Gertrude Saddle

I knew of another location where we might find the, so far elusive, rock wren which failed to materialize at the Rock Garden beside the Homer Tunnel. The Gertrude Saddle is at the head of a short & spectacular valley enclosed on three sides by sheer near vertical mountains & is just before the Homer Tunnel.

The walk over the saddle is for experienced alpine trampers only, the route is not easy to follow as there are only a few markers posts above the bush line and it’s especially difficult towards the end where there are huge boulders to get over and around & steep rock slabs to climb with the aid of steel cables. The attraction at the top of the saddle are the Black Lake & on a clear day, Milford Sound can be seen.

But I was going to be OK, I only wanted to walk to the bottom of the saddle at the top of the valley. It was here that there was another population of rock wrens & I was hoping I might be able to spot one or two. David decided after yesterday’s walk to Key Summit he’d take a break this time, his knees were still complaining, so we parked in the carpark and I left him for the next three hours, scouting around in the bush surrounding the gravel park for birds & waiting for me to return.

The first section of the track nearly had me beat, clambering up a rocky & dry river bed following sparsely placed locator poles, I thought if this was how it was going to be all the way it would wear me out, especially carrying my heavy camera (which I always have nestled in the crook of my arm). But it soon broke out onto a flat area and then passed into a short section of bush.

Once out of the bush I had a clear view of the valley ahead of me and the sheer size & scale of the mountains surrounding it. This walk was by far my most enjoyed walk while in Milford (and such a pity David wasn’t there to share it), the scenery was once again jaw droppingly spectacular!

The track followed along the edge of a dry boulder strewn riverbed. Though not a river at all but obviously a snow melt water course with the odd avalanche thrown in for good measure by the look of the washouts here and there. There was a track to follow with marker posts but it was dug narrow & deep with lots of twists & turns around the rocks in the spongy undergrowth and very hard to walk in.

I kept an eye on a lone walker ahead of me which made it easier to know where the track was heading and also gave me scale in my photos. I passed quite a number of groups returning down the valley, some had been to the top and others had turned around at the head of the valley where the sheer cliffs rose. By now the clouds had settled in over the saddle so even if I was to climb to the top I wouldn’t get to see much.

After awhile I was back into the open again, more scree than boulders and getting closer to where I could see another large “rock garden” where the wrens were located. I knew I was getting closer, as like the Homer Tunnel area, there were plenty of predator trap boxes laid.

I scanned the rocks below the saddle (which is to the left of the valley head) to see if I could locate where the track went and spotted a couple of “tiny dots” people trying to get up the rock slabs. I’ve blown this up so you see them (look for the red at the right hand base of the rock face). I also spotted another couple of groups making there way back down.

The track was getting more difficult now, more a mass of rocks that you had to manoeuvre around or over and as the sun had long dropped behind the range & the cloud was rolling in I decided I shouldn't leave it too long before I returned to the carpark.

 

Looking back down the valley towards the carpark.  Rock cairns help pinpoint the track.

 

But not before I found a rock to sit on while I searched with my binoculars for about 20 minutes looking for a rock wren.  But not a rock wren in sight once again, all I found were bloody chaffinches! Chaffinches? What the heck are they doing living in an alpine rock garden. I've heard that sometimes you have to wait for over an hour before spotting rock wren, if I had come earlier & David wasn't waiting for me, I probably would have stayed for at least that long. But it wasn't to be.

I called David up on the walkie-talkie to say I was on my back down (we use them to keep in touch on walks in the open-  they don’t transmit in the bush so well) & probably about an hour away and just as I stepped back onto the track I spotted…....….no not a wren (wish it was) but the last of the Mt Cook Lily (actually a giant buttercup) in flower. I’d been hoping I would see some when we were in the mountains but it is getting very late in the season and so far I’d only seen clumps of dried & dying leaves and collapsed stems. Small consolation but at least I didn’t leave empty handed.

 

 

Mt Peel & the Himalayan Lilies

Yesterday we travelled inland for about 30kms towards Mt Peel and the Rangitata River Gorge. Along the way we passed numerous deer farms, David spotted some ears sticking out of the grass as we flew by a large paddock. He backed up so I could get some shots & the fawn stayed very still just like his Mamma taught him to. And soon after this shot he ducked even further down until just the tips of his ears were showing.

A little further on we passed a herd of deer in velvet (well I'm assuming that is what is happening, all with soft downy antlers) what a sight they were, they looked fantastic all moving in unison back & forward along the fence line. Deer are so highly strung, any movement spooked them this way & that. They weren't at all sure what to do; whether to run or come closer.

 

We stopped & had a look at the DOC camp at Peel Forest. What a great camp site this will be to come back to, the river & good fishing on one side, Mt Peel & many walks on the other. AND powered sites too! Now that is a change for a DOC site. We didn't have time for any walks today though, we were happy exploring by vehicle.

On further up the valley we travelled until we reached the high country station Mt Peel, where I'd learnt that there was a beautiful stone church very near the homestead that I could photograph.  It was gifted to the community by the Station owners back in 1869. We spotted it from the road up on a knoll overlooking the river flats and drove on up to it.

The Church of the Holy Innocents, Mt Peel Station

Sadly it had been very badly damaged in the Christchurch earthquake three years ago and the front stone wall had collapsed. Not only had the stone collapsed but the beautiful stained glass front window had been smashed too. It would have been heart breaking to see the damage after the church had stood for so long. Apparently with a lot of fund raising & generous donations the window is being restored at a cost of well over $60,000. Much of the broken glass, some of it just splinters & shards, was saved by the family and used in the restoration.  More fundraising is needed to repair the church though.

There is a very famous New Zealander buried in the graveyard; Dame Ngaio Marsh well known for her crime writing novels. She was a governess here on the station for many years and kept her ties up with the family until her death.

Mt Peel Station is also very well known for it's lilies. In the forest that surrounds the homestead there are thousands & thousands of Himalayan lilies & they are due to bloom over the next two weeks. In fact there is a fund raising open day in two weeks time where visitors can see the lilies and take a tour through the homestead as well. Something that is very rarely done but obviously when there's a need there's a way.

From what I saw of the flower gardens surrounding the beautiful homestead, we caught a glimpse of it on the drive up to the church, they are very well looked after and manicured. There was also a huge vegetable garden at the rear with built up beds, raised boxes & beautiful bean teepees dotted in amongst it, all very English. And around the outside were the lilies en mass through the trees. The homestead was built in 1865 and it & the station have stayed in the same family for all these years.

The lilies are magnificent, apparently they escaped after a conservatory got blown down and have self seeded right through the forest & bush around the home grounds. What a shame we were too early, I would have loved to take the tour & see the flowers in full bloom.

We drove further on until the road turned away from the river, another 40kms on gravel road and we would have reached the well known high country sheep station Mesopotamia (from a Greek word meaning between two rivers). Now that is one place I would really love to visit, I've added it to my list for next time. Across the river and about the same distance into the mountains is another very well know sheep station, Erewhon (the title is an anagram of 'nowhere').

This is as close as we got to the Rangitata Gorge which was a bit disappointing, we did follow a dirt track past the rafting company across private land but that too got a bit rough so we called it a day and turned for home.

We stopped at one of the river tributaries and had some lunch below the bridge, there was an hour long walk along the stream bed up to some falls but we decided it was too hard going climbing over the rocks & river boulders. The water was low, crystal clear & ice cold.

This big fellow was waiting by the ute when we got back to it. The paddock had about 30 bulls in it, half white Charolais & half black Angus, it looked kind of cool, the two colours together. I wasn't game to test out his temperament by patting him; apparently they are very quiet (yeah right!). And I definitely would not have gone near the Angus, they looked mean.

Historic Peel Forest Hall

River bed flower

 We are now in Waimate...