A Return to Wanaka

Back to catching up on the last of the blogs from a few weeks ago-

After a lovely few days at Ohau B Canal near Twizel it was time to move on. I thoroughly enjoyed Ohau and I’m looking forward to returning sometime in the summer to explore the area further, and perhaps David will also have better luck with the salmon next time.

The landscape heading up the Ahuriri River valley towards the Wether Range and Lindis Pass was stunning. You’ll recall we’d had the first snow fall of the season while parked at Ohau (not the more recent ‘Big Snow’), the remnants of that first fall looking like a dusting of icing sugar across the tops.

This first photo(below) is approaching Lindis Pass Summit and looks totally different to the second photo which was taken on my recent trip back to the MacKenzie Basin to see the snow.

Although, this second photo is heading down from the summit- you can see the back of the summit sign on the right, further down the road.

I was looking for an area for David to pull into so I could take some scenery photos before we left the Lindis Valley behind us but unfortunately the one I directed him into turned out to be one big muddy mess. David was not impressed. And nor was I when I couldn’t find any decent shots to take and my shoes were covered in mud.

We headed back to our favourite Wanaka camping ground, The Outlet, for a few days. The campground is beside Clutha River's outlet from Lake Wanaka, hence the name. You can compare the autumn photos from our last visit in the link above.

The road to the camp ground is part of the lake and river reserve and the campground is set back up side roads in amongst the maunka to the left. I don’t think the weather must have been too great on our last visit as I don’t recall seeing Mt Aspiring across the lake ahead of us. It must have had it's head in amongst the clouds for most of the time.

We set up camp on a slightly elevated site with views out to the river and lake, the level plateau we parked on last time had been roped off due to the recent rain but we were quite happy with this spot as there were just a few permanents at this end of the camp, the overnighters were sited closer to the entrance. It was nice to sit in the slide out with the warm sun streaming through the windows all day. The trade off was the front door opening into the cold shade. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Wanaka town was looking pretty as a picture in the winter sunshine.

Looking across the Wanaka Marina to Roys Peak Conservation Area. I became very familiar with the marina during this trip, I wonder if you can guess why?

Another shot for me of the famous Wanaka lone willow. I had good intentions of getting up early and shooting it at sunrise but it was just too darn cold and I was just too darn lazy. It’ll keep.

We took a drive out towards Mt Aspiring National Park stopping just before Glendhu Bay to take a photo of Mt Aspiring, the most prominent feature in all the views as we wound our way around the lake. It looked pretty impressive towering above the surrounding mountains especially as it was still a long way up the Matukituki Valley to the mountain itself.

We stopped to watch a group of army guys climbing the rocks at Hospital Flat, an acclaimed rock climbing area near Diamond Lake. Hospital Flat was not named because it hospitalised climbers, it was where farmers & drovers left ailing stock to convalesce before they were moved further up the valley.

We stopped at the Diamond Lake carpark for lunch, we came here last time in the early autumn and the colours from the poplars and willows along the river were stunning. Now it’s a more muted tone. I can see the road to the Treble Cone Ski Field in the top right of this photo, the skifield wasn’t open but it couldn’t have been too far away as it snowed a couple of times while we were in Wanaka.

After lunch we drove back towards Wanaka turning off just past Hospital Flat and taking a side road up the west side of Lake Wanaka towards West Wanaka Station where there are a couple of long DOC walks in the Mt Alta Conservation area. We had no intention of hiking them today, we were just tiki-touring and keeping warm inside the ute.

We crossed the temperamental Matukituki River, a river than can be little more than a trickle in the summer that becomes a raging torrent in the winter and spring with the snow melt from the mountains and the many glaciers in the Mt Aspiring National Park. It looks like it took out the bridge at some stage which has now been replaced with a suspension bridge.

We drove through the front paddocks of West Wanaka Station to the end of the track. We always feel a little anxious driving through farms, it feels like we’re trespassing even though they are public access roads.

We stopped at Homestead Bay to have a look around and found these Kereru (native wood pigeons) resting and sunning themselves in a willow tree beside the track. They kept a weary eye on us but were too lazy to move, even when we walked up underneath them.

A vehicle track lead out to the lake’s edge and the braided river mouth of the Matukituki; there’s actually an island that separates some of the braids, that’s how wide the mouth is.

Finished with West Wanaka we headed back towards town and took another side road opposite Glendhu Bay that headed up the Motatapu Valley for about 8kms, ending at a small wooden non-descript bridge and another large high country station. But there was nothing non-descript about what was beneath the bridge or in fact who used to own Motatapu Station. The station once belonged to Shania Twain, the Canadian singer and songwriter. She sold it after her marriage broke up but I'm not too sure who owns it now. Whoever it is they like their privacy too, there are plenty of signs around saying 'Private' or 'No Entry'.

And beneath that bridge lies the Motutapu Gorge, a very narrow and deep chasm that the Motutapu River flows through. It was dark and uninviting on our visit but apparently there’s a very popular swimming hole located in the gorge and reached by following the river upstream from a nearby carpark.

Popular but very dangerous as the ice-melt fed river rushes through the gorge between boulders and over waterfalls. Three years ago a 15 year old boy lost his life in the gorge when his foot became stuck between rocks and he fall over a waterfall backwards. He was submerged and breathing in an air pocket before finally being rescued and flown to hospital over 3 hours later. Sadly hypothermia and the stress of the ordeal caught up with him and he died during the night.

On the way back down the valley David took the opportunity of driving through a fast flowing ford a few times to try and clean some of the mud and cattle poop off the ute. Secretly, I think he just wanted to hoon it for a minute or two.

Out & About Around Wanaka

I’ve gotten a bit ahead of myself with my blog posts lately, so while I’ve had a bit of time (due to the fact that the strength of the cellular network in the Arrowtown area is beyond a joke & I couldn't upload a brass razoo) I’ve written up the missing blogs. Hopefully once I get these all posted I’ll be right up to date!….. That is until tomorrow when we’ll no doubt be off on the next adventure.

We went up to Wanaka a few days before the airshow and while we could have stopped in a number of camp sites located very near the airfield we decided we’d get back on the grid, charge the batteries, do the laundry and see a bit of Wanaka at the same time. We stumbled on the Lake Outlet Holiday Park, a traditional kiwi campground, just like they used to be. In fact the drive in on a gravel road through a pine forest and what looked like sand dunes (can you have sand dunes on a lake?) reminded me of driving into Opotama Holiday Camp at Mahia in Northern Hawkes Bay where I spend many childhood holidays.

Even though the camp ground was just 6kms from Wanaka town it felt a million miles away, a secluded and quiet spot on the shores of Lake Wanaka right beside the Clutha River outlet. The same Clutha River that we picnicked beside in Balclutha very close to it’s mouth. So we’ve been at both ends of the river but not travelled the middle yet! The camp ground was terraced down to the lake edge with many of the sites partitioned off by kanuka bush. Quail roamed throughout the campground and at nights the rabbits came out to play. It was no wonder there was hardly any grass.

We had a great spot at the end of a top terrace looking up Stevensons Arm & overlooking Dublin Bay & the river outlet. Everyday a range of motorhomes and caravans arrived, mostly just for the night, although in the run up to Easter these two tiny caravans arrived for a few days. David called them the hobbit caravans, they again reminded me of our childhood holidays. Once, a long time ago Mum & Dad hired(or borrowed) a two berth caravan for our family (4 kids) to holiday at Bay Park at Mt Maunganui. I think it was called Ocean Beach & it was right beside the old speedway with huge pine trees dotted throughout.

How do you fit a family of six in a two berth caravan? Mum & Dad inside, two kids in the awning & two kids in the back of the Holden stationwagon! Us kids had turns at sleeping in the awning & the car, that was until my brother went missing. After a frantic search he was found a fair number of metres away curled up in his sleeping bag fast asleep under one of those huge pine trees with a pile of pine needles for a soft mattress. He’d wiggled out under the awning and gone sleep walking. I think he was locked in the car for the remainder of the nights.

Central Otago badly needs a decent amount of rain, the lake level is very low which would have made it hard for us to launch the inflatable if we had decided to get it out. As it was the weather wasn’t the best, a little cold & overcast although the sun shone at some stage most days. All around this area, right from down Cromwell way through to the lower slopes of the mountains west of Wanaka are thousands of briar bushes growing over the barren & dry ground and in amongst the native scrub. And of course at this time of the year the bushes are covered with brilliant red rosehips (or are they called briarhips?). A fruit eating bird’s paradise I would think and probably the reason why we have seen so many hawks, dozens & dozens of them. Between the smaller birds & the rabbits they would have an endless supply of prey.

Around the lake edge especially near the town centre in Roys Bay were dozens of poplars looking splendid in their many shades of gold. I visited the area a couple of times but didn’t managed to get a blue sky to offset the beautiful colour.

There is one particular tree, a very small willow that is quite famous amongst photographers, both here in NZ and overseas. It grows on a mound all by itself surrounded by water near the lakes edge. It makes a great subject at sunrise, in stormy weather & also with its autumn cloak on. I say surrounded by water because it usually is, but not now that the lake is so low. Never mind, that shot will have to wait until we next visit.

I thought I’d give the willow a black & white treatment, I was quite pleased with the outcome. So now I can add this one to many different interpretations out there (no pun intended)

Across the river is Dublin Bay, a DOC conservation area so one day while out exploring we drove down to the lake edge on that side of the river to explore. The area was quite isolated and and looked a little dubious going by a couple of burnt out car bodies, some wheely tracks & these skins on a fence! We didn’t stay too long.

Nor pigs.......

Further down the Clutha, past the airfield & just before Luggate, the road branches off heading east, and crosses the river on the historic single lane “Luggate Red Bridge”. The bridge was built in 1914 and features a 66 metre Baltimore span.