Finally We Have Snow- Maniototo

Catch-up

From St Bathans we moved just 40kms east to the small Maniototo town of Ranfurly. I was still hoping for my blue sky hoar frost and the weather was certainly miserable enough for it. With bitterly cold temperatures, frosty mornings, snow flurries, dull brooding skies and no sign of the sun for several days it certainly felt like something was brewing. 

That's us, way over there- 'Nigel No Mates'- with the NZMCA Park totally to ourselves all week. This happens to us regularly when we spend winter down South. I'm sure we must be mad and for a short time I did wonder if we were. It really was no fun outside but at least we were toasty warm inside.

I said we had the park to ourselves all week. Well, that wasn't quite true. We did have this colourful character (and his lovely partner Lou) as neighbours for one night. Sean left his trademark rainbow stripes on the water tap post before leaving the next morning. 

While we were waiting for the weather to do something other than be grey and miserable we did a 270km round trip to Dunedin for the day. My laptop had been playing up for a few weeks, it was definitely on its last legs and we were worried it would suddenly crash and then I'd be lost without it for however long it took to buy and set up a new one. So when David saw a special deal on the one he had his eye on, there was nothing for it but to drive to Dunedin. We did a loop driving through to Palmerston, onto Dunedin and then home through Outram & Middlemarch. 

I'm now the proud owner of the latest HP Omen laptop with a 17" screen, which I need for my photo processing. This laptop is used by gamers (video games played online). It's built super tough which is just as well, I'm very hard on my laptops, this is my third laptop in 7 years on the road. For the geeks amongst you it has a 6-core Intel i7 processor, 16GB of memory & a 1TB hard Drive, whatever that means, I just know it's super fast! (and uses a super amount of power too!)

Finally the weather broke and while there wasn't my longed for blue sky hoar frost there was a reasonable dump of snow. Though sadly not in Ranfurly. 

I didn't have to travel too far up the road though to find the white fluffy stuff & a patch of blue sky.

Crossing Idaburn at the top of the Ida Valley.

Ponds and waterways beside the road were not quite frozen over; in this one you can see tracks at the back where ducks have paddled through the ice slurry.

Some paddocks where pristine white, others had livestock patiently waiting for their winter feed to arrive. It wasn't only the farm stock waiting for their food, in one yard I saw a cattle beast carcass on the back of a large trailer. As I approached two hawks lifted off from it. Perhaps it was dog tucker, but the hawks were certainly having a good feed before it was moved. I did get a photo but I won't post it here.

Farm tractors had made a mess of  the snow in the gateways to the farm's silage & hay storage areas.

I drove as far as the Home Hills Runs Road turnoff; the road that lead us on our epic Hawkdun Range journey just four days earlier.

What a difference! I'd have loved to have driven down it a little way but thought better of it.

There are several old buildings at Hills Creek that are great photo subjects and especially when there's snow about. I thought this cottage was unoccupied until I saw a person move past the window (and spotted the new roof when I looked at the photo later). I don't usually make it quite so obvious when I take photos of people's houses.

This stone cottage will be very familiar to anyone who travels SH85 between Ranfurly and Alexandra. There's no chance of missing it, it's front door opens just about onto the road! It would make a lovely cottage if only the road wasn't so close.

And this historic former school house has had a tidy up since I last took it's photo. I guess the next time I stop there'll be someone living in it.

It was time to head for home when a rain storm I was watching at the bottom of the valley suddenly sped up and was heading straight for me.

The next day I drove the loop from Ranfurly to Kyeburn, on to Danseys Pass and back through Naseby to see whether there was any snow out that way. 

Kyeburn Diggings- sluice and dredge sculptured cliffs

Danseys Pass was closed due to snow but there was only a dusting on the Kakanui Mountains which hadn't fallen down at road level. I turned around at the same place we did a few years ago when we were out chasing snow. I wonder if they're the same sheep! 

Kakanui Mountains- 8 August 2019

Kakanui Mountains-  1st August 2015

I drove back through Naseby and thought I'd check out a road to a dam I'd seen when passing it the day before. West Eweburn Dam is at the top of the Maniototo Valley, it sits below the Ida Range and is on the edge of the Naseby Forest. The 6km gravel road was very corrugated so I took the dirt track beside it, as had others before me.

I drove to the end of the track, crossed a ford and even though there was a rough track up to the top of the dam wall, I thought I'd walk the rest of the way just in case I came to grief. From the top of the wall I could see the Mt Ida Water Race winding it's way around the hill on the right towards the dam and then passing below me on its way to Naseby after exiting the dam. 

See the ute? 

West Eweburn Dam was very pretty, and so tranquil with the snow covered mountains reaching down to the water on the far side of the dam.

Someone else thought this place was very special too. A memorial seat was tucked into the corner beside the dam outlet, with a perfect view across the dam. What a lovely place to rest and reflect.

West Eweburn Dam was built in 1898 to store water from the 112km Mt Ida Water Race (the longest water race in NZ). The dam held the water before it continued onto Naseby where it was used by the gold miners. The water race is now used for irrigation. The water exits the dam over a small weir and then through a narrow gap/hole (couldn't quite see) in the rocks.

Relics from the past lie beside the nearby stream. 

I passed by this lovely fellow on my way up to the dam. He was chained to a fence beside some stock yards. There was no stock or people in sight and he jumped up wagging his tail as he watched me drive past and disappear down the road. He was still there an hour later when I came back down so I stopped to say hello. He was very happy to see me but I didn't go too close in case he was scared. 

I felt a little sad for him as it was getting cold & late and he couldn't move much on his short chain.  He'd obviously been left behind while the farmer shifted their stock. Just as I pulled away, a flash mud splattered SUV passed me & pulled in, he was getting a ride home in style.

Ranfurly's weather did improve eventually. Just as it was time to leave and head back to Cromwell. We still didn't have any mates to share it with though. 

As we headed off  back over familiar roads, the Ida Range looked magnificent. The snow so white & smooth on the mountains, just like icing on a cake.

The roadside snow had mostly melted away as we drove back through Idaburn, with Mt St Bathans looking very nice up ahead of us.

The Hawkdun Range was also looking pretty spectacular with it's snow white covering too.

It would have been fun had we been up there when the snow came, we might have frozen our butts off and not have got out for a few days but boy, would I have some great photos!

Snow Over Kyeburn- Maniototo

Back to the Maniototo...

After the excitement of waking up to snow which had fallen overnight in Ranfurly, we headed off to check out the countryside. We thought we’d take the river road and head back along a different route towards Kyeburn Diggings where we could also check to see if the falcon was hunting again. Kill two birds with one stone so to speak!

The scenery is stunning; a monochromatic winter wonderland of snow covered paddocks, bare willow trees, Mt Knobbler and the Kakanui Mountains hidden behind the fog (don't forget to click on the photos to enlarge).

The main road is clear of snow & ice and there’s only the odd vehicle and us out and about.

Further down the road and the mountains poke their heads through the fog.

And this is what happens when I shout to David "Stop!"...

....I need to take another shot….(it slid down off the roof).

We turn off the main road and head down the very muddy and ochra coloured Kyeburn River Road.

Stopping again to take in the views…

When out of nowhere the Rural Postie comes flying past trailing a spray of muddy water behind him and over us. We’ve seen him several times while we’ve been out exploring and he must be wondering who the heck are these mad people that are always parked on the side of the road in the strangest of places.

More sheep waiting for their feed and keeping out of the mud by standing on a high point …

Ahead of us as we near the end of the road is the snow covered Ida Range.

The spot colours of a hay-baler and a silage trailer break the snowy scene just before we turn right onto the Danseys Pass Road.

It's lucky we explored the Danseys Pass just two days ago…

…when this was our greeting. It’s hard to believe it’s the same place.

We head over the Kyeburn River….

…stopping to check out the scoured and now snow covered cliffs of the Kyeburn Diggings…

And then continue on towards the poplars where we’d seen the falcon the other day.

The hawks are still there, gliding, diving and stirring up the thousands of finches that were feeding in the winter feed paddock, just like the other day. But with no falcon in sight I left David scanning the horizon, while I walked down to the bridge….

To take another photo of the river and cliffs…

Which certainly looked very different to the other day.

As I was walking back I heard a vehicle approaching, it was the Rural Postie again, his run probably took him up to the Dansey Pass Hotel and back.

He called out a greeting as he slowed to pass us and then he’s gone, he’s got a run to finish.

Can you tell it’s bitterly cold? My ‘Little Black Stick Man’ is back, although it appears he has put on some weight…no wait, that’s his multiple layers. And still he was cold. Mind you, you know it's cold when the water bottles in the side pockets of the car doors are both frozen!

The falcon failed to make an appearance and so I took one last photo of the Kakanui Mountains (my favourite shot of the day)…

…before we headed off towards Naseby, which certainly looked like an alpine village as we drove down the hill.

We stopped at The Royal Hotel for a late lunch (no soup on the run today), the town was deserted again but the pub had a warm fire roaring away in the fireplace and the barmaid was friendly and welcoming. We ordered our meal and sat at the bar to wait. An old timer opened the door behind us, shuffled in and sat on a stool near us. He called out a greeting to the barmaid and she poured him a drink without asking what he wanted; he was obviously a regular.

We got talking to him and he told us The Royal was his local even though he lived on a farm near the Danseys Pass Hotel, 30kms away. He had lived all his life in the Danseys Pass Valley and would be buried in the historic Kyeburn Diggings Cemetery (the one we visited the other day) overlooking his favourite river. The river where he had a gold claim that he worked regularly now that he’d sold off the farm keeping just the house and home paddock for himself.

After a bit of chit-chat and passing the time of day he must have felt comfortable with us because he told us he was off to the Gold Office in Arrowtown to sell the results of his latest efforts in the river. He reached into a small pocket on the inside of his jacket and brought out a glass vial containing hundreds of flakes of gold. He told us he thought he'd get about $1200 for this little lot and then let us hold the vial to feel the weight, his hand hovered about underneath in case we dropped it. What a surprise, it was quite heavy in comparison to its size.

He carefully tucked the vial back into his pocket, as we retired to our table to have lunch, and then carried on quietly supping his drink. We certainly meet some interesting characters on our travels.