Moody Mavora & Snowy Garston

Catch-up (early October 2019)

From the DOC camp at Cascade Creek on the Milford Road we returned to the NZMCA Park at Te Anau for a few days. After a week out of range, it was good to have cell phone & internet reception again before we headed to our next destination Mavora Lakes- one of our favourite South Island destinations- which is also out of range. 

The road to the lakes leaves the main highway about halfway between Te Anau & Mossburn and from there, there's 'just' 34kms of gravel to travel until you reach the lakes turnoff which is then followed by another 8kms of gravel to the lakes; past South Mavora and onto North Mavora Lake.

For the first 15kms or so we travel in an unseen grader's freshly scraped track. We not-so-quietly curse as clouds of dry dust billow out behind us. Sometimes you just can't win; another couple of days and the dust would have settled and the road would have been silky smooth. I guess dust is better than being rattled to death by the corrugations although we have them to contend with for the last half of the journey.

Never mind, our favourite camping spot is free which isn't really a surprise, only the hardy (or crazy) camp at the lakes at the tail end of winter when the weather swings between bitterly cold & freezing cold.   

North Mavora Lake & Mt Cerberus

That would be hardy people, crazy people or hardy crazy hunter people. There's a hunter's camp up the back of the plateau, tucked into and sheltered by the thick bush. There are a couple of pig dogs in a kennel beside a horse float and down in the horse paddock I can see two horses. 

As soon as they spot me, they gallop over to the fence for a chat & a pat and then follow me along the fence line hoping I have something tasty for them. I don't, there's just dry grass and more dry grass.   

I'm keen to cross the swingbridge and check out the bush for Robins/Toutouwai & Rifleman/Titiponamu...

...but all I manage to find is one lonely robin who watches me expectantly, hoping I'm going to scrape some leaf litter for him. Of course I oblige.

It really was bitterly cold. As night closes in, snow starts to fall and David is not impressed. He's turning into a fair weather fisherman. The snow doesn't amount to much and is gone by dawn. Thank God for our diesel heaters, we're kept toasty warm inside.

The next day I walk up to the plateau behind and disappear into the bush...

...there are a few more Robins up here but still no sign of any riflemen. In fact the bush is very quiet, perhaps it's just too cold for them and they've moved deeper into the bush seeking shelter.

I break apart a rotten log and several birds are very keen to see what I've unearthed. Although not so keen to share as they chase each other about trying to keep the spoils for themselves.

Several more 'crazy' people have arrived overnight, one parked up in the wide expanse of tussock on the lake shore below Mt Cerberus...

...and the other sheltering in the trees near the fire pits. 

David has been reluctant to get the inflatable boat out, it has been very cold & windy, and the forecast is for more wind and heavy snow. We'd also had some unsettling news from family on the way in that had us distracted and with no cellphone reception, we'd started to worry that we really should be in range. 

So when we woke the next morning, and with the weather no better, we made the decision to head on out.  

We'll leave Mavora Lakes for the summer this time. 

South Mavora Lake & the road out

We decided to head to the NZMCA Lowburn Park at Cromwell, somewhere where we could settle for a few days and re-plan our next few weeks. We needed to stay around the lower half of the South Island in case our Southland family needed us to head back to Winton to look after the house & cat if they were suddenly called away.

On the way to Cromwell we stopped for a night at one of our favourite (and 'secret') freedom camping sites near Garston.

Brightwater & Castle Hill, Garston

Although we missed the 'Closed due to Lambing' sign on the way in, seeing it on the passenger side of the road the next morning on our way out. Oops! We'd both been reading the trout fishery sign on the driver's side instead.  We also didn't see any sheep until the next morning, they must have been hiding under the willows at the far end of the paddock.

But we did see the neighbours walking their goats. The goats were having a great time too, snatching mouthfuls of grass, running to catch up, kicking up their feet and racing ahead of the others. 

It was once again bitterly cold overnight, our diesel heaters working overtime until we went to bed. We very rarely need to leave them on overnight due to the van's insulation and our winter bedding.

Sometime during the early hours of the morning I heard the familiar gentle splatter of snow on the roof. I silently hoped we'd be snowed in for a few days but on opening the door the next morning there was just a thin layer covering the ground. 

Never mind, it was still a wonderful sight and a winter wonderland 'Out There'. I love waking to snow, being 'johnny-on-the-spot' and able to step outside in my dressing gown & gumboots to take photos, all within 5 minutes of getting out of bed.

The Mataura River had turned a dirty brown, rain has obviously fallen in the back country.

Here's the stock bridge the afternoon before the snow fall (this bridge is my favourite piece of farm equipment in all of New Zealand) 

Thick cloud gave way to blue sky...

... and the snow started to disappear before my eyes.

And by the time we were ready to pull out the snow had gone and dark clouds had rolled back in.

Goodbye Mavora

This will be my last post for a week or so, we're leaving for the Milford Road & Milford Sound tomorrow morning and we'll have no reception again. We've had a relatively quite time here in Manapouri catching up on various chores and computer work. But we did manage to walk part of the Kepler Track & visit Doubtful Sound & the Power Station, I'll post those blogs in due course. Catch you soon.....

 

I'll finish my Mavora Lakes blog posts with a pictorial of some of the wonderful scenery we were privileged to enjoy during our two week visit. We had a fantastic time and are looking forward to returning in the not to distant future.

 

Ka kite anō  Mavora

 

 

 

 

 

Mavora Kayaks

We were woken early one cold morning on the weekend by a lot of shouting which was kind of strange considering we hadn't seen many people for a few days. When I opened the door (thankfully in my dressing gown) I was surprised to find a whole heap of people waving at me as they paddled by in kayaks! The shouting was coming from instructors who had a group of five or six people each; there were about ten groups & they were getting them to do a barrel roll as the paddled down the lake, making sure they could right themselves afterwards. Some were very reluctant to do it & I don't blame them as it was freezing cold.

I knew it wasn't the school camp as they had left before the snow arrived so I dressed and wandered down to the end of the lake where they were congregating before disappearing down the river. From the conversations I heard they appeared to be foreign students & when I saw a couple of their transport vehicles it looked like they had come from a education institute.

The river that joins the lakes isn't too long, is quite slow flowing, shallow & wide at the top but then narrows with a few rapids in the middle followed by a fast flowing section before it empties into a wide delta at the north end of the south lake. An easy grade for beginners to learn on.

I followed a couple of groups down the river to where I could hear more shouting, laughing & some big splashes followed by cheering to find that some of the braver ones were dragging their kayaks up to the top of a stony bank, climbing in and riding the kayak down the slope to land with a big splash in the river.

An instructor was near the bottom shouting instructions "lean forward, hold your paddle up and keep you shoulders high, now GO!"

Some didn't quite keep on track and landed awkwardly in the river but they all popped up straight away laughing and whooping. Most paddled straight back over to the edge and hauled themselves up the bank again.

As each group left to continue on down the river the next group arrived to try their hand at "gravel surfing"

And the following weekend it all happened again, I'm not sure if they were the same students but it was the same shouting!

The Many Moods of Mavora

During our two weeks at Mavora Lakes we experienced the full spectrum of weather conditions from extremely hot days through to snow & sleet, along with everything else the weather Gods thought we might like to have a taste of in between!

 

We were tucked down in a valley between two mountain ranges, when the sun make an appearance it arrived late & left early each day. Sunrise was around 7am but it took a full two hours for it to rise high enough to reach the van & warm us up on lake edge. Some mornings it was so chilly before the sun got to us we stayed warm & snug in bed until late. 

 

 

Each evening the sun dropped behind the peaks on the other side of the lake well before darkness fell. And once the sun dropped so did the temperature which in turn was an invite for the hordes of sandflies to come and party. Sandflies were the bane of our time at Mavora, they are persistent little buggers and managed to annoy the hell out of us many times. The security screen door we had installed was worth it's weight in gold otherwise it would have meant we'd have had to keep the main door with it's tiny insect screen shut for most of the time.  

 

We had four hot sunny days at the beginning of our visit and then on the fifth night sometime in the wee small hours we both woke up freezing cold. The temperature had well & truly dropped but it wasn't until I opened the door in the morning that I was greeted with the wonderful sight of snow on the mountains across the lake and up behind us! How exciting, our first taste of snow "Out There". I called quickly to David, who was still in bed "snow, snow!" He thought I was saying "no, no!" and was wondering what on earth had happened! He chose to stay put and view it later; where's the fun in that?

 

During the day the temperature plummeted further. It was cold, dark & miserable outside when the hail arrived collecting in large piles on the ute tray & ledges around the van. It even fell off the end of the awning in a pile on the ground and filled up the floor of the inflatable. After the hail the clouds dropped low over the top of us & blocked out the mountains. Next came the sleet and then finally snow at lake level, our very first snow fall, how exciting!

 

The snow on the ground around us was gone in a flash and when the clouds lifted they revealed a much lower layer of snow on the bush behind and the mountains further up the valley. Winter is well and truly on it's way.

After the snow, and for the next couple of days, came the rain. Heavy solid rain for two whole days, enough rain to fill our fresh water tanks ten times over. Enough rain to soak the parched tussock grasslands and run down into the lake in great rivers of water. Enough rain to dampen down the dust on the gravel roads but not quite enough to wash the rig by itself! We had wondered why there were a number of narrow ditches dug around our camp site. The pumice soil didn't actually seem to soak too much of the water up, we nearly didn't have to launch the inflatable in the lake as it floated around in it's own pool next to the fifth-wheeler.

 

And while we were tucked up inside our warm & cosy van there were still a number of Te Araroa walkers passing through Mavora in the cold & wet weather, I guess when you're walking 3000kms you have to keep to some sort of schedule. After seeing no one about for a day or two this guy gave me a bit of a fright when he suddenly emerged out of the trees nearby- he looked kind of creepy with his rain cover & "hunch back". Don't worry, he couldn't see me taking this from inside the van, I just think he was looking at our van thinking "I wish........" 

Our diesel heaters also proved their worth while we sat out the bad weather. They were very economical to run, we'd have one or the other ticking over for most of the day keeping us warm & also drying any wet clothes or towels. They especially earnt their keep when we showered keeping the bedroom warm & toasty while we changed.

After four days of bad weather, including one where a very strong wind blew straight down the lake & in our front door (better than it hitting the slide out as had been the case for all of January!) the sun came back out, the snow melted and summer resumed where it had left off.

 

Below is the view across the lake to our fifth-wheeler & camp site which is followed by a montage of "Out There". That's us to the left of the right hand side clump of trees.

 

 

And then for the last couple of days we woke to thick fog which quickly lifted as the sun rose. It was quite eerie not being able to see the lake but knowing that it was just a few steps away in front of the van. Opening the door each morning reminded me of the Forrest Gump quote "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get"