Maniototo- Out in the Styx; Part 2

Carrying on from Part 1

After driving through Patearoa, we continued on up the Maniototo valley passing along the way, quite a number of new dairy conversions and some still under construction. It was a surprise to see dairy farms all the way out here, I wondered where the closest dairy factory was, we haven’t seen any tankers on the road while we’ve been in the area. We slowed to let the tail-enders of a large herd cross the road, followed by a couple of quad bikes with farm workers on board. Most of the farm labour we’ve seen around the dairy farms here and further south have been Filipinos. I bet the Maniototo would have been a major culture shock for them, especially the isolation and the bitter cold.

We leave the dairy farms behind and move into sheep country, large station homesteads appear here and there and near the entrance of one, we stop to take a photo of this old salvaged & restored gold dredge.

Further on we pass Patearoa Station’s beautiful stone woolshed….

…which is across the road from this long abandoned homestead. The 5000ha Patearoa Station was purchased by the Hore family a few years ago and added to their own large station next door.

The 8000-odd hectare Stonehenge Station is home to the Hore family, this is the family farm of past All Black Andrew Hore whose great-grandfather came to the Maniototo in 1910.

Stonehenge Station cottage and farm shed.

 

We pass over the Tairei River once again, it’s getting narrower so we must be nearing it’s source. There’s also a couple of small power stations on the banks of the river. We start to climb again and we’re looking for a sheltered place to stop for a late lunch.

Towards the top of the rise we pass over a large pipe that is channeling water down to the power stations below. The view out over the vast Maniototo Valley is stunning, small irrigation ponds and dams are glistening in the sunshine, and across the valley is the snow capped North Rough Ridge.

At the top I spot an NZ Fish & Game angling sign beside a closed gate. There must be a lake or dam nearby so we decide to check it out and maybe find that place to have some lunch. We follow a steep track up the side of a bank and find ourselves on top of a dam wall and beside the intake to the pipe. This is the Paerau Irrigation & Power Scheme and a track follows the dam walls in both directions.

We head towards the far end of the dam and before we realise it, there’s a large mob of sheep advancing on us (coming round the mountain). They think we’re the farmer and have their feed with us.

They hesitate for a moment & we make a hasty retreat and finding no shelter beside the dam to have lunch, we park on the track between two huge rocky outcrops. It’s once again bitterly cold outside with a stiff wind blowing but at least the rock offers a little bit of shelter as I pour the soup standing between the open doors while David stays warm in the cab. The white on the rock beside his door are frozen icicles, water that has seeped out of the rocks has frozen on it’s way down the rock face.

We don’t hang about and nor have the sheep, they ambush us on the track over the intake. They must have taken a short cut because we didn’t see them pass us by.

We nudge our way through avoiding eye contact as they stretch their heads upwards looking expectantly for food. When we look back there’s still dozens coming over the rise. We can’t get out of there fast enough. What's with sheep and us, we seem to have spent much of our time in the Maniototo being harassed by hungry sheep.

We carry on down the road, we’re getting close to the end of the road. This is Paerau (meaning many ridges) and formerly known as Styx, as in ‘out in the styx’- and this really is out in the styx, the back of beyond, the wops, miles from nowhere. This road does end, but before it does, it crosses the famous Dunstan Trail, a trail used by miners on their way to and from the inland gold fields of Central Otago back in the late 1800s.

The Dunstan Trail is a Dry Weather Track (summer only), we drove part of it on our way to Poolburn Dam the other week and hopefully we’ll be back to drive it’s length next summer. There are other tracks that branch off from the Dunstan Trail, one heads to Lake Onslow- The Dismal Swamp, where we visited awhile back from the Roxburgh side of the range. Another track passes the most isolated church in New Zealand, the Serpentine, a rough stone ‘hut’ out in the middle of nowhere. Of course I’m hoping we’ll make it to there too.

We cross the Tairei again and as we head up the other side I spot some old buildings down the bank beside the river. These are what I’m looking for and one of the main reasons we’ve driven to the top of the valley.

At the top there’s a gate and a track leading down to the river. It’s private property with a sign on the gate.

This is where the old Styx jail, hotel and stables are located. This is also the junction with the Dunstan Trail and it’s where miners stopped for the night- there were originally two hotels, one on either side of the river so there were options if it was in flood. The Styx Jail was built in 1863, but rather than for prisoners, it was mostly used to secure gold during overnight coach stops.

I thought I had it sorted but the sign wasn’t to scale and didn’t quite make sense (to me anyway), we were parked at the sharp point on the sign, at the Dunstan Trail junction. Talk about being picky- the owners of the land around the jail must have had issues to be so pedantic. But it didn’t matter because when I got to the bottom of the track I found I couldn’t get to the jail anyway due to having to cross the river.

There was no way I was taking my socks & boots off and crossing through the ice cold water and it was actually about knee deep even though it doesn’t look it here. The stables were visible and another building which was possibly the old hotel but I couldn’t see the jail even through the bare trees. I was a bit disappointed not to actually see the jail but  that'll be another reason we’ll have to come back this way in the summer.

As I was getting back into the ute, we heard a whole lot of revving and laughter coming from the Dunstan Trail ahead of us, and high up on the range we spotted three 4WDs weaving their way down the trail. They disappeared into a gully for awhile; we could still hear the revving and yahoos, before they popped over the rise in front of us. They skidded and spun their way out onto the road and were gone, as fast as they appeared.

We turn around and followed their wheelie tracks back up the valley before we turn off and head across the head of the valley to the west side. We stop at another old stone woolshed, this one I think is on Linnburn Station.

A little further on we pass the another entrance to the Dunstan Trail, not too far over the range is the Poolburn Dam. The section of the trail between here and the Styx is the one we’ve just travelled and is the normal public road.

The sun comes out as we turn our nose towards home and head along the bottom of North Rough Ridge passing more sheep stations, deer farms and dairy herds along the way.

Ahead of us I spot a gang of turkeys near the roadside fence- I like gang myself, but rafter or flock, they all refer to a group of turkeys. We pull up so I can take a photo just as I spot another flock of sheep making a beeline across the paddock towards us. ‘Quick,’ I call to David ‘Let’s get out of here!’

Just around the next bend is another larger gang of turkeys spread out across the road. They dash for the fence and as we slow down peel off to the left, running fast along the fence line trying to find a break in it to escape.

I know what my family will be thinking reading this; did you lean out the window Shellie and go ‘gobble, gobble, gobble!?’ My mother did this when we were kids, whenever we’d pass turkeys while out driving around the countryside (in fact she’s been known to do it when we were adults too). I think (I bet) she got it from her father- if you get the call right, the turkeys will answer back. They didn't talk to me.

The long & undulating road home- it was a shame the cloud hung low over the snow covered mountains ahead of us otherwise this would have been a magic shot. All the same, and despite the weather and the chilling cold, we had a awesome day exploring the beautiful Maniototo Valley.

And that was us for the Maniototo too, we left Ranfurly a couple days later driving over the Pig Root (Kyeburn to Palmerston) and through to Kakanui, heading north to see our family again. We decided we'd do the last third of our Cheats Otago Rail Trail, from Kyeburn to Middlemarch, later in our travels.

We had an awesome time exploring this amazing part of the country and especially doing it during winter. I missed my hoar frost (much to the relief of the locals) but we had our fair share of snow, ice and beautiful winter sunshine along the way. Our 5th-wheeler did us proud, we were so toasty warm because it is so well insulated. We hardly needed our second diesel heater- we have two, one in the bedroom and one in the lounge. And as long as we layered up with clothing we managed very well outside in the sometimes extremely cold weather- one day we woke up to -12 degrees Celsius. An extra bonus was the lack of people, we could have been the only people on earth some days.

We'll definitely be back another day, another season.

Thomson Gorge Track- Dunstan Mountains

The Thomson Gorge track crosses over a low saddle in the Dunstan Mountain range, the range that separates Lake Dunstan and the Upper Clutha Valley from the Manuherikia Valley and where we have been staying at Omakau in Central Otago.

As the signs say, it’s a dry weather track and recommended 4WD only (summer 2WD). Occasional maintenance work is done on the road but some sections are in poor condition, although I’d have to say it was one of the better back country tracks we’ve crossed.

The route was originally used by gold miners heading to the Upper Clutha in the 1860s but they got waylaid as they found gold at the other end, in the Bendigo Creek. An 1899 promise by the Government to build a road never eventuated however travellers & shepherds continued to use the route through the mountains. In 1975 the County Council started a dry weather track over the Saddle and it was completed by Matakanui Station who graze the high country on the east side of the saddle.

There are up to 23 gates to open and six fords to cross so having a passenger is highly recommended, and one with a camera in hand is an excellent idea!

After a few easy kilometres up the valley and the first gate open and shut, we start the steady climb up through the gorge. This is looking back down over the Manuherikia Valley to North Rough Ridge behind and the Kakanui Mountains in the background, Ida Valley is at the far right.

George Thomson, the first long-term runholder of Matakanui Station named Thomson Creek, Thomson Gorge and Thomson Saddle- he was obviously no shrinking violet and liked the sound of his own name.

Here’s a panorama of the Manuherikia Valley with three photos stitched together- click on it to see a larger size (and remember to use your back arrow to get back here).

The slope below the track drops steeply down to Thomson Creek with a towering rock wall on the far side. Ahead of us a herd of wild goats leap off the bank, gallop across the road and launch themselves over the edge and down the steep rocky bank to the gorge below. I take a look over the edge and they’ve all disappeared under the cover of the matagouri.

Stone stacking and diversion channels from gold prospecting during the 1870-1880s can be seen near the creek bed.

The track weaves its way through high country tussock land following Thomson Creek towards its headwaters. We pass an isolated woolshed and chase numerous flocks of merino sheep along the way. And as promised, there are many gates to open and close; I lost count at 16.

We had an exciting encounter at one of the gates when just as I was about to open the door we spotted off to the side ahead of us a bird coming at us like a torpedo, diving from up high and heading straight down towards the ute before veering away at the last moment. It was a NZ Falcon/Kārearea and it was probably checking out who was entering it’s territory.

We stopped for lunch near the Old Stone Hut, another amazingly beautiful & isolated lunch stop to add to our list. I know I can’t keep stock-piling places to visit in the autumn but I’d love to pass through here then; there are so many willows and briar bushes, I know the colours would look stunning against the taupe and golds of the grasses and tussock.

The stone hut was built by the County Council in 1908 for shelter for drovers & travellers and it’s still in use today although the door is firmly padlocked against casual visitors.

Matakanui Station cattle yards are nearby and also mounds of tailings from the gold prospecting era line the creek towards it’s headwater. It’s a shame that vehicles have worn deep tracks up to and around (and around, no doubt) the hut.

After lunch we set off again climbing steadily towards the saddle and boundary gate. We’re now 900m above sea level and crossing into the North Dunstan Conservation Area. The track runs along the ridge and we stop to open yet another gate.

Looking back over the ridge track towards Mt Kamaka…

…and beyond to the Southern Alps and a cool lenticular cloud (the one that looks like smoke rings)

…and out in front of us is the Upper Clutha Basin and Hawea Flats with Mt Aspiring National Park in the distance. The shiny water at the right rear is Lake Hawea and that first mountain in the front at centre rear, is The Peninsula, part of Lake Wanaka and across the river from where we stay at the Outlet Campground.

Further on along the ridge, a track heads off up Mt Moka, we had a short discussion about driving to the top (it is alot steeper than it looks here) and decided we’d give it a miss this time.

Before we left the ridge, I got out to take photos of the mountains and views while David drove down to the end of the plateau and disappeared over the edge. I was beginning to get worried when he took an age to re-appear, and very pleased to see him pop back over the top as it was freezing cold and blowing another howling gale and I didn’t have my jacket on. I was crouched down sheltering behind a rock by the time he made his way back up towards me.

The track now descends following the catchment valley of the Rise & Shine creek…

…down towards Bendigo Station and the Bendigo goldfield workings. The track is in worse condition towards this end, uneven and badly rutted with many muddy patches and deep bogs. I think there must be more traffic heading in from this end as there are multiple tracks and ruts as people have found their own way along the original track.

We pass a frozen dam and more stock yards and nearby are numerous mining relics from the Rise & Shine Reef, the most easterly of the three Bendigo gold workings but time is marching on, so we’re not stopping to check them out this time.

Over the next rise and just off the road is the Come-In-Time Reef and the restored ten stamp Matilda battery. There’s also a 60m mine tunnel that can be explored if you have a torch.

David has his head torch on so he heads into the tunnel with me hot on his heals; we’re hoping to find some wetas and glow-worms but all we find are a few spider webs and some glow-worm larva threads. The threads are made up of silk & mucous, prey is snared in the long sticky ‘fishing lines’ and up to 70 lines of various lengths can be let down by one larva. There are just two or three near this one though. We did spot a couple of adult glow-worms but they quickly turned their lights off as we approached.

At the bottom of the steep track is the Matilda battery which was restored in 2006.

 

After a quick look around the stamping battery and a slow climb back out of the creek bed we’re back on the road and dropping fast into the green patchwork of the Upper Clutha Valley.

We reach a fork in the road, to the left is Bendigo Gorge and the Bendigo gold workings. We decide to leave exploring there for another time, we can come in from this end the next time we’re passing. It’s getting late and the sun will be dropping behind the Pisa Range very soon. And, we still have to drive all the way back home via Cromwell, the Cromwell Gorge, Clyde and onto Omakau. The round trip is about 150kms. We take the right fork towards Lindis Crossing and I open and close our last gate- I think I must have opened at least 22 gates in the end. (ETA- it was 3 and a half hours from the first gate to the last, including exploring time)

If you can’t read the sign it says ‘Road Not Suitable for General Vehicles. Self Recovery Required’- that means walking out for help as there’s no cell phone reception and then paying an exorbitant call out fee for someone to come and rescue you. So think carefully before undertaking the drive.

Back on the main road we take the Bendigo Loop Road and find all that remains of the once bustling Bendigo town(1869-1872) are the stone remains of the bakery and a few stone walls. The bakery is close to the road and in the front yard of a very large winery and vineyard. Extensive vineyards are now being established on the terraces and lower slopes of the old gold town site.

And of course I had to stop to take a photo of the sign from another vineyard on the road. Some of you will remember us visiting The Lonely Graves near Roxburgh. ‘Someone’s Darling’ is buried there. I reckon it’s a good marketing move to have a label like this; wouldn’t you buy the product for your loved one if it had a label like this. The same goes for rose bushes, give them a name like ‘True Love’, ‘Sweetheart’ or ‘Memory’ and they’ll sell like hot cakes.

We had one last stop on the back road from Clyde to Omakau to look at this unusual water race with concrete steps instead of the usual pipe, which was a more expensive method of lowering the water. It was built in the 1930s when most of the extensive irrigation networks and major dams in the region were constructed. The irrigation race operates from mid-September until the end of April.