Teddy Bear & a Road Trip

We’ve just arrived back in Winton after a very busy few days catching up with family in Dunedin. I have plenty to tell you about but unfortunately once again you’ll have to wait until I catch up to-date, which, at the rate that is happening, will be sometime mid year!  I mean, for goodness sake, I haven’t even got to last Christmas yet. We need to stop doing things and I need to stop taking photos- I also need a solid couple of weeks to do totally blog business and nothing else. Like that’s going happen anytime soon. Not.

Here's us parked up at a busy  NZMCA Park in downtown Dunedin - we had great weather except
 for the wet and stormy hour that passed just before I took this shot. 

And it’s about now that I need to tell you that this is likely to be my last blog post for a couple of weeks. For two reasons (actually three). 1- we are heading to Stewart Island for a break and it’s likely to be a very busy time, 2- my laptop is being sent away to finally (and hopefully) have a fault sorted, and number 3- I broke my phone in Dunedin. Don’t ask, but I blame my sister and a ‘Premier Margarita’  for that!

So here is another catch-up blog from our time parked up at Lake Ruataniwha in the Mackenzie Country.

If you have been following the blog for some time you’ll know that I’ve been chasing(literally) a close up photo of the hares that we keep seeing racing off around the countryside. And you’ll also know that I’ve taken to calling them ‘teddy bears’ because of this post.

Well, in the end I didn’t need to chase a hare, he came bounding along the track towards me. He stopping so close to the front of the ute that I couldn’t get him totally in the frame for a minute. And that’s when we saw why he was unaware of the danger he could have been in. This poor old boy was a bit moth-eaten, he only had one eye and I suspect he couldn’t see much out his other one either.

He sat there for a moment, twitching his nose before deciding there must be trouble ahead…

…and bounded off up the hillside, stopping to recheck his surroundings for a second before disappearing over the top. I felt rather sorry for him and wondered how long he would last.

In the pond beside the track the hare approached us on, there were also some ‘ugly ducklings’- these are baby Australian Coots (slightly blurred I wasn’t ready for them) and they have got to be the ugliest babies I think I have ever seen.

It’s no wonder the parents hide them under the rushes and they scatter when disturbed. Poor darlings, but at least they grow into something more acceptable.

We left Kelland Pond behind and headed south down the main highway turning right into Lake Ohau Road. Thousands of people pass this sign daily on their way to and from Christchurch & Queenstown and I wonder how many think ‘what’s down there’ or ‘I must have a look down that road some day’.

Today it’s our turn to explore it. Our target was to at least get to an ‘historic stone cottage’ we saw marked on one of our maps.

It’s not long before the stunning and beautiful turquoise Lake Ohau comes into view…

…with the prominent & huge monolith Ben Ohau (1522m) standing proud across the water. There’s a dam on the far right of Ben Ohau , it’s the first dam of the Ohau A, B, and C hydroelectricity canal system and downstream (or should that be downcanal) is Lake Ruataniwha. Actually there is still an Ohau River which flows beside the canal and empties into the lake too, but it’s at a much lighter flow than it used to be.

It was a surprise to find a historic site beside the road- this is the remains of a controversial boundary fence and spade line between Canterbury & Otago. The boundary line was drawn using a ruler, it didn’t allow for natural features or the rights of established runholders.

Click on the photo to enlarge if you’d like to read more about it. We could faintly see the spade line, a depression in the ground, off in the distance.

The road skirted around the edge of the lake and another much smaller lake came into view, well actually it’s more of a puddle in comparison to Lake Ohau. This is Lake Middleton and it looks like it’s used a lot for water sports and fishing. There’s a basic DOC camping ground along the water edge and although it’s rather sloped, there are a few flat areas in amongst the trees. There’s also a couple of closed-up caravans parked on the best sites, ready for the holiday season I would think. At the far end of the lake there’s a huge house(top left photo) which looks to have been recently built, we passed it’s pillared gates and large barn/shed at the beginning of the lake. It looks totally out of place and I wonder who owns it, somebody rich &/or famous perhaps…

The campground extends to the other side of the road where there are leveller camping areas and amazing views across Lake Ohau to Ben Ohau. A basic amenity block is also on this side of the road.

We take a side road up onto a small plateau and into the alpine village of Lake Ohau. It’s small and consists of mostly holiday homes and a few permanent residences. We stop at a tiny reserve with a huge table to have lunch and David decides this could quite easily be the place to retire to if we ever stop wandering (he might have second thoughts on a less than perfect day of course).

We’re high above the road and looking down the lake towards the Southern Alps and the views are magnificent- here’s a slightly distorted pano from my phone.

Our next side road detour takes us to the beginning of the Ohau Snow Fields road and the Ohau Lodge.

This photo, taken back at Lake Middleton, shows the 10km snow field access road zig-zagging up the side of the mountain. We decide to leave that road for another day; perhaps when there’s snow at the top.

We carry on around the lake edge, the road has now turned to gravel, and dips and climbs along the bottom of the steep slopes of the mountains beside us. There are a number of avalanche warning signs highlighting the very steep areas where snow builds up and slides off the mountainside onto the road below.

Further on and another DOC camp comes into view. This is our type of camp; remote, lakeside, bird life, boat ramp and scenery to die for. Roundbush also has big sandflies. I talk to a couple of tourists who are hiding out in their campervan, they’re not sure they’ll last the distance.

We continue on, the scenery is breathtaking and I wonder if it could get any better…

We’re getting near the top of the lake now and can see the wide open deltas of the Hopkins River to the left and the Dobson River to the right…

and the houses and farm buildings of Lake Ohau Station.

And one of those buildings happens to be the historic cottage we were looking for. Hmmm….I’m not too sure who was the most surprised, me or David. I don’t know why (because it is usually ruins) but we were both expecting to see a cutesy fully restored stone cottage. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

We drove on past the station homestead, slowing to let the farmer and his wildly excited pack of noisy sheepdogs cross in front of us. The road continues on into the Ruataniwha Conservation Park where there are a number of tramping tracks. It’s rugged and remote and I’ve since heard the road has a few washouts in it. It’s 4WD country even if you can get through.

We stop at the Maitland Stream road bridge and decide this is as far as we’ll go today.  We scan the stream bed for birds, nothing.

But far across the otherside of the valley I spot a very long swathe of colour- hundreds of thousands of lupins. Lupins that are tracking up the valley towards the river sources and the mountains.

It’s about now that I realise actually how serious and widespread the lupin problem really is and will be, in the years to come, unless something drastic doesn’t happen soon (which is highly unlikely). Most people only see the lupins around the tourist hotspots and along the main roads but here they are, dozens of miles away and encroaching into conservation areas. Not only do our vulnerable high country river birds have to avoid introduced pests but they also have to compete with lupins taking over the open stony braided river bed habitats they need for breeding.

With that sobering thought in mind it’s time to head for home…

…and stop along the way to admire at least one successful conservation project- possum control has allowed the endemic mistletoe to survive and flower in the lakeside bush. In amongst the deep green of the Southern Beech trees there are dozens of bright splashes of brilliant red. This is the rare and beautiful New Zealand Mistletoe. Some of you will remember the photos I posted of the mistletoe in my Christmas blog post, this is where they came from. 

Here’s what I wrote about it then- ‘the name ‘mistletoe’ is given to plants that use specially adapted roots to extract water and nutrients from the stem tissues of their host plant. Unlike some mistletoe species found in other countries, New Zealand mistletoes usually do not harm their hosts. There are eight unique species of mistletoes in New Zealand, the three Beech mistletoes (Green, Red & Scarlet) are now uncommon in many parts of New Zealand.

One last close up photo of Ben Ohau. To give you an idea of how large it is, you can see a road running right along the bottom edge of the mountain. This is Glen Lyon Road and it’s another road we’ll need to explore sometime; it runs even further up the valley on the otherside of the lake (past those lupins) and on up the Dobson River.

Back onto the tarseal and home to Lake Ruataniwha…

Lisa & the Lilybank- MacKenzie Country

Lisa, who lives in Dunedin and is a friend from a photography forum I belong to, had indicated she’d like to meet up with me while we were in the MacKenzie Country. Initially Lisa was hoping we’d be able to meet near Omarama so we could shoot the ‘Clay Cliffs’ at sunrise but unfortunately we hadn’t moved that far south and Lisa was only able to get away from work and family for just the one night on the weekend we shifted to Lake McGregor. I told her I was sure we’d still find plenty to shoot including the Patterson Ponds which she was keen to visit. Unfortunately the wind returned with force and overnight rain had fallen in the foothills of the Southern Alps.

I met Lisa in town and she followed me out to the Ponds, both of us getting hammered along the canal road, the wind bufferting the vehicles as we fought to hold them on the road. We stopped to take photos as we approached the ponds and were very nearly slammed against the vehicle as we fought to stand upright.

Fork Stream which passes under the Tekapo Canal and exits into the normally placid trickle which is the Tekapo River was now a roaring grey torrent. The lupins I had seen the other day gracefully swaying in the breeze along the edges and on an island were now swallowed by the murky swirl.

Further on, the Ponds, which are fed by Tekapo River, are flooded and windswept and looking totally different to out autumn visit. We decide there's no point in driving down the rough track to check them out…

…but after turning around and heading back along the canal, we do wind out way down to the stream outlet where a torrent of water tumbles out from under the canal bank. Nearby lupin flowers are being battered by the wind and their roots are being undermined by the water. A flock of whirling and diving Black Fronted Terns periodically land on the numerous islands in the middle of the flow, some fly overhead warning us away. There are chicks and nests on the islands and some have probably already perished in the flood.

After grabbing a few quick shots we head back to the canal road, Lisa takes a short cut up the side of the bank following a deeply rutted and very rocky track, I travel the long way round. There’s no way I can risk the Ranger on a 4WD (capital letters!) track, it’s the main player in our travelling road show.

We’ve decided to head up Lilybank Road, the road that passes by the NZMCA Park. Lilybank Road is about 40kms long and follows the eastern shore of Lake Tekapo and along the base of Two Thumb Range, all the way to the top of the lake and beyond. It’s a road that David & I have yet to explore, even though we turn into it every time we visit Tekapo. Lisa takes the lead and we head for the hills.

Being behind I’m able to stop when I spot something interesting; the first is this sign between the skis for a ‘holiday home’. The Roundhill Skifield is located towards the end of the road and these cottages (I use the term loosely) are available to rent. I'm sure they would have been shearers quarters in their previous life as there’s a very large woolshed nearby. I hope there are photos on the accommodation websites they are advertised otherwise you'd get a big shock arriving for what you thought was going to be a luxurious romantic skiing weekend!

My next stop (Lisa has pulled over too) is at the lookout over Lake Tekapo towards the Motuariki Island, a small island about a third of the way up the lake. Back in September Motuariki Island was the site of a tragic event when a group of tourists hired kayaks to paddle about in the bay below the Tekapo township. Unfortunately, as is the case a lot of time on alpine lakes, the weather changed abruptly and blew the party- who had also ventured further out into the lake than they should have- into choppy waters and away from safety.

By the time the survivors were found and rescued off the island, two out of the 11 kayakers had lost their lives to the icy waters. One had made it safely to the island but returned to help his friends and succumbed to the cold.

We pushed on, Mt Erebus (2311m) and the surrounding Sibbald Range, loomed high ahead of us. The Godley River plain is just visable to the left and below the steep slope of Mistake Peak (1921m). David & I came close to the peak when we explored Godley Peak Road on the other side of the lake last week.

A little further on we come across the most amazing sight, a great swathe of brilliant yellow flowers sweeping down the Boundary Stream valley, under the road bridge and out to the shore of Lake Tekapo. Broom! Highly invasive and another aggressive pest plant that is a relative of the lupin, broom has taken over large areas of New Zealand countryside. There are two areas that come to mind when I see broom on this scale; broom once grew thickly along both sides the Napier-Taupo Road on the Rangitaiki Plains but I noticed when we passed through in October that most of it had been sprayed. The other area was alongside the Buller River near Kawatiri.

We cross the bridge and pull over to take photos…

…first of the wooden bridge with its unusual steel spans underneath…

And then of the broom itself. It’s obvious that the waterway has helped the broom disperse it’s seeds and kept the plant watered as the surrounding hills and rocky flats are broom free. I wonder if they have an eradication plan in mind...and if 'they' do they need to get their bums into gear!

Lisa wanders about in amongst the flowers taking photos and we find a leathery brown trout on the banks of the stream. It looks like it may have become stranded after the water level dropped or in fact was washed out of the flow when a passing vehicle used the nearby ford.

We decide we haven’t time to drive to the end of the road, it’s still about 20kms away and Lisa has to return to Dunedin later in the afternoon and she plans to take the Hakakaramea Pass Road back home (little does she know that she’s going to have a bit of vehicle trouble before she gets there and doesn’t arrive home until close to midnight). We turn around at the end of trees on the left and return to the stream in the dip below.

Directly across the lake from the look out point I can see the wide Cass River delta where David & I explored and found the black stilt the other day.

We stop at a stream where the wind isn’t so strong so Lisa can grab some shots of the lupins before she returns home.

Never one to miss an opportunity and especially one that involves lupins, I take some of the closed flower spikes.

Lupin photos taken, we head off back towards the main road where we stop to say our farewells before Lisa heads off to the left, me to the right and back home to Lake McGregor.

I stop one last time just before I turn into the camp ground, I had spotted the yellow ribbon of broom across the lake the other day and now I’ve visited it. I wonder how far it reaches back up the winding gully.

I also take a photo across a muddy bay to Motuariki Island from the western side of the lake. Somewhere on the shores of the muddy bay in the foreground there should be some more black stilts. We’ll go exploring there soon.