Ida Valley & the Cheat’s Rail Trail- Part 1

Another brilliant sunny blue sky day; winter down south isn’t so bad after all…..well at least I think so, David has a slightly differing opinion. Yes, there are heavy frosts, occasional snow and often a bone chilling wind blowing but most days are clear and sunny.  I have worked out what the key is, to surviving the extra cold days, it’s getting up late! By the time we step outside, the frost has mostly gone and there’s a hint of warmth from the sun, if we stick to the valley floors we miss most of the wind, and arrive home before the sun disappears you’d very nearly think it was a summer’s day. Very nearly.

We are always toasty warm in the van and in fact too warm sometimes, it’s very well insulated and the diesel heaters have certainly earnt their keep. We mostly only run one of them at a time as it gets too hot, and very rarely run them overnight unless the prediction is a -11 degree frost as it was the other night in Ranfurly.

We’ve been criss-crossing the Otago Rail Trail often since we arrived in Central Otago and have been visiting many of the points of interest along the trail while exploring. We’re doing the cheat’s rail trail; no aching muscles, no sore butts, no weather worries, no time frame, no crowds, and home-cooked meals and a comfy bed each night. We’re not cycling the150km route but we’ll see many of the stops and attractions along the way, in fact we’ll see a little more than the cyclists as we explore further afield.

Before we left to explore the Ida Valley one morning, I walked across to the Omakau Rail Goods Shed to take a photo and as luck would have it two cyclists appeared. They were from Wellington and were doing the trail in the off season to miss the crowds (and it was the only time they had off work). They had stayed the night at Blacks Hotel in Ophir and were about to head off on the next leg.

But first they had to stop and stamp their Rail Trail ‘passports’ and they were keen for me to take their photos stamping their books. I wished them well and they cycled off up the trail, disappearing into the bright sun which sits low on the horizon at this time of the year.

We headed off, back over the Raggedy Range and into the vast & isolated Ida Valley. Instead of turning south at the old Poolburn hotel we turned left and headed north up the edge of the valley on another very long, straight and narrow gravel road, passing a number of large farms with old homesteads, stone cottages and farm buildings along the way. We were headed for the Poolburn Viaduct, part of the Rail Trail and close to the road for those that are cheating.

I caught a glimpse of the viaduct through a rocky gorge as we approached and we parked beside a cattle stop close by. I thought we’d be able to walk up to the top of the ridge and along the trail to the viaduct. As I got out of the ute, I heard a whole lot of baa-ing coming from across the stillness of the valley and when I turned around I could see dozens of sheep running across the paddock towards us.

And they kept on coming, running and baa-ing from over the rises and from all corners of the paddock. More sheep that think we have food for them, the poor things. The initial ones had set off a chain reaction and now they were coming through the gate from the paddock next door, I kept telling David to ‘hurry up’ so we could get going before it turned into a riot.

We quickly headed off up the hill and the sheep headed off along the fence line towards the other paddock, perhaps there was food on offer in there, now that they had expended all that energy in racing over to this side of the paddock.

We climbed to the top of the hill and then found our way barred by a deep creek and rocky bluffs so we returned to the ute (quietly, so as not to alert the remaining sheep) and drove up the road another kilometre or so until we were on the right side of the creek.

We then climbed up to the trail and headed towards the viaduct passing the old Ida Valley Gangers’ Shed along the way, with it’s tin chimney at the back, this is where railway repair workers would have boiled the billy for their lunch or afternoon tea. Many of the old gangers sheds along the trail have been restored and can be used by cyclists for shelter on rainy days.

The view out over the Ida Valley is magnificent, this is just a small section of what is a vast open plain with endless blue skies and a huge expanse of grazing land with a hint of green, promising that the grass will soon grow even if only slightly, before it’s burnt to a tinder again in the relentless summer heat.

That’s the ‘road’ we’ve travelled up cutting across the centre, the valley continues on over the rise to Rough Ridge behind.

After a kilometre or so we round a corner and there is the Poolburn Viaduct ahead of us.

At 37 metres high it’s quite an impressive bridge for the tiny river below.

We cross over and continue on to the first of the two Poolburn tunnels, this one is 201 metres and it’s recommended you take a torch. It doesn’t appear to be too dark and you can see for most of the way through although I can see why cyclists and horse riders need to dismount, there could be quite a dust-up meeting someone else speeding through from the other direction (speaking of horse riders- now that is the way I’d love to do the Rail Trail).

As we headed back towards the viaduct I heard some chatter coming from the tunnel which surprised me as other than farmers going about their business, we haven’t seen a single person while exploring the back roads. Then out of the dark, who should appear? The two guys from Omakau this morning! The look of surprise on their faces was priceless, as I called out to them “What took you so long!”  It’s 18kms from Omakau to the viaduct via a route that follows the range along on the otherside before cutting through the Poolburn Gorge to the Ida valley here.

We made our way back to the middle of the valley and a tarseal road for a change. Ahead of us the Hawkdun Range (made famous by artist Graham Sydney), forms a lovely backdrop to the valley.

Suddenly a body of water appears to our right when we least expect it, it has a road side high fence & a couple of old buildings on the edge. We’re past before I realise that this is the famed Idaburn Dam. The dam that appears in a number of TV ads and is often shown when there’s a hoar frost. It’s also the home of the Roaring Game, that ancient Scottish sport of curling and is famous for the Bonspiel, the grand tournament which occurs when (and only when) the ice reaches 14cm thickness. That’s when the Ice Masters put out the call to curlers nationwide to come and play within 48hrs.

We screech to a halt (the story of David’s life- ‘Stop! Church!’ or ‘Stop! Old Woolshed…bridge…cottage…beautiful scenery…etc, etc’ He is a very patient man) and we return to the entrance. The Rail Trail also crosses the road at this point and I’m half expecting to see my guys again although they had a good 8kms to cycle before reaching here. This’ll be a good spot to have our lunch we decide, the gate isn’t locked but does have a warning.

The dam is mostly frozen, and somebody has been skating on it recently going by all the marks down in front of us but the edges are liquid, they’ll be no curling happening here for awhile. We walk around the edge heading for a larger building we can see around the corner. We pass an old hut and David has a look through the dusty window (no, he’s not going shopping- the bag he’s carrying has our lunch in it). Inside, hanging from every available vantage point, are dozens of old ice skates; I'm not sure, but some look like they’ve been in recent use.

The next weather beaten building looks to be the Clubhouse come Timer/Announcer/Music headquarters- it looks very much like the building that was at the head of the Marine Parade roller skating rink in Napier where I used to skate, albeit alot more rough around the edges. David sets up lunch on a wobbly bench and the hot soup is a welcome sight as that cool wind is blowing once again. You can see the edge of the ice below David, the stairway ends in water so there’s no stepping off onto the ice today. Just past the building the dam is back to water and apparently that end rarely freezes.

To be continued....Part 2 here

Arthurs Pass- Heart of the Southern Alps

We had a fabulous time at Lake Brunner and were lucky to have a couple of fine days before the rain set in once again. We left Lake Brunner during a break in the rain, heading for Jacksons where we were going to wait until the weather cleared before crossing Arthurs Pass. You'll remember this post from earlier, well now I can tell you more about our drive over the Pass.

Arthurs Pass is one of three passes that link the east and west coasts of the South Island. The Pass climbs to more than 900 metres through Arthurs Pass National Park and is the highest and most spectacular pass across the Southern Alps.

It took three days before we awoke to blue sky and a view out over the Taramakau River valley.

Perhaps we should have stayed another day, the Jacksons Retreat Holiday Park had a number of walks, a waterfall, two lovely tumbling streams (which were gushing torrents by the time we left), lots of birds and glow-worms. But we were keen to cross the Pass while it was such a lovely day. On our way out we stopped at probably the prettiest dump station we’ve visited on our travels. The only problem being that the van was facing downhill and the tanks didn’t empty fully. But then that happens at other sites too, you’d be surprised how many aren’t level.

Just up the road is the historic Jacksons Hotel. The first Jacksons Hotel was built in 1868 and served as a stage coach post. It was rebuilt in 1872 on a higher site after it was washed away by the Taramakau River. The second building went up in smoke & was replaced by this one in 1910.

Our next stop is at the settlement of Otira which was once a bustling village of 600 people but now has a population of just ten or so people. The Otira Hotel was built in the 1860s and was also a stage coach post. After the Otira tunnel opened in 1923 the village became a busy railway settlement.

In 1998 Otira became famous in NZ when the whole township was sold for $73,000. The sale included the hotel, hall, fire station and 14 rentable houses on 20 hectares of leasehold land. Last year, after 4 years on the market, the pub was sold to a Motueka man.who plans to buy the rest of the settlement in a few years.

Although we didn’t meet the latest owner (he was away on a break) I get the distinct impression that he is slightly eccentric. As you can see, both inside and outside the pub, there is an eclectic collection of hundreds of items from a by-gone era. There doesn’t seem to be rhyme nor reason for some of the items, perhaps generous people have passed on their collections. I know I wouldn’t like to be the one dusting in there.

I got a bit of a fright when I opened one of the lounge room doors to see an old lady sitting across the room (left middle photo above). She didn’t have me fooled for too long though, I’ve seen the likes of her before. Paper mache ‘old people’ were regular visitors to Mum’s craft shop in Hawkes Bay. A lovely lady in Matata in the Bay of Plenty used to make them to sell and they’d sit in deck chairs outside the shop welcoming shoppers in- oh look, I just happened to have a couple of 'old people' photos! That's Mum in the centre on the right, in case you are thinking 'that one looks very realistic'- the photo appeared in the local paper.

Our next stop was at the Death’s Corner Lookout which overlooks the engineering masterpiece that is the Otira Viaduct. Opened in 1999, the 440 metre four span viaduct carries the road over a stretch of unstable land and replaced a narrow winding, dangerous section of the road that was prone to avalanches, slips and closures. As magnificent as the viaduct is I was more impressed with the artificial waterfall that was created to divert water over the two lane highway, to plummet hundreds of metres into the Otira River below.

One final stop at the summit of the Pass to check out the memorial to Arthur Dudley Dobson, pioneer, explorer, surveyor and civil engineer who discovered the pass in 1864 (although Maori did use it earlier). Arthur Dobson was born in London in 1841 and died in Christchuch in 1934 at the ripe old age of 93 - the fresh air obviously agreed with him.

We stopped in Arthurs Pass Village for a late lunch and then decided we’d stay in the village for a couple of days instead of heading further east to one of the numerous DOC camps along the way.

This DOC campground was a little different than most, it was just across the road from the DOC headquarters for Arthurs Pass National Park, just along the way from the railway station and backing onto the railway line and sidings including a historic turntable. The bank I’m standing on taking the photo is a flood bank for Avalanche Creek which runs through the centre of the village.

Avalanche Creek arrives in the village via three vertical waterfalls that cascade down the mountainside across the road from the camp. This small section is the waterfall at the bottom of the falls, the middle section can be viewed from a platform just above these and there’s a very steep track up to the top section. The water, as you can see is crystal clear, it pools just over the bank from our camp and disappears into the gravel underneath the rail bridge before emerging into the Bealey River on the other side. The gravel must be very porous because it’s hard to imagine that amount of water not forcing the flow all the way to the river.

The middle waterfall forms a beautiful backdrop to Arthurs Pass Chapel’s main window. Like a number of churches around the country nature does a great job at providing a moving living stained glass window.

Arthurs Pass Village began its life as a road construction camp and then grew to provide services for travellers on the road providing, amongst other things, fresh horses for the weary travellers on the 2-3 day journey. Between 1907 and 1923 the village became a worker’s camp during the construction of the Otira railway tunnel. Many of the holiday cottages tucked into the bush around the village are former worker’s huts. The post office was one of the more unusual post offices we’ve seen on our travels. It looked more like a bus shelter and I bet it would be very cold collecting your mail in the middle of winter!

There are numerous walks around the village and along the Pass but other than a short walk to Bealey Chasm we didn’t do any of the popular walks.  We did spend an afternoon hiking up the Otira Valley in search of the elusive Rock Wren- I’ll do a separate post on that- but with the sun not reaching into the valley until late morning and it being bitterly cold outside until then, we stayed in the van tucked up in the warmth.

Historic Jacks Hut, a restored roadman’s cottage, sits across the road from the Chasm carpark.

Some of the most prominent features of the village are the railway yards, buildings and railway stations (old & new). Not so visible is the entry to the 8.5km long Otira tunnel, in part because it’s hidden in the shade all day long. The entrance is the dark hole at the end of the bridge in the top left photo.

And while the Arthurs Pass is mostly a peaceful alpine environment, there is the frequent rumble of passing trains, day and night.

Most of the trains were hauling coal wagons back and forth from the West Coast coal mines, it was interesting to note that 5 engines were needed to pull the wagons up to Arthurs Pass from Greymouth. And only two were required to take the empty wagons back to the Coast; on occasion the 3 spare engines were hooked onto the back of the passenger train.

Twice a day the Trans Alpine Passenger Train pulled into the station, the train transports visitors on, what some say, is one of the worlds great train rides through some stunning scenery. Personally I think the road journey is more spectacular- we have done the train, 17 years ago, but I have little recall of it other than the tunnel which went on and on. Odd when it’s the scenery that I should have remembered. Although I do remember stopping at the old A frame railway station and hoping for a kea to make an appearance (they didn’t). The old station has now been replaced with a long low profile concrete and stone building- you can see it in the background of the photo of our van back near the top of the post.

Near the underpass to the station is this information board with the rock and the carved logo beside it. It’s a pity that lichen is overtaking the emblem.

Still to come from Arthurs Pass-

Cheeky, Curious & Charismatic Kea
Stunning Otira Valley

The Cloud Has Lifted

Finally, after 40 days and 40 nights we woke to a brilliant blue sky. I knew it was going to be so when I opened the door around 4am this morning and the air was so crisp and clear, it felt like I could reach up and grab the twinkling stars that were spread out across the sky above us.

I spoke too soon in the last post re ‘wallowing in mega gigabytes’, the internet went down yesterday afternoon and we were unable to re-connect before we left. Talk about frustrated! And we’d only just bought another $5/10gb worth. But we're back on the road and have mobile internet tonight.

I know I’m jumping the queue again, but I wanted to show you where we’re parked up for the night- at the DOC camp at Arthurs Pass village. I don’t know how much sleep we’re going to get, what with the main highway on one side and the rail line on the other, I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting (interrupted) night. But still, we wanted to overnight in the village so we can do some of the walks tomorrow, and we used to have a rail line at the bottom of our garden, so it should bring back a few memories. In fact it already has, the last two trains past have been coal trains exactly the same as travelled past our garden on their way back and forward to Tauranga Port.

That’s the historic Arthurs Pass rail turntable just behind us and out of picture, to the left, is the beginning of the 8.5km rail tunnel through the Main Divide.

It was too difficult to stop at most of the carparks with ‘Out There’ on the back but we did manage to fit into the Death’s Corner lookout carpark high above the Otira Viaduct.

Where we were greeted by, not a pesky weka, but a pesky kea, who promptly set about removing the tow ball cover!

We stopped at Arthurs Pass Village for lunch, we hadn’t quite decided where we were going to stay at that stage, but as it’s turned out, is was just across the bridge in front of us & only a few metres down the road. Just as we were about to leave the ute to walk to the cafe a guy approached David and introduced himself- I was in the van and didn’t see him arrive.

It was a wonderful surprise to meet a fellow photographer who follows me on Flickr. Francis also takes great photos of the South Island and he regularly favs and comments on my photos. We both post our historic photos to the same groups so it felt like I was meeting an old friend. Francis told us he saw the rig (he was in the village doing some work) and recognised it but was still a little unsure if it was going to be me until he saw me cross the road to take a photo of the Arthurs Pass Chapel- that sealed it. He knew it was FlyingKiwiGirl, my screen name on Flickr.

It was a great pleasure to meet you Francis, may our paths cross again. And thanks for all the tips on what to see and where to go locally.

I’ll post more on Arthurs Pass later, in the right timeline.

'Red sky at night'......... fingers crossed

A Place People Drop Into- Mokai Canyon

We took a little tiki-tour out the back of Managweka, it’s a chance to explore an an area that most people would not visit, even though they may pass through the town frequently on their travels from north to south and visa-versa.

The Rangitikei river gorge & it’s papa rock cliffs stretch off into the distance and across the farmland we see a large viaduct.

This is one of 3 viaducts on the Mangaweka deviation which opened in 1981. Known as the south viaduct, it has five twin-shafted piers. At 78 metres high, and 315 metres long, this viaduct is the fourth highest and second longest in New Zealand. The South Viaduct was the first in the world to use energy-absorbing dampers in the foundation of the piers. In the event of an earthquake the piers will step from side to side but not collapse (I wonder if that's been put to the test yet...)

Not much further on and still surrounded by high papa cliffs- even the river tributaries have worn their way through the soft clay- we stop near the old Mangaweka Power Station(1911) and after having a look at the remains of the Power Station we walk along a short track to the dam. This is the Mangawharaiki River and the narrow canyon it flows through is amazing. The problem is I can’t get a clear view of it because the bank is so overgrown but the top right photo gives a little bit of an indication. The river bed has been carved into hundreds of hollows, ridges and small caves. It reminds me of a crocodile or tuatara skin, the way it curves it's way down the gorge.

We’re not on our own when we get to the dam wall, this is obviously the local's swimming hole. There’s a dozen or so teenagers swimming in the deep hole that’s formed at the bottom of the dam. They’re not only swimming after hauling themselves up the wall on a rope, they’re then launching themselves off the cliff  hanging onto another rope & dropping into the depths below.

There’s a stone stairway and then a ladder which we climb to get us to the top of the wall. I was expecting a large lake behind the dam but it was only a small pool. The power station stopped working in 1937 and one of the main reasons can still be seen today- a large log stuck firmly in the outlet tunnel beside the stairway.

I take some slow shutter shots of the waterfall from up the top but I feel uneasy standing on a small square of concrete above rushing water & knowing I have to get back down the ladder to get to the bottom. I offload my camera to David, who goes ahead of me, before I begin to inch my way down the ladder holding on for dear life- why's it always easier going up? Trouble is once you’re up you got to come down.  I keep my eyes looking right, there’s more vegetation on that side rather than an open space into the pool below on my left. I think it’s more the noise than the height that scares me most, I don’t like the sound of loud rushing water.

We leave the dam and weave our way inland where there are many view points of the river and it’s white cliffs. The gorge would have been a huge barrier for farmers in the early days, not just the height but the fact that it’s a very meandering river. Just when you think you’re left it behind it appears in front of you again.

We’re not finished with the river just yet either. Our next destination is a well known tourist attraction and being 22kms from the main highway you’d think not too many people would take the time to visit it. But this is the home of the most popular extreme sport spots in the North Island. The Mokai Canyon is where you can bungy jump, giant swing or zipline/flyingfox to your heart’s content as long as you’re prepared to empty out your bank account at the same time.

The Mokai Canyon itself is truly amazing and there is no way these photos can show you actually how deep the canyon is. Believe me it’s incredibly deep. Part of the river and canyons were used as Anduin River in LOTR- The Fellowship of the Rings, and I can now see why.

We had a coffee on the deck and while we were sitting there we heard faint screams. By the time I rushed onto the viewing platform a person on the zipline/flying fox had roared by, passing under the bridge and flying off towards the far end of the canyon attached to a wire which is 175 metres above the river and 1.1 kilometres long. They reach speeds of 160kp/h along the way.

I thought that the person may have been hauled up to the end platform to finish their ride but no he was slowly pulled backwards back along the line all the way to the beginning. Unfortunately I sat back down to finish my coffee before I realised this and missed the photo opportunity as he passed by out front. To give you an idea of the size, I could not make out the person in the harness as they were hauled up the last section, all I could see was a blob. That was until I zoomed in with my camera and realised that in fact there were two people in the harness.

In the photo above I have circled the platform where they left from- yeah that tiny speck! You can also see the stairway that the zipline riders have to climb to get there, to the left of the circle- that’s after climbing through the bush up the side of the canyon for a fair distance too. And in the photo below I’ve circled the platform at the other end where the wire is fixed. I’m not too sure I’d have liked to be the guinea pig that had to try the wire for the first time.

Below is the platform and stairway, and also the two people in the harness as they were pulled back to the platform. They then had to make their way back down the stairs and track to the shop. I always thought maybe I’d like to give this a go sometime but now having seen it in the flesh, there’s no way on earth you’d find me harnessed up. Not surprising I think you’d say after reading about my fear just climbing a simple little ladder!

Across the road from the Mokai Gravity Canyon is the Makino DOC campground and who do you think we found camped up there? The little van on a big road trip! I love the tarpaulin awning- it was a stinking hot day and our friends obviously needed some shade.

We completed our little road trip by stopping in Mangaweka so I could take some photos of of the iconic ‘famous in NZ’ DC3 plane tearooms. Once upon a time this would have been a huge novelty for Kiwis passing by, maybe it still is for young children, but nowadays I think it’s a bit old hat and more of a symbol for Mangaweka, a bit like the large carrot in Ohakune, the gumboot in Taihape, the salmon in Rakaia, the fruit in Cromwell, the trout (& guitar) in greedy Gore. And there are plenty of others.

I also wanted some photos of the old historic buildings along the deserted main street- deserted except for one lone guy in his beanie who came out from his house to have a coffee & a smoke on the bench.

There looks to have been an attempt to revive the street at some stage since the main highway bypassed the township back in the ‘70s. Some buildings are occupied with a few small businesses running, the pub looks like it has accommodation available while other shops have been converted into homes.

There are a few wall murals on the sides of buildings and art works here and there to add a bit of interest but the town does look like it’s on it’s last legs. A lot like many of the small rural towns we’ve seen on our travels.

There are two things I’ve learnt while taking photos of historic buildings in some of our smaller towns- the Bank of New Zealand & the Catholic Church had a whole heap of money and not much taste- well the BNZ had a little more than the Church, but both of them built concrete monstrosities that dominate the townscape (and the people?). Here’s the rather grand Mangaweka Bank of New Zealand-

And here’s the Taihape Catholic Church-

I rest my case.