Hollyford Valley- Fiordland National Park

Catch-up (Late September 2019)

The DOC campground at Cascade Creek is a great place to base yourself if you're wanting to spend a few days exploring the Milford Road & Fiordland National Park. It's also the last DOC campground before Milford Sound, 44kms away.

This is our third trip down the Milford Road and while we've pretty much explored every nook & crannie it's always good to check places out again; in different weathers & seasons. We stopped at the Hollyford Valley lookout (Pop's View) which is just past the Divide, the Key Summit Walk and the the trail end of the Routeburn Track.

One very hopeful Kea was strutting his stuff up and down the railings and along the log below the 'Do Not Feed the Kea' sign. Failing to win anyone over he flew to the roof of a nearby vehicle before checking out the windscreen's rubber surround for taste. As we left he was being chased off one vehicle only to land on another as it arrived. Eventually, I'm sure, he would have found some one to feed him.

We headed off down the Hollyford Valley (which is now heavily damaged after the recent rain storm), passing over many of the alpine streams that tumble down from the Seppentine Range & Humboldt Mountains above into the Hollyford River below. David spies a stream out his window that he thinks will make a great photo opportunity. 

And what a stunning scene it is; thick green mosses cover the rocks, luxuriant ferns fill the spaces along the edge of cascading stream and the surrounding trees are dripping with emerald green mosses. Dappled sunlight reaches into the back depths of this magical scene; this is what a rain forest looks like. I stay for quite some time taking way too many photos, I just can't get enough of the beautiful scenery.

And then just a kilometre further along the road this is what nature can do to those beautiful sights. A stream flows down through the middle of a large tree and rock slide that blocked the Hollyford Road for several weeks back in September 2013.

We first visited the Hollyford Valley in 2014, just a few months after the landslide, when the road was still a dusty track through the slide and many large mature trees were caught up in the mud & rocks, their leafy canopy turning brown and dying amongst the rocks and mud. The trees are still standing but are now covered in moss and lichen as they slowly rot away.

There are photos of that previous visit in this blog link.  The area is still rocky and barren but colourful lichen covers many of the rocks and logs and a few shrubs, ferns and grasses are now growing in amongst the fallen debris.

Sadly due to the recent Fiordland storm, Gunns Camp had a large mudslide wash through it, along with severe flooding from the river. The camp is now closed until further notice. Hopefully the owners will be able to restore their quirky campground although from the aerial shots I've seen there is a lot of damage.

I wonder if this is (was) the only hand wound petrol pump in New Zealand. I was surprised at how few winds it took to pump in this guy's gas. 

Here's a link to a photo of the flooding at Gunns Camp, where guests were evacuated by helicopter after a night from hell. This link is a video of the camp as they were leaving in the helicopter.

In the meantime, oblivious to the destruction nature would wrought in a few months time, we carry on up the Hollyford Road. 

I know several of the swingbridges over the Hollyford River were washed away and all of the tramping tracks are closed due to rock slides, washouts and missing bridges. This one is on the Moraine Creek Route.

While I'm taking photos of the river from the bridge I spot a tiny yellow flash zipping out, dipping and diving over the rushing water and back again to a large rock. It's a male Tomtit/Miromiro collecting insects.

Towards the end of the Hollyford Road I know there's an old grave with a sad story, it's right on the edge of the river, above a stony bank and along a short track. This time the sign post at the roadside is missing.

I locate it by spotting a scrape in the undergrowth where cars have parked in the past (and one of the short posts where the sign should have been is still there) but unless you knew about it, you'd not find it. Which is a shame, I'd like to hope that Donald Keith doesn't ever get forgotten about. Now I wonder how his lonely grave fared in the flooded river.

At the end of the road we sit on the tray of the ute and hurriedly eat our lunch because the sandflies are out in force today. We're overlooking the confluence of the  Humboldt Creek & Hollyford River and another swing bridge which is at the beginning of the Hollyford Track, a 4-8 day tramp to the ocean.

Afterwards we walked the short steep track up to the Humboldt Falls lookout (both the Hollyford Track & this one are closed at the moment due to storm damage). The three tier Humboldt Falls, while spectacularly high are a little underwhelming when seen from way across the otherside of the valley.

I zoom in to the top of each tier and find this more fascinating.

The top tier

I wonder how deep the  pools are behind the overflow and if anyone has ever abseiled down to them for a dip.

The Bottom Tier

Two days later, and after the light dusting of snow at Cascade Creek, I headed off on my own mini tiki-tour checking for photo opportunities and to see where the snow has fallen. My first stop was at the top of Lake Gunn. 

I'm the only one around except for pair of Paradise Ducks who I surprise while they're moseying about in the nearby shallows. They honk their disapproval at being disturbed and head off out into the lake breaking up my reflections as payback.

Our camp is at the far end of the lake, there used to be a lovely little DOC camp here at the top end but it got overrun with campers which left no room for day trippers so it was closed down. 

Snow has fallen at road level as I pass through the Divide which is below Key Summit and the end of the Routeburn Track.

I stop again at Pop's Lookout, high above the Hollyford Valley.

There's no Kea to greet me today, just another Tomtit fluff-ball flitting about.

Across from the lookout are the Darran Mountains and the Lake Marian valley, a tough tramping track heads up the hanging valley past the Marian Cascade and Falls to a beautiful alpine lake. We walked the track on one of our previous visits. This whole area is now closed due to the storm damage.

I carried on down the road and came across a few hopeful tourists waiting at Marian Corner; the  junction of the Milford & Hollyford Roads. The road through to Milford is closed due to the avalanche risk and they're waiting to see if it will open.

I have a chat with the coffee-cart guy, telling him he has a captive market but he tells me he's waiting too and can't sell to anyone. His permit only allows for him to sell coffee at Monkey Creek which is further on down the Milford Road. I think he must be very keen, the nearest civilization is back at Te Anau about 80kms away.

I'm don't hold out much hope that the road will open for them, it's cold, very misty and the cloud is dropping even lower, it feels like it might even snow some more. 

I head off down the Hollyford Road stopping just a couple of kilometres further on at the Marian Cascade carpark. I cross over the swingbridge taking a photo looking up the Hollyford River from the middle of the bridge. This swingbridge was washed away in the recent floods, just as the helicopter evacuated more tourists stranded in the carpark.

I walked to the top of the Marian Cascade to take some photos and have the track to myself. Most of those waiting for the road to open would have no idea there this stunning little gem is just down the road. 

I now wonder how the boardwalk up the side of the Cascade survived in the flood; the water would have been raging down here to the river below.

On the way back down the path I stopped to take some slow-mo photos of some little water trickles flowing out of a moss and fern covered bank.

And then it's one more photo of the river as I cross back over the bridge.

Back at Marian Corner many of the cars waiting for the road to open before have now been replaced by new arrivals. There's also a kea entertaining the visitors (not the one from the lookout as this one has a band)...

...I take the opportunity of educate these visitors that they are not allowed to feed the Kea, human food is bad for them and endangers their health and also makes them dependent on human food and stops them from foraging for their own food. Before I'm finished someone else arrives and throws the bird more Cheezels. I give up! 

One last photo of the Hollyford River & a snow dusted East Peak at the tail end of the Darran Mountains. 

To the Top of the Mountain

Catch-up

The day after our tiki-tour into the interior I took myself on a drive to the top of Mt Hutt while David had the day off. The weather forecast wasn't looking too hot for the remainder of the week and I was keen to see the mountain on clear sunny day. There had been recent snowfall but the 14km skifield access road was open to 4WDs vehicles and 2WDs with chains. Skifield employees were helping people add their chains at the chain station at the lower carpark, many vehicles were tourist rentals and there was already quite a queue as I drove past. 

Mount Hutt (Maori name Opuke) is 2190 metres high and rises sharply from the edge of the Canterbury Plains about 80 kilometres to the southwest of Christchurch city. This makes it a very popular and accessible mountain to a sizeable population and in fact, the Mt Hutt ski field has the largest skiable area of the South Island mountains, over 3.65 square kilometres and as you can see, a few dozen runs. 

You can see the early parts of the access road running along the ridge centre left in this photo and again, clearly in the photo below it.

I was a bit anxious to begin with, the road rises steeply and has huge drop offs with no barriers. It was extremely icy through the first long narrow rocky section (shown below) where the sun had already disappeared for the day. I soon got the hang of it though, after letting others roar past keen to get to the ski field before the crowds- obviously locals who 'do' the road often. 

Once I was out of the first icy stretch the road widened a little and I was able to pull over to take some photos. It looked like the occupants of this motorhome (with chains) had gone off mountainbiking.

I guess they've biked down the road because this was the view below them, very steep terrain and no track here, but there are over 25kms of tracks in the bike park further down towards the bottom of the mountain.

It was a beautiful sunny, blue sky day and the views were magnificent, the Canterbury Plains stretched for as far as the eye could see (don't forget to click the photo to enlarge).

I had to be very careful climbing in and out of the ute and walking from one side of the road to the other, ice lined the road edge where the snow had been pushed off to the side, melted and reset.

A steady stream of vehicles passed me as I took photos, some making a terribly loud noise as their snow chains clattered and banged along on the grit covered gravel road. It sounded like their wheels were about to fall off as the grating noise bounced off the walls of the surrounding mountains. One car stopped so the occupants could check to make sure their vehcicle was ok. I guess if you've never driven with chains on you'd never know! At one stage a small rubbish truck roared past at speed and without a care in the world- he's obviously done this drive a few hundred times before. 

This pano is looking northeast across the Plains with the braided Rakaia River weaving it's way towards the coast.

I'm about two thirds of the way up the road here and when I zoom in ahead of me, I can see the ski runs and chairlift on the mountainside, I must be getting close.

This pano was taken from the aptly named Rakaia Saddle, I took it on the way back down later in the afternoon. I spotted it across the road as I was heading up and couldn't stop then to take it. Personally I think they need more pull-offs! But then again I'm bias (and where is my driver?)

Much of the road has named sections with the distance left to travel, I guess it makes it a lot easier to send work crews to clear sections or help with breakdowns etc. It also helps those driving up; 14kms up a mountain is a very long way!

This is the view from Windy Point looking south both directionally and vertically! 

I scrambled over the ploughed snow and ice to get to the edge to take the scenic photos- being very careful of where I stepped of course! 

This is also from Windy Point looking along the mountain ridge. And once again I can't get perspective in here for you, but that's a very long way down and those are very high mountain peaks. The views are stunning.

The ski field isn't too far away now, I can see the snow makers working on some of the runs.

And finally around the next corner is the Mt Hutt ski field base (the last section was through a no stopping section but I managed to quickly grab a couple of shots through the windscreen) 

The car park was already 3/4 full with lots of excited children running around as parents tried to get them into warm clothing. School holidays started in a few days and I guess it would be a madhouse up here then.

I walked to the edge of the carpark to take this shot looking down over a couple of runs that were closed. You can also see sections of the road running along the top of the ridges in the distance.

The nearby bungy jump tower was overhanging the above drop, it wasn't in operation.

I walked through to the ski field and chairlifts, there were plenty of families having fun on the learner slopes and several instructors with adult groups, teaching them the ski basics.

The main base buildings were a hive of activity with dozens of skiers and snowboarders coming and going.

I wandered up to the restaurant deck to take this photo overlooking the outdoor tables below.  I love all the bright colours contrasting against the stark white of the snow. Elsewhere in society the winter colour is often several shades of black...

...not here, it's not only ski jackets, pants, helmets & boots that are colourful, the skis and snow boards themselves are a riot of colour too. Very refreshing! 

I loved the kiwi themed racks to hold your gear while not skiing. Although I couldn't quite get over the fact that anyone with ill intent could have helped themselves to something had they wanted too. Some skis and boards were discarded where their uses had stepped out of them which provided a bit of a hazard to watch for while walking.

I watched the chairlifts carrying happy punters to the top of the skifield and then kept an eye on a few of the runs delivering them back to the base, if I'd had more time I might have taken a ride to the top too.

I had no desire to go skiing though, it's been a very long time since I last skied at Mt Ruapehu's Whakapapa ski field in the North Island. No, I was quite happy watching others enjoy themselves. And I was also keeping an eye on the time and the temperature as it started to cool down as the afternoon marched on.

I wanted to be off the mountain before the road re-froze after the warm afternoon sun had softened the ice and snow.

The car park was now full to overflowing and cars were still arriving, there were several campervans including two large Jucy motorhomes (with chains) parked very close to me. It's lucky I'm a tiny person (uh-huh, that's me!) I was able to squeeze through the small gap they left to get in my door.

And to top off a great afternoon, on my way back to the ute, I had a quick encounter with one cheeky kea (our endemic mountain parrot), who was trying to destroy the window rubbers on someone's vehicle. I shooed him away and he bounced off over the roofs, grabbing at aerials and roof racks as he went.  Someone else gave chase and he flew off disappearing over far edge of the carpark.

I navigated my way out of the carpark (my spot bagged as soon as I my reverse lights flashed), back to the road, and headed down, happy to see that it was still ok to travel....well, where the sun shone anyway. The camber of the road pushes the vehicles to the inside edge both up and down, which is just as well as it's quite disconcerting driving when there is no edge to the road. I did wonder (briefly) what would happen if you did manage to slide the wrong way on the ice.

Once the road disappeared into the shade of the mountain the road crews were busy opening the 'Caution Icy' signs. 

I passed them several times; I still had a few more photos to take on the way down. This one from the Rakaia Saddle- 

I love the patchwork of paddocks and shelterbelts and wide gash as the Rakaia River cuts a path through the Plains.

A couple of entrepreneurs were parked at the end of the road, waiting for the afternoon influx of visitors leaving the mountain. Although I'm not so sure Mr Whippy has checked out where his target market have been; icecream after a freezing afternoon in the snow? No thankyou! 

I took a detour on the way home via the alpine village of  Methven, a great little town which provides accommodation, pubs, cafes and restaurants for visitors to Mt Hutt and several other nearby ski fields. This is the famous in Methven 'Blue Pub'...

...and across the road, taken from another corner, the equally famous 'Brown Pub'.

And as with the Lakes, we don't know it yet, but we're going to become very familiar with this little village of Methven.