? Here in front of Mt St Mary.

He had a few strikes including one very large fish that managed to release itself; maybe it was our friendly Brown. We hoped so.

After several days of hot sunny weather, the forecast for the following few days was for heavy rain...

...so we made the decision to head off before it arrived and not have to battle mud & rain on our trip out of the valley. Big fat rain drops started falling just as we pulled out.

Awesome Onslow- Central Otago

Real-time

This must be one of the longest times I've gone without posting a blog, and I do feel a little guilty but it was also lovely to relax and enjoy a break. I didn't waste time though, I've managed to process a whole heap of photos and have them ready for various blogs. This one just to let you know where we've been; I still have a few catch-up blogs to post soon.

We're now in Alexandra (Central Otago) catching up on a few chores after a week of glorious weather and wonderful isolation at one of our favourite 'must re-visit' lakes. And this time with the 5th-wheeler on the back. 

Lake Onslow is situated in high tussock grasslands, 25kms east of Roxburgh at the northwest end of the Lammerlaw Range. The lake freezes and the snow can be deep for weeks on end over winter. The road in, is clay with a rock base and it's very slippery after rain.  It can also be very dusty but we were lucky, light rain a few days prior had settled the dust without giving us any issues although there were a couple of boggy patches.

It was a slow and steady climb out of Millers Flat until we reached the first plateau and turned onto Lake Onslow Road. There we met the country version of a traffic jam. Two farmers having a chin-wag. In fact the one heading in our direction was the farmer who farmed from the Clutha River down at Millers Flat all the way to Lake Onslow. 

He asked us if we'd mind waiting for 10 minutes or so as they were moving a mob of sheep from the lake area to the home paddock for crutching. And sure enough, it wasn't long before the leaders appeared over the brow of the road.

2000 sheep turned- jumping, running, pushing, pooing and baaing- into a paddock just ahead of us; they were taking a short cut to the bottom. I really wanted to creep up the side to get the ribbon of sheep coming over the hill behind but was only allowed to get this close. Never mind, the wait was worth it, we got a good tip from Mr Farmer.

Once the sheep passed we continued on, now slowly climbing up Mt Teviot (851m). I can tell you the photos don't do the climb justice. It's just as well the zig-zag road ahead is a farm track, our road heads to the left around the bend.

Once we reach the top of Mt Teviot, the contours of the land and the views are spectacular- tussock as far as the eye can see intermingled with the green of a forestry block and the fodder crops and pasture lands of high country farms. 

This is looking down the road we've just climbed and back towards the Clutha River valley

We skirt around the side of the Mt Teviot and Lake Onslow finally comes into view, filling a large shallow depression in the tussock plateau. It's all downhill from here and much longer than you would think, it's also an equally tough climb out when you leave the lake.

The area where the lake now is was once known as the 'Dismal Swamp', the lake was created in 1888 by the damming of the Teviot River for a gold claim far below the range at Roxburgh. The flow from the lake is now used for irrigation and hydro-electric generation.

And proving once again that it's not what you know but who you know, Mr Farmer had told us to use the 'top gate' as there was a washout near the bottom gate and we wouldn't get through. We wouldn't have been able to turn around easily either. 

So it was straight down a grassy track to the lake front. David took great delight later in the week asking a couple of visitors towing caravans in, how they faired through the wash out and then asking them why they didn't use the 'expressway'!

The next task was finding a level site, there aren't too many places available as most of the ground slopes towards the lake and it's also covered in great clumps of tussock.

We found a spot behind the fishing huts and with a view of the lake...

...although we had to block the down side up quite a way which meant a big step up into the van. It was also protected from the wind a little, by two shorts rows of trees, the only trees for miles.

If we'd had a key we'd have even had our very own long-drop! Not.

There's just a dozen or so cribs spaced along the ridge on a point above the lake, not far from the river outlet and boat ramp. The last time we visited we never saw another soul, we had the whole place to ourselves for the day. 

This time there were two or three hut visitors during the week and a handful of boaties each day. Lake Onslow is a 'secret' brown trout mecca and when the cicadas are hatching it's game on. The cicadas were late this year (due to the crappy weather) and had only just started hatching during our last few days.

This one 'got away', we were going to keep it but then David decided he'd release it. He got it out of the net and held it up for a photo and it leapt out of his hand, hit me on the arm as it flew past and back into the drink. We didn't feel so bad knowing it was going to be released anyway. 

As you can see we had perfect weather and not before time. There was not a drop of rain in seven days, although we were fogged in until mid morning on a couple of days, the cause of some very low (4c) overnight temperatures. The fog sooned burned off revealing a perfect millpond and warm temperatures. David had the Takacat up and ready to go as soon as we arrived and he spent most days out on the lake fishing.

The old and the new...

And the beautiful...sunrises and sunsets were spectacular.

Lake Onslow is not for everyone, I think you have to be a fisherperson, a photographer or just love solitude to enjoy this stunning area. It's wouldn't be everyone's cup-of-tea........(that's a ploy to stop the crowds from invading) 

The dam outlet

We set the koura pot (fresh water crayfish) most nights and had excellent results and big crays too. I had to be brave and dunk them in boiling water to kill and cook them. I'm a bit of a wuss like that and I very nearly decided to release the first catch of about a dozen crays when David wasn't looking. But I gave myself a stern talking to, I'm not a vegetarian and where the heck do I think my protein comes from! I still felt bad about it, but cheered up considerably when we had lovely cray tail entrees most nights. They taste just like prawns.

Reluctantly, after seven nights and with rain forecast (which hasn't eventuated), we packed up and headed out, back up the grassy track...

...and down the road which was now as dry as a bone and belching dust like there was no tomorrow.

Once we reached the turnoff to Millers Flat, we thought 'what the hell, we're covered in dust now we might as well add a few more layers', so we carried on, travelling right along the top of the plateau and dropping down to Roxburgh instead of  Millers Flat, adding another 12kms of dust to the rig. Not one of our brightest decisions!  

More from the Dismal Swamp soon.