The Vanished World- Fossils & Elephant Rocks

We left Waitaki on a tiki-tour, heading inland on SH83 & running alongside the Waitaki River towards Duntroon. We wanted to check out another NZMCA site for next time we were through this way. This site is at Awamoko and looks like it was a former school or local sports reserve. It’s a large site with plenty of parking although not many would be able to pull onto the grass at the moment, it was boggy & very wet.  The park is a little off the usual routes into the interior but would be handy if planning on driving Dansys Pass or heading to the McKenzie Basin & Mt Cook from the coast near Oamaru. One to keep for a future time.

Next stop was Duntroon, another sleepy little settlement with a spruced up hotel at the heart of the village, very similar to many small country towns that we have come across on our travels.

The Vanished World Fossil Centre is also located in Duntroon, just along the road from the hotel. North Otago & the surrounding Waitaki District are renowned for their striking geological formations & landforms along with the amazing amount of fossils found in the area. 25 million years ago the land around Duntroon, now 400 metres above sea level, was the ocean floor. Extinct marine animals died & left their bones which were fossilised over time.

The Fossil Centre was closed but luckily one of the members (it’s a Society) was doing some work out the back and was more than happy to pass on information & leaflets so we could follow some of the trail.  We took the back road out of Duntroon headed for our first stop, Earthquakes. That’s right, a place called Earthquakes. It was so named because it was once thought the large house size boulders in the valley we are heading to must have been dislodged by earthquakes but in reality, were split away when the land slumped thousands of years ago.

Snow on St Mary’s Range

We found the first site, located in amongst  rolling farmland, parked the ute and climbed up the track to a small valley with large limestone rocks that were scattered about like giant marbles.

I’ve even included my little black stick man to in the photo below to give you an indication of the size of the rocks. Behind the metal screen was the fossilised remains of a baleen whale, it’s such a shame that if the fossils weren’t protected they would have been dug out long ago and dispersed around NZ & the world. It is likely that there are many more bones of this particular whale located within the rock and other fossils around the site.

Just a few kilometres further on from Earthquake are the Elephant Rocks, an amazing collection of weathered limestone rocks in the middle of a sheep paddock.

We could definitely pick out the Elephants along with various other animal forms.

There’s my little stick man again……

And what a surprise to find this little collection of buildings around the corner at the far end of the rocks, something not everybody that visited would see unless the walked to the far end.

I recalled reading that the rocks were used in scenes from “The Chronicles of Narnia” but in fact this set was built for a film “Kingdom Come” which didn’t go ahead because of bankruptcy, hence the reason they are still here; no money to dismantle them. The Rocks have also been used in filming  “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”

My stick man thought he might ride the eagle he spotted here. Does he realise how silly he looks? But what a good sport for allowing me to share this with you.,,,,,(even thought he hasn't seen it yet ;)

We found the rocks very interesting and being off the usual tourist route I’m sure not too many people know about them or would visit them.

Next stop & just a couple of kilometres down the road was the Anatini Whale Fossil site, with another Barleen Whale similar to the one at Earthquakes. This valley was also used in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.

A short walk across private farmland led us to a small valley with lots of unusual limestone formations & rocks. A climb up a path led to the whale fossil which was under a scratched perspex cover this time and very hard to see.

We were hoping for a sheltered spot where we could have lunch but the ground was muddy & covered in cow pats so we decided on a rocky ledge beside the fossil & overlooking the valley dotted with cattle and a river off in the distance.

This was in the middle of the paddock below, we have no idea what it is, or was, but I’m sure it wasn’t from a movie set even though it looks a little like a Star Wars dalek.

My little black stick man with red lunch bag; heading back to the car to escape the bitter cold wind. The day started out blue & sunny but was fast deteriorating.

We’d had enough of fossil sites & weird rock formations by now so headed off in the direction of Oamaru via Ngapara, where we stopped so I could shoot this abandoned Lodge, built in 1891.

Ngapara would have all of 10 houses clustered together in a cold shady valley along with this Lodge & the following historic flour mill. There really are some grand old abandoned buildings out in the countryside, it’s such a shame that their glory days are long over.

In a weird coincidence, Ngapara (which I’d never heard of until this road trip) was in the news just a couple of days ago, and not good news either. A local sheep farmer had lost over 200 sheep that had been shot dead over two nights by an unknown person or people.

The historic Ngapara Flour Mill, built in 1897

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And a then there are the not so grand abandoned homes; seen in a paddock in Ngapara

 ....and on the road near Ngapara

 

Meyers Pass, Waimate

Next stop was the NZMCA Park at Waimate, another great little site just on the edge of town. It was obviously once a dairy farm, here we are parked beside the old milking shed, they must have had small cows, tiny herds & short farmers back then. Nothing like the huge dairy sheds we've seen on our travels. Up behind us on the hill is the "famous in Waimate" White Horse, a nod to the work Clydesdales did in breaking in the farms around the district.

We've been very impressed with beautifully kept towns that we've been passing through on our way south, lovely towns with lots of old buildings, mostly brick & stone. Of course I've been taking plenty of church photos so we get to see some of the town back streets. In Waimate, while not "pretty" this very old flour mill is right on the main street at the end of town. The plaque reads: "Built in 1890, the mill produced a range of products including flour which won awards at the Anglo-Japanese exhibition, London, 1910, at the Festival of Empire, London, 1911 and at the Auckland Exhibition 1913-14."  The building & the silos are rated Historic Places.

On Tuesday we decided to do a 4 hour round trip and cross over Meyers Pass which started inland from Waimate through the Hunter Hills to the Waihao basin where the Pass started climbed up & over and then dropped down into the magnificent Waitaki River valley ending in Hakakaramea. We'd been told about it by a couple who we'd met at the Park & as it was a beautiful clear sunny blue sky day, it was a perfect day to go exploring.

A patchwork of fields along the way

For the last few days I had been fighting an urge to change our travel plans & head inland to Burkes Pass & Lake Tekapo & continuing south from there. And the reason? The famous lupins are in full bloom and the timing would have been just perfect for some great photos against the lakes & mountains. But, I didn't want to pre-empt our travel in this area next year & it would have also added quite a bit of mileage to the trip. So I resisted. Just. And I was rewarded, well it was a small consolation really, we came across some lupins on the road to the Pass. Not the masses & masses that I could have seen but enough to take a few photos & whet my appetite for next year when we'll definitely be waiting for the bloom in Central Otago.

At the beginning of the Pass, the signs told the story, there were about 8 gates on the road but I only had to open 3 of them, we saw a few cows and a dozen or so sheep but I'm guessing that the fenced areas are huge & remote and a lot of the stock would have been way back in the hills. I'm sure this road wouldn't be suitable to cross in the winter, there would be snow on the surrounding hills and probably deep on the road as well.

We saw these cool flowers spikes on what looked like some sort of tussock, the area was fenced off so it's obvious of some importance. The historic stone bridge was built in 1879 and the only one we crossed although we passed over a few dry fords.

The views were fabulous and landscape fascinating & the road not too rough either. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip & will plan to do many more of these remote routes in time.

Waitaki River valley

It was with some surprise that we spotted a figure walking towards us when towards the end of the Pass. You don't expect to see a person out for a Sunday walk in such a remote area and on such a hot day. We stopped to check he was OK, which he was & then saw his car further on down the valley.

Waimate is wallaby country & we saw a couple of  "flat" examples along the road through the Pass but it wasn't until we saw one dead on the side of the road driving back home that I got David to stop so I could take a photo just to prove that there are wild wallabies out there. Another unwanted introduced Australian that has become a pest, the wallaby was liberated in the area in 1874 by the first European settler to the area. The local habitat must have suited them because luckily this is the only area of NZ that they are located (other than a few on Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf up north, & oh, a few in the Rotorua area)

We crossed over the huge Waitaki River to have our lunch in Kurow. The two very long & very old & rickety bridges are in the process of being replaced.

There is obviously a battle going on as to who has the brightest coloured pub in town. I'm sure they are a treat to the eyes in the middle of the winter though, when the town is snowed in.

 

Heading for home we followed the river through the valley where once again there were so many irrigators & dairy conversions happening. And so many Devan water tanks everywhere, now that would be a great business to own! :)

We stopped under one of the irrigators that reached out over the road to wash the dust off the ute.

We passed this historic cob cottage along the way. It was built around 1880 from Penticotico clay & tussock & was occupied by a local farmer, James Paterson & his family. He also sold liquor & provided casual accommodation to passing drovers.

The long road home- are your eyes deceiving you?