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).

Carricktown- The Shiny Finally Gets Through; Part 1

Catch-up

We did another 4WD expedition on Easter Sunday and this time managed to join two more travel dots- Bannockburn to Duffers Saddle. We left the road at Quartzville which is just behind Bannockburn in Central Otago. Quartzville was once a service town for several gold mines higher up the Carrick Range. 

The track is a bit narrow and lumpy to start with, we hope we don't meet anyone coming down as there's nowhere to pass for a kilometre or so.

As we climb higher the lake and Cromwell come into view behind us. The Carrick Range forms the southern boundary of the Clutha Valley, Lake Dunstan & Cromwell. The Pisa Range runs along the left hand side of the valley and the Dunstan Mountains are along the right.

Off to our left and far below are the colours of autumn and the green of irrigated farmland behind Bannockburn. The road to the Nevis Valley runs through the valley; another 4WD track, the Hawksburn Road, heads over the Cairnmuir Mountains in the background to Clyde. We drove that 'road' last year.

Thankfully the track is dry and we make steady progress, climbing higher and higher. There were over 40 mines up here and in the nearby ranges during the height of the gold rush through the 1860s. Mines with weird and wonderful names such as these-

1. The Elizabeth. 2. Royal Standard. 3. Star. 4. Heart of Oak - later Last Shot. 5. Young Australian. 6. Caledonian.  7. Border Chief. 8. Crown and Cross. 9. Day Dawn. 10. John Bull. 11 Norwegian. 12. Perseverance Reef.  13. Perseverance Claim. 14. Veil of Avoca. 15. New Royal Standard. 16. Golden Star. 17. Dawn of Hope. 18. Duke of Cumberland. 19. Rob Roy. 20. Matchless. 21. Excelsior - afterwards Welcome. 22. Black Horse. 23. Coleen Bawn. 24. Nil Desperandum. 25. Patience. 26. Leader. 27. Robert Burns. 28. Golden Gate. 29. All Nations. 30. Kohinoor, or Amateur. 31. Golden Phoenix. 32. Heart of Lothian. 33. Enterprise. 34. White Horse - later Try again and Last Chance. 35. Golden Crown. 36. United Bannockburn. 37. Bonanza -later Frying pan. 38. Go by.

Here we pass by the site of the Caledonian. The signposts look very familiar, they are the same as the ones that mark the gold mines through the Nevis Valley on the far side of this range.

I say we made steady progress, and we did but it included many stops to take photos of the view opening up behind us. It would seem the resident merino sheep like the views as well, everything I step out, it's onto a road covered in sheep poo and smelling strongly of urine- they must sleep on the road at night and head off into the scrub during the day.

Other than a couple of mountain bikers in the carpark at the beginning of the track, we hadn't seen a single person on the 7 kilometre climb to the remains of Carricktown. So it's a great surprise as we come over a brow in the track to see ahead of us, not only the remains of Carricktown, but two girls sitting beside one of the old stone cottages having lunch. Where the heck had they come from? 

These two German girls, who were not ideally dressed for such a rugged walk in the mountains, had nothing better to do on a quiet Sunday in a sleepy Bannockburn so decided to walk to the Young Australian Waterwheel which was still another two kilometres or so further on. 

Carricktown was built to also service the surrounding mines and as a result of being closer, Quartzville, at the bottom of the track, was abandoned soon afterwards. 

How's this for a view from your front door? Straight down the Clutha Valley. Of course back then there was no lake, just the mighty Clutha flowing through the valley. Lake Dunstan is a manmade hydro lake formed during the 1980s when the Clutha River was dammed at Clyde.

The remains of several buildings are scattered along either side of the track and while I'm clicking away I suddenly spot a blob of blue bouncing along. What the heck! It's a guy running. Crikey. Another crazy German, this time out for a Sunday run.

We carry on passing through a couple of shallow bogs as the track zig-zags its way up the side of a steep slope. We stop in a rough gully...

...where the remains of the Elizabeth Reef stamper battery are, along with tailing piles which are also known as mullock heaps.

We're now climbing above the winter snow line, there's a lack of briar bushes and prolificacy of Spiny Spaniard or Speargrass, an alpine plant that loves the cold and snow. 

We're nearing the top of the first ridge now and I can see the track disappears over the top further on so we stop for a last photo looking back down the valley. You can just about see it here, the confluence of the Kawarau River, the lower blue ribbon of water, and the Clutha River, which is actually part of Lake Dunstan and leaves the lake at the right flowing through the Clutha Gorge to the Clyde Dam.

We pass the remains of two large, shallow dams that were obviously used in mining operations and with...

...one last gate to open and shut...

...we arrive at the site of the Young Australian gold mine and the Carrick Water Race...

The top track is the road ahead of us (if you look carefully you can see a running blue blob), the lower track is the water race.

...and the 7.9m diameter wood and iron waterwheel (restored in 2011) which, in 1874, was dragged 1100 metres up the mountain to drive the 10-stamper battery at the Young Australian workings.

Looking totally incongruous in the barren and dry mountain landscape, the waterwheel drove the stamper battery which pounded the hard gold bearing quartz rock to gravel.

Across the valley from the wheel are the remains of the battery and a couple of stone huts.

The 34km Carrick Water Race was speedily built between 1872 to 1874 to bring water from the isolated Nevis Valley, over the mountains and down to Bannockburn, the water sold to miners along the way. 

There were many bitter legal disputes as miners thought they'd purchased the water completely and objected to the race owners re-selling to other users further down the mountain.

To be continued....Part 2

Seeking out the Serpentine- Part 1

Real-time

Well that's done and dusted. I can finally tick off one my bucket list 'must see' places in New Zealand. The lonely & isolated historic Serpentine Union Church is located 35kms from civilization (our river camp at Omakau), deep within a vast plateau in the Rough Ridge mountains in Central Otago. The church was also at the top of my 'to photograph' list, to add to my collection of country church photos.  

Long Valley Ridge Road (a misnomer if ever there was one- these are not roads but dirt tracks) leaves the Old Dunstan Road, another rough track that snakes across the top of the ridge, not too far past Poolburn Dam. All these routes are summer 4WD driving only- Rough Ridge is closed during winter with locked gates at all entry points from the beginning of June until the end of September- though you can go as far as Poolburn Dam during winter if the road is dry. It is a cold and hostile environment up on the plateau and snows regularly during winter.

And even through summer, driving any of the tracks should only be attempted after a long dry spell, unless you are a true 4WD driver and not driving a 'shiny' like us. The rock and clay dirt tracks turn very slippery and puggie soon after rain. 

It's also wise to have an accompanying vehicle just in case of any emergency. We were able to get good phone reception for about a kilometre, mid-way through the trip and along the ridge at the highest point, but it would have meant a fair hike and a costly recover had we had any issues. The last vehicles to pass through the area had been 3 days prior (according to the visitor book at the church). 

Well, that's the disclaimer out of the way, so don't say you haven't been warned.

It was going to be a long day for us, we left Omakau at 10am and didn't return until 7pm. Of course we were already familiar with the 14km road into Poolburn Dam, this being our third visit; one just a few days before when we took our visitors on a tiki-tour and then last July when we slipped and slid our way there to be rewarded with the spectacular scene of a frozen lake with beautiful blue & white swirls.

Today we  saw our first boat on the dam, a dinghy with two guys heading off to set their koura pots (fresh water crayfish), a scene I doubt that is repeated anywhere else in New Zealand.

Once across the other side of the dam wall we turned left and headed into new territory, along the Old Dunstan Road, also know as the Old Dunstan Trail; a route used by gold miners in the 1860s to gain quick access from Dunedin to the prosperous Central Otago goldfields.

At one of our early gate stops we came across this Swamp Harrier Hawk. At first we were unsure of why it didn't lift off and I was able to get quite close before it became aware of us. I backed off when it started bumbling about and when I uploaded the photos I can see it had a bung eye but otherwise looked quite healthy. Due to the lack of rabbits we saw on the trip and the poison signs on the gates, we think it could have been secondary poisoning. We couldn't do anything for it and it was still there when we returned later in the day. Poor boy(or girl).

There are no road signs so it pays to have a good idea of where you're heading as there are a number of tracks leading off the 'main' road. We leave Old Dunstan Road here and head right, down Long Ridge Valley Road, according to our map and a couple of tracking apps we have on our phones. There is a Serpentine Road that leaves Old Dunstan at the other end of this section of the trail, near Styx, which you might be tempted to take. Don't. It's a rough true 4WD track.

There are at least a dozen gates to open and close on the way in, which means by the end of the day I'd done 48 gate actions; no wonder there was so much dust on my rubber floor mat. And many of the openings weren't as smooth as these ones. I wonder who decided a split gate was a good idea; I'd pull one side to and then have to race to grab the other side and pull that shut before the first side swung open again. My arms just weren't wide enough to reach both together. Well that, and the fact that I was wrestling to hold my camera as well....

Beside one of the gates was an old stock holding pen that had seen better days. 

We stopped often to take in the immensity of this stunning landscape- big skies, rocky tors, tussock and spikey Spaniard stretch as far as the eye can see in all directions.

The road bumps and winds it's way along the top of the plateau occasionally dropping down into a hollow. A hut symbol was marked on one of our maps and as we'd already been travelling for about an hour along Long Ridge Valley Road, we were beginning to think it might have marked the church instead. We'd convinced ourselves it was going to be the church so when we came over a brow it was a big surprise to see a tiny hut off in the distance....and then wonder how much further the church was.

This is Oliveburn Farm Hut, the cutest and most well kept hut we've come across on our travels.

The rough-cast concrete hut was built in the 1940's and would have been used as a rabbiters hut and probably for musterers too – it has the tiniest little porch, two bunks, plates & cutlery, a small sink and bench with chairs to sit at. And there are even a few supplies in the cupboard. At least we had somewhere to walk to, to spend the night, if we did break down! 

Wouldn't it be great if all these back country huts were similarly well looked after and respected by visitors.

We carried on along the track, David loudly wondering, after seeing the road disappear over a crest far off in the distance, when on earth we were going to get there!

Half an hour later and I open the final gate into the Serpentine Scenic Reserve. And we breath a sigh of relief. Even with maps and a good idea of where we were going it's quite disconcerting having no marker points on the road to say you're heading in the right direction. And on a map five kilometres might as well be 50 when you're driving on a slow bumpy dirt track.

The ungrazed tussock is thick and luxuriant in the reserve and alas, the track still wanders off into the distance. Dare I say it, but it also becomes a lot more bumpy and rutted, due I think to the fact, that any 4WDs and trail bikes have had to stick to the track rather than take shortcuts as they have done on the grazed areas coming in. 

Five minutes later and there's great excitement (on my part) when we can finally see over the side of the plateau and far out over a valley to our right.

A zoomed in shot reveals what looks to be the outskirts of Alexandra in the Manuherikia River valley with the Clyde Gorge cutting through the range behind (well that's what I'm thinking anyway).

And there off to our left, if you look very carefully, is the target of our tiki-tour; the historic Serpentine Church located in a vast plain of tussock (centre left, click on the photo to enlarge).

And in this zoomed in shot you can see the track behind winding it's way down to the church and the gold mine tailing pile in the foreground with a smattering of tussock growing on the nutrient poor rocky surface.

Far across this spectacular view is the "Dismal Swamp", Lake Onslow, one of our favourite dams which is accessible from Roxburgh on another dry weather track. Did you see it in the photo, two above, out to the right? There is a rough 4WD track from Lake Onslow to Serpentine but it's not recommended for anything other that true 4WDs. We knew we weren't going to be that far from Onslow but didn't realise that we'd actually be able to see it from here.

Before we head down to the church we check out the ruins of the old miner's cottages nearby (in the centre in case you miss them).

There's a walking track (1 hour return) below the cottage ruins which leads to the remains of the old Serpentine Gold Mine stamper battery and water wheel, both of which are (apparently) in excellent condition due to being recently restored. In 1882, the battery was located at the top of the ridge to crush ore from the mine. It was moved to it's current site in 1890 but the mine didn't live up to expectations and the battery was abandoned in 1891.

We decide we don't have time to walk to the battery, plus it's far too hot and it looks to be a steep climb back up afterwards. I'm a little disappointed as I doubt we'll be back this way anytime soon.

Behind a large rock I find another memorial plaque for someone who spent a lot of his life fishing and hunting in the area (we regularly find memorial plaques in remote and scenic spots). 

We climb to a high point above the cottages...

...where we can see back to the road and the parked ute...

 ...and out in front of us there are more dams in the sweeping vista-

The Greenland Reservoir...

...the Upper Manorburn Dam (Greenland flows into Manorburn). A track heads across the barren landscape towards the Manorburn. The battery walking track leaves it to the right a little way along, and sweeps around the valley to the battery and then down to the bottom where the mine tunnel is located.

We explored the road to the Upper Manorburn Dam, a few days before this trip (blog post still to come on that). The Manorburn Dam road, like Poolburn, is accessed from the top of the Ida Valley. 

And here are Geenland and Manorburn dams together-

And off behind us we can see Poolburn Dam, which actually doesn't look that far away as the crow flies, but is about 15kms and a couple of hours by dirt track.

Poolburn looks like a large puddle in the mountains in this zoomed shot.You can even see some of the huts on the far side. At a high point on top of another rock we had a 360 degree view of all four dams- what an amazing sight! 

And here's a bad pano shot showing three of the dams; this is four photos stitched together- from left to right, Greenland to left of the rock, Manourburn in the middle and Poolburn in the far distance at the right. Lake Onslow is out of shot to the left. And did you spot David coming up  towards me? Click to enlarge the photo.

I could have easily spent more time soaking in the spectacular views and checking out the small alpine plants and quartz showing in the rocks but it was time to move along, we still had a distance to travel even though we could now see the church.

The road made a frustrating wide sweeping curve around the ridge above the church... 

...before finally dropping down into the depression where it's located. Going by the state of the last 200-300 metres of the track the snow must settle and the rain pool here for days on end (in case you have been wondering, the green colour tint between some photos is caused by taking them through the windscreen).

And finally, 3½ hours, 12 gates, 35kms and umpteen photos later we arrived at the remotest and highest altitude (over 1000m) church in New Zealand. The Serpentine Union Church, opened during the winter of 1873, but never saw many services. 

It was said of the first service that the minister was late in arriving (probably due to the weather). The congregation after waiting some time, adjourned to the nearby hotel for refreshments and had been drinking heavily by the time the minister arrived. When the service finally opened with a well known Psalm the, by now lively, congregation demanded an encore! The minister was not at all impressed, cut short the service and said he would never return. 

The church later became a miners cottage, the porch was added at this time.

Part 2- What's inside & what's in store...