Through the Nevis

 Real-time

Hi everyone & Happy New Year + one month!  I hope you're all well and coping with life in general wherever you may be in the world. It's summer here in New Zealand and we're all feeling very privileged to be able to get out and enjoy it without the restrictions many around the world are experiencing. Although some of us are still waiting for summer to arrive. Especially down here in the south of the South Island (someone must have heard me, it was 30c in Invercargill yesterday)

We had a lovely family time in Christchurch over the holidays and we're now in Southland where we had an appointment for a job to be done on the 5th-wheeler. That has now been completed and we're waiting for the weather to settle before heading off again. 

We had a week or so to fill in before having the job done so we spent it in Central Otago at Cromwell & at a rally near Alexandra. While in Cromwell we decided to drive, for the third time, the 'famous in New Zealand' Nevis Road from Bannockburn to Garston.

The Nevis Road is a 4WD road although in summer many 2WD vehicles are able to reach the Lower Nevis settlement from the Bannockburn end of the road. It used to be that 2WDs could make it through from one end to the other in late summer when the fords were running low or had dried out but no longer, the road (track) is very rough & washed out in many places south of the Nevis Settlement and the fords deep & rugged. 

Central Otago had had a lot of rain early in the new year so we weren't too sure whether we'd get through the 65kms to the other end but we were going to give it a darn good go. Once over Duffers Saddle, the view from the top of the Carrick Range down the Lower Nevis is spectacular. 

The Nevis River wends its way through the gorge at the far end and down through the valley. 

The green home paddocks of Ben Nevis Station on the far side of the river & Craigroy Station on the near side, provide a splash of colour in the otherwise typical Central Otago landscape of dry tussocks, spiky Golden Spaniard /Speargrass & rocky tors.

A lone caravan sits beside the river in amongst gold mine tailings from the Nevis' historic past. Alluvial gold mining is still carried out along the Nevis, as long as you have a permit. 

We stop at the old Nevis cemetery even though we've had a look before on one of our previous trips. There are some places you just can't drive past although the view never changes. 

One place that had changed was the old cob cottage near the cemetery. It's getting a 21st century makeover, with a new roof, doors, beams & a huge bank of solar panels (jealous much) amongst other things. 

Of course my photographer's eye much preferred the look of the old cottage.

David decided we didn't need to stop at the settlement this time as I already had photos. Before I realised we weren't pulling over we were past it. There was a little bit of muttering going on from the passenger seat for a short time before we hit the next ford... 

Gold mining tailing piles at the start of the gorge

...and then we were into the gorge, with more signs to warn those that think they are bullet proof. And twenty five fords was a little bit of an understatement as we were soon to find out. 

There were several easy fords through the gorge before we popped out onto the river flats of the Upper Nevis where a lot more mining was done in the early days. As evidenced by several large dredge ponds, multiple tailing piles, stark cliff faces and the remains of two stone cottages.

There are also several more 'modern' mining huts on both sides of the river which may well be used as fishing huts nowadays.

Just when we start to think the fords aren't anything to write home about, the mother of all fords appears before us.

We get out to check the depths and the best route through them, there are no gravel bases now, it's a muddy base. Some of the tracks are deeply rutted, others you can't see how deep they are through the tannin stained water. Just as we found along the Hawkdun Range, heavier 4WDs & off roaders have cut some of the fords up quite badly.  

The river has made it's own course along several sections of the track. We slip, slide & bump our way through and when we get out on the otherside to check, we notice that some of the fords have a small sign with a red arrow indicating which direction to take when there are multiple choices. The problem is they are all for the other direction, none on our banks. 

We suspect that direction arrows might have been used for a rally that has come in from the Garston end. 

We pass Roaring Lion Creek where we had lunch seven years ago while we were on a 4WD fundraiser over Nokomai Station. We came off the top of the range down the track you can see. That was such a fun day, we had a ball and still often talk about it. Make sure you read Part 2 if you click the link above, we had a grandstand view of a regular 4WDriver being pulled out of the river. 

Further on the river once again took over the track.

And then we came up on a washout that had created a sharp drop-off into the river. It had already claimed a few victims, a number of sump guards and bumper parts littered the river bank.

We couldn't squeeze through on the track above so took the most direct route over a drop of a couple of feet into the river.

Luckily we don't have a long overhang on the ute, although it felt like the tow bar caught the edge as we dropped into the river.

After all the rock 'n rolling and bouncing through so many fords and thinking we were through the worst of the fords, we decided to stop for a late lunch at a nice spot beside the river. 

It wasn't long before a guy on a bike pulled up behind us. Expecting a younger person on a trail bike (we usually come across them when out on 4WD roads) it was a surprise when he took his helmet off to see an older person. I offered him a hot drink but he was happy with the handful of cherries I gave him.

We got chatting, talked about the rough ford crossings we'd just done and then it got around to what we do in life. He said he worked for us so we guessed he had a government job. Yes, he said, he worked in Wellington but lived in Upper Moutere. After some more chitchat he introduced himself at Damien, David cottoned on straight away, I was a little slower.

It was Damien O'Connor. (Labour) MP for West Coast-Tasman, Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Biosecurity, Land Information, and Rural Communities! He was checking out Crown Land (Land Information) by riding his bike through many high country stations & 4WD tracks in the South Island. He had been on most of the tracks we've been on and was working his way through a few more. We had a good chat and then he was off. He took a selfie with us but would you believe it, I forgot to get a photo of him!

While we were talking to Damien (we're on first name basis now) I spotted a Karearea/NZ Falcon fly in to the top of that rock stack behind the bike in the photo above. When I zoomed in on the top I spotted TWO falcon chicks jumping about trying to get food off the parent. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the focus right on this photo, the wind was blowing quite strongly. 

The parent flew off  across the valley and landed on a rock high above us, calling and staying put, keeping an eye on the chicks while we had our lunch and a hawk soared through on the thermals. It was another good sighting we were able to report to the NZ Falcon Org who keep a track of falcon distribution around New Zealand. 

The falcon is one of our most favourite New Zealand birds and we've probably reported over 60 sightings since we've been on the road. Once tuned in to it, their call is very distinctive and we can instantly recognise it from miles away. This usually means a diversion from what we might be doing to track it down. Other times they just appear in front of us without warning; on a tree branch while walking, sitting on a power pole in the middle of a town, chasing prey past us while we're looking at a view or low flying straight across in front of the ute (which happened just a few days later on our way to a rally).  Falcons are much more common than you think.

The fords weren't finished with us yet, once again the river had gouged out the track and we bumped along sharp bedrock for a few hundred metres to the other side.

And then finally we were out of the valley and climbing steadily to the top of the Hector Mountains above Garston. Out my window and far below me, I can see the Nokomai Station track we followed on that rally up the 'Hidden Valley' to the top of the Garvie Mountains.

We head down the winding road into the Mataura River Valley, stopping...

...so I can take a photo of the amazing landscape along the top of the mountains...

...and another photo of the historic Garston Ski Hut, which I'm sure hasn't seen a good dump of snow in years.

The view out over Trotters Plain, Castle Hill and the Eyre Mountains is spectacular. The Mataura River can be see towards the back left below Castle Hill. SH6, the highway from Queenstown to Te Anau is in the centre and the track we're following in the slopes below. Click on the photo to enlarge. 

And a pano of the breathtaking view...

Finally we pass through the last gate with it's myriad of signs and head home to Cromwell (110km away), the fast way.

Road Trip to Kinloch

Back to catch up on the blog posts from our time in Glenorchy. Glenorchy is a small settlement at the top of Lake Wakatipu, 46kms from the bustling metropolis of Queenstown. It's the gateway to the Rees and Dart River Valleys and  the famous 'Great Walk', the Routeburn Track which finishes just over the 'hill' on the Milford Road at the Divide, the last downhill section of the track being the Key Summit Walk which we did when we were over that way. There are also a number of other multi-day tramping tracks in the mountains at the head of the lake.

We had two fine days out of six while we were in Glenorchy, so as soon as it cleared we were off to explore, to the end of the road on the south side of the lake. Kinloch is just a small settlement and even though it's just across the water from Glenorchy as the crow flies, it's 27kms by road, half of them gravel. The road crosses over the wide Rees & Dart braided rivers before heading up the lake towards Kinloch. These are the Richardson Mountains which form a beautiful backdrop to Glenorchy which is hidden in the far-away willows to the right.

On the road out of Glenorchy we have our first stop of the day to shoot one of my favourite subjects, abandoned farmhouses. It must have been very cold living here, it was late morning and the sun was about to disappear behind the mountain range for the day.

Historic Kinloch Lodge, brought to life by Captain Richard Bryant in 1868, has a long association with the tourist industry. Before the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy was finished in the 1970s, tourists would travel to the head of the lake by steamship and stay at Kinloch Lodge before being transferred by horse or buggies, open topped cars and later the Bryant family buses (more on them later), to walk the Routeburn. 

Across the road from the lodge is a DOC campground, I was keen to see if it was suitable for us to bring the 5th-wheeler to if we came back to the area. It's in a lovely position but with all the recent rain it was very boggy. The enterprising lodge offered hot showers for campers which is a great idea, although a little on the pricey side at $10. But I suppose those in sleeper vans who have been in the area for awhile would appreciate a nice long hot shower and afterwards they could partake in a coffee or lunch at the restaurant too. 

The Lodge still hosts guests in the house and also has a backpackers lodge and rooms nearby.

And one more of the Lodge; restored in 2000, it's a great example of our early settler architecture. 

The road to Kinloch was gravel and a little narrow towards the end but still fine for larger rigs. The next 12km section from Kinloch to the end of the road at Greenstone Valley is a 'backcountry' road with half a dozen fords and not suitable for anything larger than a small campervan...

...or grader! The only other vehicle we saw on the road. 

But once out of the bush, the road is standard gravel with a few cattlestops to cross. The views are magnificent out across Lake Wakatipu.

One more cattlestop, a whole heap of sheep poo and some barking dogs in the distance indicated that we were getting close to Greenstone Station. The sheep were being rounded up into a paddock beside the woolshed on the small peninsula ahead of us.

We pass the Station and turn inland, ahead of us is the Caples River...

...and another DOC campground which is at the trailheads of the well known Caples & Greenstone Tracks.

Actually it's the trailhead and/or end, or both depending whether you do the tramp as a loop or join them from the Routeburn. Or even better still, from our favourite Mavora Lakes! It's hard to imagine that just over the mountains from here are the Mavora Lakes which are also part of the route for the Te Araroa Walkway, the mega walk from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South.

We walk a short distance to the swingbridge over the Caples River, the first one we've seen (and we've seen a few) with a support in the middle.

As we're walking through the beech forest, a large bird swoops from behind, down over our heads and up into the branches nearby. It's dark in the forest but we're both pretty sure it's a native NZ Falcon/ Kārearea and sure enough it dived again and then flew from tree to tree as we walked along. It was mostly just a dark shadow, but we catch sight of the feather patterns as it's watches us and then flies again. Checking to see who is in his/her territory. I bit like the falcon we saw on the Catlins River walk.

As we near the bridge I can hear the nearby Rifleman/Tītipounamu going to town, they are aware of it too. It flies out into the open and up into the high outer branches of a beech tree and sits there for a good couple of minutes surveying its patch. I manage to find a tiny gap in the branches and zoom in on it. 

Finally, it swooped down over the river and up into the trees on the other side- left to right. David fails to locate it again with the binoculars but it's lovely treat to see, and we'll be able to pass on it's location to the Falcon Conservation group. 

Our sightings are mounting up as we travel the country and in fact we've seen three in the space of a few days; this one, one high above the Top10 campground at Arthurs Point in Queenstown and one here at the canals- that one was a great surprise. It swept through from the bridge past the vans at mid door height with a dirty great rat in it's talons! 

We head back to the carpark where I take this lovely shot as the cloud roll in, we sit on the tailgate and have a late lunch. Yet another stunning lunch break; dozens of Bellbirds/Korimako are having a singing contest nearby, yet it's still very peaceful surrounded by beautiful scenery and sitting in the warm sun.

Then it's back along the road, through Kinloch, past the grader who's coming up the other side this time. We give him a cheery wave and he stops to have a chinwag with us. We see him a couple more times before we leave Glenorchy, he's grading all the back roads after the summer influx.

I'm hoping someone can tell me which peak this is, part of the Richardson Mountains behind Glenorchy. I'm guessing, but I wonder if it's Black Peak. I like the wisp of smoke down below, gives it some perspective- ETA, Thanks Melanie from Tauranga (see comments below), it's Temple Peak.

With a couple of hours of daylight left we decide to head up the Routeburn Road to check out a walk we'll do to Lake Sylvan on the next fine day.

It's not long before we come across a large flock of sheep wandering and running up and down and back and forward across the road looking quite stressed as cars and motorhomes push past in both directions. There's no shepherd or dogs about, and no open gates so we're not too sure why they're on quite such a busy road for the area. Perhaps they're grazing the long acre.

We stop at Weka Flat for a cup of tea as the sun drops down behind the mountains. A very cute and confiding South Island Bush Robin/Toutouwai pops up beside us willing us to scrape aside some leaf litter for him.

We weren't going to go as far as the end of the road, to the Routeburn carpark and track start but as it was only just up the road we thought we might as well. Just in case. Just in case we didn't make it back to do the short walk along the Routeburn River. I don't like doing this (but can't help myself) because usually it works out that we don't make it back later (as was going to be the case here) or we preempt the experience. 

We have been to the Routeburn a very long time ago. We did a day walk up to the Routeburn Falls with a small tour group. Neither of us can remember much about it other than it nearly killed David on the climb up and me on the walk back down along the Routeburn Flats when our guide said 'don't stand on a slippery log' as we crossed a stream, and I promptly did and very nearly impaled myself on the jagged branch sticking up as I slipped, hit the log and fell into the stream. 

I had to hobble back to the van, cold, wet and sore. And when I got back to our hotel and took my trousers off, my leg, from ankle to arse was bright blue! A huge bruise where the branch had scraped up it. It wasn't until I looked closer that I realised that most of the blue was dye from my wet trousers! Thank God for that, although a large bruise did appear the next day. 

Back then this was the only shelter at the carpark with the swingbridge nearby, it's now a day shelter/picnic area and the bridge has been moved further down the river. 

And this is the flash new information shelter and toilet block.

There are a number of large panels with lots of useful information about the history of the Routeburn, what to expect from the walk, maps and mountain information and native birds you could see along the way. It was great to see a familiar sight in amongst the history; the Bryant buses, that were used to carry visitors from Kinloch Lodge to the track. These are the same buses that we've had the pleasure of riding in on both our visits to the Arrowtown Autumn Rally. 

We headed back down the road where the sheep were still causing problems. It's amazing how people, and I'd say most of them would be overseas drivers, react to the unusual (for them) sight of a flock of sheep on the road. Some stop dead, others speed through, sheep flying out either side as they make a dash for safety, some toot their horn, others swerve all over the road trying to get past the ones running ahead of their car. 

The poor sheep were puffing and panting and trying to break through fences into the paddocks. We still didn't see a farmer although we passed a farm vehicle turning into the road so hopefully he did something about it or alerted someone to the problem. If they were let out on purpose to graze the roadside, it's wasn't that great an idea.

We headed back over the Dart River, along the base Mt Alfred/Ari which separates the two river valleys, back over the Rees River, along the bottom of the Richardson Mountains and...

...home to 'Out There', parked safely along side the Glenorchy Hotel.

This might be the last blog for awhile, we're on the move again. The sun is shining, the snow is low and the forecast is for fine weather for the next few days so we're heading off to West Coast, exploring Haast Pass along the way. 

And that big salmon with David's name on it? It managed to live to see another day- he hooked it last night and it put up a good fight for five minutes or so before it broke free. I think David was secretly happy about that, he just can't shake his 'catch & release' philosophy.