Matangi Station Rally

 Real-time

We're not usually rally attendees but we do keep an eye out for ones that are held in unusual and interesting places.  Once we were accidental attendees to a rally at Nelson Lakes, that turned out to be a great weekend. We still laugh at how it happened and how awkward we felt. Others we have done have been attached to events such has the Arrowtown Autumn Festival (twice) and the Cavalcade (at Omakau) both were hosted by the NZMCA Clutha Valley Area. 

From the lookout above Alexandra 

We had a few days to fill in before we had to be in Southland so when I heard that Clutha Valley was holding a rally at Matangi Station, a large farm station near Alexandra, I thought it would be an interesting to attend and also a chance to catch up with Clutha Valley members we'd met on previous rallies. 

Matangi Station is located in Little Valley, just 10kms from Alexandra and yet it felt a whole world away once we climbed up the rocky hills behind the town and followed the narrow dusty road through a typical Central Otago landscape of rocky tors, golden tussocks, briar bushes, prickly matagouri...

...and those hardy Central Otago Merino sheep.

We had to squeeze past several vehicles coming out of the valley on the narrow road and we wondered what they thought when suddenly their quiet 'farm' road was inundated with large motorhomes travelling in on a dead end road. Hopefully they had been forewarned to expect us. 

An old stone wall followed the contours of the road for quite a distance and we later found out that this was a water canal that was built to supply Alexandra with water. It didn't last long because there wasn't enough supply, even though there are several springs in the valley.

It didn't take long before houses, farm buildings and the cultivated green paddocks of Little Valley opened up before us. There are three farm stations in the valley all owned by the extended Sanders family; we are heading to Matangi Station, a merino stud farm run by John & his wife Mary Liz and two of their sons & families. In fact we had been driving through the station farm since leaving Alexandra, Matangi Station reaches from the lookout behind Alex right through to Little Valley.

Motorhomes, caravans & fifth-wheelers trickled in throughout the afternoon and once registration forms were completed we set up camp in the woolshed paddock.

Soon the vans reach around the corner of the woolshed and off across the paddock, people were soon catching up with old friends and welcoming new members. There were certainly a lot of laughter at happy hour as everyone tried to cram in under the shade of the gazebos and out of the sun in the 30+ degree heat.

David flew the drone over the campers...

And later in the evening I drove back up the road to take some golden hour photos of the valley.

The merino rams weren't keen on having their photos taken and soon disappeared over the rise. Little did they know...

The next day after a morning tea catch up those with bikes got ready to cycle over one of the farm tracks.

As lovely as it looked I was secretly pleased that I wasn't going to be heading off in the mid-day heat, it was another scorcher of a day.

I stood at the gate and took their photos instead! What a happy bunch they were too.

If I had one disappointment it was the fact that there wasn't the opportunity to drive one of the farm tracks- for those that had 4WD vehicles- to an advantage point on the surrounding range. That would have certainly been a highlight for us. 

Instead I drove back up the road again looking for photo opportunities and as luck would have it, those camera shy rams were being rounded up by John...

...and mustered straight past me parked on the side of the road.

 This is just a small group of the farm's 700 merino stud rams.

And they were heading for the woolshed...

...where they were penned for the night and available for us to check out at close quarters after John gave a talk about the farm's history & operation during our BBQ dinner (not a lamb roast either).

Clutha Valley Area members always put on a great BBQ for attendees, we supplied our own salads, they supplied the meat. 

After dinner and a bit of lubrication, the bagpipes made an appearance...

And then someone, who shall remain nameless, decided to do a little highland fling to entertain the crowd. 

It was a relief of sorts when the sun finally disappeared behind the hills, although the heat & humidity lasted through the night; windows, vents & doors were left wide open on many vans. The peaceful sound of silence & the occasional sheep baa soon lulled us to sleep. 

Although I did step outside at some un-Godly hour to look at the night sky. It was stunning, millions of stars twinkling in the moonless night, reaching from one side of the valley to the other & beyond. I kicked myself in the morning that I didn't have enough energy to get the tripod & camera out to take a few photos. 

After one last morning tea gathering with a few prizes and awards presented...

...it was a mass exodus out the gate and off up the hill.

Until there was just us left in the paddock.

Which was fortuitous...

...as I spotted John about to take the rams back to their paddock. Merino rams are a favourite subject for me, I just love the expression on their faces, their curly horns and the spooky little face that appears on the end of their nose if you look long enough!

Once out the gate, they grabbed a quick bite to eat...

...and a drink from the nearby stream until a couple decided to head out the home paddock gate and the rest quickly followed along like, well, sheep.

Out the gate and into the opposite paddock before John spotted them and roared off on his bike to round them up...

 ...and head them back up the road. We followed slowly along behind.

At the end of the road, just before we dropped back down into Alexandra, we pulled to a stop so I could take a photo from the lookout and a Karearea/NZ Falcon flew straight past the rig at eye level and disappeared over the cliff edge. The perfect way to finish off a great weekend! 

Thankyou very much for your hospitality Clutha Valley members, it was a great rally and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Alexandra- click on the photo to enlarge

Carricktown- The Shiny Finally Gets Through; Part 2

Catch-up

Carried on from Part 1

We leave the Young Australian waterwheel behind, fording the water race and once again steadily climbing up to the next ridge. Clutha Valley comes back into view.

I forgot to put the panos up in the first part of the blog so I'll drop them in here for you (click on the photo to enlarge)

And here's one as we leave the waterwheel, you can see it just about centre in the photo; a light grey dot.

We finally reach the top of the ridge where the Spaniards are thick on the ground and rocky tors dot the landscape.

The track levels out and heads east across the top of the ridge, there are now numerous small bogs to cross as the water pools in the hollows. We're now around 1200 metres above sea level and in the winter this area would often be deep in snow. We suddenly see life across the divide and spot two vehicles making their way cautiously towards us (remember to click to enlarge).

We find an area to pull off the road and wait for them to come through. A good time to take some more photos! This is looking west and under those clouds are The Remarkables; the backside of the Remarkables, we're not that far from Queenstown. Did you spot the merinos? 

I climb back in the cab and we wait patiently for them to appear over the rise in front of us, they disappeared out of sight and took such a long time to re-appear, we think they must have been waiting for us as well. Eventually they come into sight, give us a wave as they pass and carry on across the track. 

Discussing the track later, we think that perhaps we should have done it in this direction too, descended the range, instead of climbing it. The view over Clutha Valley would have opened up in front of us as we headed down the range, I wouldn't have had to get out as much to take photos and David would have seen more of it too. But then again, David likes going up a track rather than descending it.

We move off again, spotting a blue figure against the skyline ahead of us; the German runner who passed us back at Carricktown. We'd actually caught sight of a blue dot moving through the landscape several times but we're now catching him up. Maybe he stopped to talk to the guys in their vehicles and that's what held them up.

We pass carefully through one last bog...

...and head up to Watts Rock, the highest point on the Carrick Range at 1322m.

I get the fright of my life when I climb up to the trig beacon and find the German guy resting against one of the rocks taking in the view back along the track we've both just crossed. I wondered where he'd gone.

He tells me he's going to return by the same route, all 14kms of it. I tell him he can do a loop, carry on along the ridge to Duffers Saddle and then down the Nevis Valley road back to Bannockburn. He's worried he'll get lost but I assure him there's only one way out of the valley as long as he turns left at the end of this track and we won't be far behind him anyway.

He heads back to the track just as a guy on a trail bike comes roaring up behind the ute. Talk about Piccadilly Station! The bike rider stops for a chinwag with David. David offers the runner some water; he's not carrying a thing and is dressed in T-shirt and light running shorts, and like the girls earlier, it's not the ideal attire for a run in the mountains where the weather can change at a moments notice- lucky it is reasonably mild today.

The bike guy tells David he's worried about the two girls though, he passed them at the wheel (9kms from the bottom of the range) and told them they'd have to head back soon as the weather was due to close in late afternoon, you can see the cloud approaching in this pano.

From my vantage point atop the rock I watch as a vehicle passes along the Nevis Valley Road heading towards Cromwell and then I spot the runner taking a short cut across to the Nevis Road too. Off to the south I can see the Nevis Road running south through the valley. 

We carry on and our track drops down to join the Nevis Road just north of Duffers Saddle- travel dots finally joined! We've driven the Nevis Road a couple of times in the past and both times I was unaware of where the Carricktown track left the road. That's because there are no signs although that looks to be about to change, there's a DOC info shelter going up beside the cattlestop at the entrance to the track, which is good because there are several tracks in various states heading off in all directions. 

We stop at the Saddle for a cup of tea and another Ranger pulls in beside us, the driver pouring himself a coffee and joining David to compare notes.

We watch as dozens of vehicles pass us heading in both directions- people out for a Sunday drive over the highest public road in New Zealand! The road into and along the valley floor is fine for regular vehicles in fine weather, it's the Nevis through the gorge at the end of the valley and beyond that drivers need to be cautious of.

Afterwards we search around the nearby rocks looking for lizards (no, not Giant's this time, we're out of their range) but only find a couple of fast moving small ones and two NZ Shorthorn grasshoppers, camouflaged beautifully against their surroundings, although the green one leapt out of the grass ahead of me and into some not so well coloured plants.

It's time to head for home and this time we can see the valley ahead of us, although it's getting very hazy and the shadow of the Pisa Range covers part of the lake.

We pass by and over the Carrick Water Race a couple of times on the way down the range. It's still an important asset for the local community with an intricate network of side canals that leave the race on its downward journey, irrigating the farmland and orchards far below.  I guess the water race will also come under scrutiny when Central Otago's controversial new water allocation permits are needed to be negotiated before 2021.

We now heading down Long Gully...

...and through 'Dead Horse Pinch', where today vehicles make the slow climb to the top of the range.

In the early days many horses didn't make it up the steep incline while pulling wagon loads of mining dredges and material into the Nevis Valley. On their way back out of the valley the wagons dragged 'brake-stones', massive stone slabs behind them to check their descent. These slabs were later used to build the woolshed at the bottom of the road. 

Unfortunately the map won't let me draw the line over our route taken, it obviously doesn't like to be taken off road so I've named all the places and if you zoom in you'll be able to pick up the track(see purple & blue markers).