'Out There' at Lake Pukaki

Catch-up; mid June, 2017

Continuing on with the theme of taking our time while making our way to Christchurch, and staying at a number of freedom camping areas that have been on our radar for some time, we left Ohau B Canal and headed for Lake Pukaki, just up the road. 

Beside Lake Pukaki near Tekapo B Power Station

There are a number of free camping areas along Hayman Road which is on the eastern side of the lake but I have a particular one in mind. It involves driving under the penstocks of the Tekapo B Power Station. We've been through here a number of times before, but not with 'Out There' on the back. There's plenty of room but it's still quite daunting when you approach narrow tunnels or low bridges because it seems, from inside the cab, that the beams are right there above your head and about to smash into the van.

Not far past the power station I locate the entrance to the camp site. I head down the track with the walkie talkie to check the access, you soon learn in this game to check out the unknown, there's nothing worse than getting to the end of track to find that there's no turning. It's a good chance to take my camera with me too!

I radio back that it's fine, in fact one of the better tracks we've encountered. David slowly makes his way to the open area at the end, although it's a bit tight round one of the bends. 

We decide on a site that looks a little more sheltered, and also private if anyone else arrives (ha! that's a laugh, no one else is mad enough). We spend an age in the freezing cold chill of the afternoon trying to get  'Out There' level. It doesn't worry me if there's a bit of a lean but it's one of David's pet hates and being the perfectionist that he is, we have to get it perfect every time, even if we're only there for one night! 

Most of the time it's a piece of cake and we're done in a few seconds flat. Other times it's a pain in the butt and especially if it's wet or boggy underfoot. That's when the blocks skid as David goes to drive up onto them. Then we have to start over again, and sometimes, again and again (changing the position or adding a packer to the block) until we either make it or actually make too big a mess and have to move anyway. Oh what we'd do for self-levellers. Although we've seen them disappear into the mud too, refusing to be sucked back out when the owner has gone to leave. Such are the joys of winter RVing.

Finally we have it level but David's still not happy, we're not unhitching tonight and now the 5th-wheel is under strain because the ute is angled on the uneven ground. I've also forgotten to check the TV reception and guess what? We don't have any! The pine forest beside us is blocking the signal from the north. There's nothing for it but to shift over to the point, where we go through the whole process again. And this time I check the reception first!

The hydro lakes are all very low at the moment, and lower than usual for this time of the year although I guess they'll be starting to fill now with all the snow melt and rain that has fallen over the last couple of weeks. 

If those clouds weren't at the far end of the lake you'd be able to see  Aoraki/Mt Cook right in the middle there.

We manage to catch the last of the afternoon sun (from inside the van as it's too cold outside). And then it's not for long because it soon drops behind the mountains across the lake.

Later on I head out to take some sunset photos. I find a track through the pines to a point on the other side overlooking the lake and am delighted to see that Mt Cook has made an appearance and is living up to her Maori name Aoraki- 'cloud piercer'. 

We wake up to a very heavy frost and even colder temperatures and not for the first time thank our lucky stars for our diesel heaters. The early cloud disappears to reveal a stunning sunny blue sky day....but no sunshine reaching into our little patch. It doesn't take us long to decide to head out in search of some warmth.

We pass back under the penstocks and take a left up the hill to the head pond- often called the Fish Bowl or just 'the Bowl'.

The 'Bowl' is a very large pond at the southern end of the 26km long Tekapo Canal, it's where the water is held before it disappears down the penstocks to the power station below.

The 'Bowl' is a favourite (and no longer secret, sorry guys) fishing spot of many including a few of our feathered friends; here a Little Shag/Kawau Paka keeps a look out from a prime spot, the one and only pole in the middle of the pond. 

David had a quick look but decided he'd had his fill of fishing for awhile so we headed off up the canal, past the salmon farm to the end of the road. Well, to the end of the drivable road, you used to be able to travel right to the end and rejoin State Highway 8 but it was closed off a few years ago and now only walkers, fishers and cyclists (on the Alps2Ocean Cycle Trail) can use that section. 

We crossed the bridge and parked up on the canal to have some lunch, there's room to turn around for bigger rigs on both sides at the end, although it's a tight turn onto the bridge and it involves a bit of reversing if you head to the far side of the canal.

After lunch we head back down the road, turning the heads of people fishing along the canal as we go. I'm sure some people get a heck of a fright to suddenly see us approaching them on a narrow road. You can see it in their faces 'where the heck did that come from?', and we're not even a very big rig.

This is a big rig! We stopped in at the power station to say goodbye to friends Roz & Pete, we'd seen them at Ohau B and knew they were shifting to this camp site today. They have the right idea, sun all day here! Although it looks like they were getting a top up from that pylon behind.

And from their camp site we can see ours across the way; on that far point where the pine trees end.

There was one more place I wanted to visit before we made our way to the NZMCA Park at Lake Tekapo for the night. This is one of my favourite places in the South Island and one we've visited numerous times; Patterson Ponds. The ponds are hidden in the bare but colourful willow trees on the right in the photo below, that's the Tekapo River you can see down the other side. This can also be one of the most barren and windswept places and can look quite uninviting much of the time. 

But catch the ponds on the right day and it's a photographer's dream. And apparently there are also a few monster wily Browns in the connected ponds as well, we've seen a few fish but nothing too big. Click on the link above to learn more about the ponds.

I wanted to see if the ponds were frozen, I've seen them in autumn and in spring and also when the nearby, usually placid, Tekapo River was a wild torrent and the ponds were flooded. 

If you look closely in the photo above you can see that they are indeed frozen...or partly frozen. I took the photo from the Tekapo Canal Road, we're now at the top end of the canal about 8kms from where it exits Lake Tekapo.

I left David to turn the rig around up on the road while I clambered down the steep sides of the canal bank to the ponds below. There are 10 or so ponds and I managed to check half of them out before the shadow of the canal wall caught up with me and the ponds.

CSC (certified self contained) freedom camping is allowed amongst the ponds but it's only suitable for small vans, preferably 4WD, the track down is very rough and covered in large rocks and boulders and there are plenty of deep potholes in places too. I've always wanted to stay here, there's an area near the end of the road up on the canal road that would do for bigger rigs but I'd want to do it in summer when it's warm and there's no wind; it can howl a gale through here.

Once I'd finished taking photos I head back to where David's patiently waiting for me, making my way back up the walls. There are two, a flat gravel track separates them and believe me they are really steep with lots of loose gravel. There's also plenty of briar bushes to snag you. I use the dozens of rabbit holes as foot holds as I weave my way through all the obstacles back to the rig. We head off to get settled in at Tekapo before the suns sinks below the horizon and the bitter cold sets in once again. 

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.