Through the Nevis

 Real-time

Hi everyone & Happy New Year + one month!  I hope you're all well and coping with life in general wherever you may be in the world. It's summer here in New Zealand and we're all feeling very privileged to be able to get out and enjoy it without the restrictions many around the world are experiencing. Although some of us are still waiting for summer to arrive. Especially down here in the south of the South Island (someone must have heard me, it was 30c in Invercargill yesterday)

We had a lovely family time in Christchurch over the holidays and we're now in Southland where we had an appointment for a job to be done on the 5th-wheeler. That has now been completed and we're waiting for the weather to settle before heading off again. 

We had a week or so to fill in before having the job done so we spent it in Central Otago at Cromwell & at a rally near Alexandra. While in Cromwell we decided to drive, for the third time, the 'famous in New Zealand' Nevis Road from Bannockburn to Garston.

The Nevis Road is a 4WD road although in summer many 2WD vehicles are able to reach the Lower Nevis settlement from the Bannockburn end of the road. It used to be that 2WDs could make it through from one end to the other in late summer when the fords were running low or had dried out but no longer, the road (track) is very rough & washed out in many places south of the Nevis Settlement and the fords deep & rugged. 

Central Otago had had a lot of rain early in the new year so we weren't too sure whether we'd get through the 65kms to the other end but we were going to give it a darn good go. Once over Duffers Saddle, the view from the top of the Carrick Range down the Lower Nevis is spectacular. 

The Nevis River wends its way through the gorge at the far end and down through the valley. 

The green home paddocks of Ben Nevis Station on the far side of the river & Craigroy Station on the near side, provide a splash of colour in the otherwise typical Central Otago landscape of dry tussocks, spiky Golden Spaniard /Speargrass & rocky tors.

A lone caravan sits beside the river in amongst gold mine tailings from the Nevis' historic past. Alluvial gold mining is still carried out along the Nevis, as long as you have a permit. 

We stop at the old Nevis cemetery even though we've had a look before on one of our previous trips. There are some places you just can't drive past although the view never changes. 

One place that had changed was the old cob cottage near the cemetery. It's getting a 21st century makeover, with a new roof, doors, beams & a huge bank of solar panels (jealous much) amongst other things. 

Of course my photographer's eye much preferred the look of the old cottage.

David decided we didn't need to stop at the settlement this time as I already had photos. Before I realised we weren't pulling over we were past it. There was a little bit of muttering going on from the passenger seat for a short time before we hit the next ford... 

Gold mining tailing piles at the start of the gorge

...and then we were into the gorge, with more signs to warn those that think they are bullet proof. And twenty five fords was a little bit of an understatement as we were soon to find out. 

There were several easy fords through the gorge before we popped out onto the river flats of the Upper Nevis where a lot more mining was done in the early days. As evidenced by several large dredge ponds, multiple tailing piles, stark cliff faces and the remains of two stone cottages.

There are also several more 'modern' mining huts on both sides of the river which may well be used as fishing huts nowadays.

Just when we start to think the fords aren't anything to write home about, the mother of all fords appears before us.

We get out to check the depths and the best route through them, there are no gravel bases now, it's a muddy base. Some of the tracks are deeply rutted, others you can't see how deep they are through the tannin stained water. Just as we found along the Hawkdun Range, heavier 4WDs & off roaders have cut some of the fords up quite badly.  

The river has made it's own course along several sections of the track. We slip, slide & bump our way through and when we get out on the otherside to check, we notice that some of the fords have a small sign with a red arrow indicating which direction to take when there are multiple choices. The problem is they are all for the other direction, none on our banks. 

We suspect that direction arrows might have been used for a rally that has come in from the Garston end. 

We pass Roaring Lion Creek where we had lunch seven years ago while we were on a 4WD fundraiser over Nokomai Station. We came off the top of the range down the track you can see. That was such a fun day, we had a ball and still often talk about it. Make sure you read Part 2 if you click the link above, we had a grandstand view of a regular 4WDriver being pulled out of the river. 

Further on the river once again took over the track.

And then we came up on a washout that had created a sharp drop-off into the river. It had already claimed a few victims, a number of sump guards and bumper parts littered the river bank.

We couldn't squeeze through on the track above so took the most direct route over a drop of a couple of feet into the river.

Luckily we don't have a long overhang on the ute, although it felt like the tow bar caught the edge as we dropped into the river.

After all the rock 'n rolling and bouncing through so many fords and thinking we were through the worst of the fords, we decided to stop for a late lunch at a nice spot beside the river. 

It wasn't long before a guy on a bike pulled up behind us. Expecting a younger person on a trail bike (we usually come across them when out on 4WD roads) it was a surprise when he took his helmet off to see an older person. I offered him a hot drink but he was happy with the handful of cherries I gave him.

We got chatting, talked about the rough ford crossings we'd just done and then it got around to what we do in life. He said he worked for us so we guessed he had a government job. Yes, he said, he worked in Wellington but lived in Upper Moutere. After some more chitchat he introduced himself at Damien, David cottoned on straight away, I was a little slower.

It was Damien O'Connor. (Labour) MP for West Coast-Tasman, Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Biosecurity, Land Information, and Rural Communities! He was checking out Crown Land (Land Information) by riding his bike through many high country stations & 4WD tracks in the South Island. He had been on most of the tracks we've been on and was working his way through a few more. We had a good chat and then he was off. He took a selfie with us but would you believe it, I forgot to get a photo of him!

While we were talking to Damien (we're on first name basis now) I spotted a Karearea/NZ Falcon fly in to the top of that rock stack behind the bike in the photo above. When I zoomed in on the top I spotted TWO falcon chicks jumping about trying to get food off the parent. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the focus right on this photo, the wind was blowing quite strongly. 

The parent flew off  across the valley and landed on a rock high above us, calling and staying put, keeping an eye on the chicks while we had our lunch and a hawk soared through on the thermals. It was another good sighting we were able to report to the NZ Falcon Org who keep a track of falcon distribution around New Zealand. 

The falcon is one of our most favourite New Zealand birds and we've probably reported over 60 sightings since we've been on the road. Once tuned in to it, their call is very distinctive and we can instantly recognise it from miles away. This usually means a diversion from what we might be doing to track it down. Other times they just appear in front of us without warning; on a tree branch while walking, sitting on a power pole in the middle of a town, chasing prey past us while we're looking at a view or low flying straight across in front of the ute (which happened just a few days later on our way to a rally).  Falcons are much more common than you think.

The fords weren't finished with us yet, once again the river had gouged out the track and we bumped along sharp bedrock for a few hundred metres to the other side.

And then finally we were out of the valley and climbing steadily to the top of the Hector Mountains above Garston. Out my window and far below me, I can see the Nokomai Station track we followed on that rally up the 'Hidden Valley' to the top of the Garvie Mountains.

We head down the winding road into the Mataura River Valley, stopping...

...so I can take a photo of the amazing landscape along the top of the mountains...

...and another photo of the historic Garston Ski Hut, which I'm sure hasn't seen a good dump of snow in years.

The view out over Trotters Plain, Castle Hill and the Eyre Mountains is spectacular. The Mataura River can be see towards the back left below Castle Hill. SH6, the highway from Queenstown to Te Anau is in the centre and the track we're following in the slopes below. Click on the photo to enlarge. 

And a pano of the breathtaking view...

Finally we pass through the last gate with it's myriad of signs and head home to Cromwell (110km away), the fast way.

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).