Four Camps, Two Walks

Real-time

Originally we planned to stay on in Winton (Southland) for 2-3 weeks but we were having such a lovely time with the family that it ended up being nearly 6 weeks before we pulled out from our cosy corner at the end of the driveway (we heard that the grandkids couldn't get over the size of their yard when they came home from school later in the day). You know you've spent a little too much time in one place when autumn comes and goes. By the time we said our goodbyes, the copper beech had lost all it's leaves.

We decided to ease back into our travels driving a short distance each day as we make our way up the South Island. David's having a few back issues and we need to be in Christchurch towards the end of the month so he can fly to Tauranga to see a specialist. We're hoping it's nothing too serious but want to keep on top of it because, as you can imagine, without a driver we ain't going nowhere fast!

Camp #1 Lumsden NZMCA Park- where nobody loved us, we had the whole park to ourselves on a cold and dreary day that matched our mood. We were missing the family and it always takes a few days to settle back into routine.

Camp #2 On the banks of the Mataura River near Garston. We've visited this hidden gem a number of times to have lunch or to fish but have never stayed overnight. It's a pity it's not the fishing season, and the trout know it too. They kept swimming up and down taunting us.

We had the pleasure of meeting the fifth generation farmer who has his farm on both sides of the river and the main road in the Garston valley. He was shifting a mob of sheep across his vintage 'bailey bridge' with five of his dogs, including Paddy 'the king of the castle'.

As you can see the weather hadn't improved by the next morning as we headed off towards Queenstown. Winter is well and truly underway down south.

Camp #3 Lake Hayes, Queenstown- another familiar reserve, this time we decided to test out the ambiguous freedom camping rules at the lake. On previous stop-overs we've had to park in a small area between the camping signs, but with one sign missing and anecdotal evidence that as long as you are CSC (certified self-contained) you can park anywhere in the reserve at the moment, we gave it a go. 

We found a spot under the willows near the lake's edge. If a ranger came by early in the morning (as had been the case in the past), I didn't see him. And we've yet to receive our recent mail, so if a ticket has been issued the fine may be growing in size as we speak.

Walk #1 Lake Hayes Walkway. For various reasons we had never walked the 7.5km loop walk around the lake even though we've visited the lake several times. I was looking forward to doing it when the autumn colours were at their best back in April, but it was raining when we stopped for lunch before heading to our next destination. 

The track climbs a short distance before winding its way around the side of a large hill that borders the west side of the lake. Ahead of us The Remarkables hide their heads in the low cloud.

And even though the weather still wasn't the best, it was a good time to complete the walk; the lake was a millpond and the reflections magnificent. That's an Australian Coot at the top right, they are usually quite shy but the ones at Lake Hayes are used to people.

We both couldn't get over how many abandoned, disintegrating and rotting dinghies, yachts, canoes, kayaks and sail boards there were, stashed right around the lake's edge. They were hidden under fallen trees, buried in the undergrowth, covered in mould and leaf litter and filled with water. It's such a shame, I'm sure there would be many schools or clubs that would love to have them. I don't understand why the council hasn't done anything about having them removed, many of them are an eyesore.

This dinghy was one of the better ones it also made a good subject, especially with the reflections behind.

Camp #4 Lowburn, Lake Dunstan, Cromwell- I want to say an old favourite but it's not actually a favourite just a very familiar camp site. We seem to stay here on the way to somewhere else or on the way back. This time we had the place to ourselves which is very unusual as it's a huge site and usually very popular. Another 3-4 motorhomes joined us later in the evening but they all stayed up the back. It also happened to be the long Queens Birthday weekend so we stayed a couple of days and expected to see a few more people but they didn't eventuate. They'd probably headed off to warmer climes. 

Finally we had some blue sky and I shot some lovely reflections of boat harbour at the south end of the park.

Walk #2 Bannockburn Sluicings Walk- a 3.5km loop walk we avoid no more! The last time we thought we'd do the walk it was the middle of a hot Central Otago summer. A barren dry landscape on a scorcher of a day does not hold much appeal I can tell you. We read the information board and slotted the walk in the 'must do sometime' folder and headed home for a cool drink in the shade!

The track loops through the former Bannockburn gold field which was sluiced and mined from 1862 into the 1930's. We walked the track anti-clockwise which saved us a bit of a climb in the other direction. Here the sluiced landscape mirrors the natural one of the range in the background.

The track winds its way through the sluicings past the remains of dams, water races, tunnels, stone walls and channels. There are also the remains of a few stone houses including the Blacksmith's shop, and caves and rock shelters where some of the poorest miners lived. 

Menzies Dam (bottom left)  was the largest miner's dam in Otago, the stone walls were at least 2 metres high on three sides of the dam holding water in an area the size of a rugby field. The dam was fed by elaborate stone water races from Long Gully and the Carrick Range up behind us. You'll recall the water race we saw multiple times as we drove the Carricktown 4WD Track and saw the Young Australian Waterwheel.  The dam provided 'liquid gold' for its owners, the water was sold at £4 per week for a 'head' of water, equivalent to 28.3litres (or one foot) per second. Gold sold for £3.15s per ounce in 1872 so it was a considerable out-going expense especially if you had a bad week mining.

The track winds it way through the middle of the sluicings and up onto a small plateau to the remnants of Stewart Town which is behind the dam, and named after one of the dam owners. Here there are the remains of several old stone and rammed earth buildings dating from the 1860s and a very old orchard of apricots & pears that still produce fruit. 

The track then follows the cliff edge back towards the starting point. We've walked right around the outside of this huge chasm. Piles of tailings sit in great mounds along the base of the cliffs. Another walking/mountainbike track  passes straight up the centre of the valley. 

You'll most likely not see it, but if you click on the photo to enlarge, there's a tiny black dot on the path, a person walking uphill. That'll give you an idea of how vast the expanse is. It's also a long way down to the bottom of the cliffs and quite scary to be on the edge- watch children if they're with you on this walk.

Towering cliff faces are all that is left of the hills that have been sluiced away to find the precious gold. Some of the pinnacles we pass were left by miners to mark the corners of their claims and give an indication of how much of the area the miners had sluiced.

Once off the plateau the track passes through this smaller canyon past caves and piles of tailings. Can you see David reading the sign in the top photo below? That also gives you some idea of how much earth has been moved and how the landscape has been changed.

Back in the carpark we can see the bare vineyards of Bannockburn below us, here looking towards the Kawarau Gorge. A new liquid gold. Such is Central Otago.

Around and About- Glenorchy

Catch-up

To finish off our visit to Glenorchy, here are a few photos taken out and about-

Looking out towards Glenorchy and Lake Wakatipu. The Glenorchy Walkway loops through the wetland on either a one or two hour walk.

Looking in the opposite direction towards the Routeburn and the Dart River valley with the Humbolt Mountain range along the back, and the small Mt Alfred on the right.

We walked the shorter lagoon loop on one of the miserably overcast and rainy days. This would have been a great walk in autumn, with all the willows in colour. Or in summer when there would be water fowl and babies about. As it was, we only saw a couple of black swans and half a dozen ducks and that was it. It looked as though the boardwalks had been under water during the last few days, water weed had washed over the boards.

On the way back from the lagoon, the path passed a local's personal junk yard...

...which provided me with some good subject material! How's that gypsy caravan, I can just see it being towed behind the Ranger.

The majestic Humbolt Mountains across the valley from Glenorchy. If you look carefully you can see the red of Kinloch Lodge at the bottom centre. Which makes the mountains a pretty impressive size.

Further down the road heading towards the Rees Valley are Mt Albert on the left and Mt Earnslaw.

I took these last few photos just before we left Glenorchy. I spotted lots of interesting subjects while we were out and about but there's only so many times I can get David to stop for me so I went on my own little tiki-tour. Here's another old farmhouse on the side of the road.

And a colourful windmill I spotted in an overgrown paddock.

Back in town, I'd been waiting for a few days to capture the tiny & historic(1891) Glenorchy Library in fine weather.

A Glenorchy house- as they used to be before the road made it to this little backwater at the top of the lake (in 1962, unsealed until 1998). Located on a reserve near the foreshore, the water tower (and some concrete foundations) are all that remains of the Mt Earnslaw Hotel which burnt down in 1959.

Head of the Lake Community Church- another one to add to my country church album.

And a final collection of the most famous building in Glenorchy; the historic Wharf Shed.

Westport’s Wonderful Weather

Well, it was for four of the five days we stayed, the other day it was torrential rain which we were very grateful for; our vehicles needed a good wash down, they still had a salt covering from the storm that blew through when we were at Ward Beach three weeks ago. And with no water available at the NZMCA Park it was great to be able to put our collection containers out at the end of the awning and fill the water tank and our spare carry containers. This saved David at least one trip into town to fill them at the Countdown potable water tap (which is near the dump station which we couldn’t use as it was tucked into a corner).

Here’s a few more photos from our time in Westport-

In amongst the dunes beside the NZMCA Park is a freedom camping area that had at least 6-10 vehicles parked up every night; mostly hire motorhomes & sleeper vans. There’s not too many places in New Zealand where you’d be able to park overnight right on the beach like this, some visitors from overseas might think they’ve died and gone to heaven when they pull up on such a beautiful beach.

Westport’s  NZMCA North Beach Park from the beach. The tepee, I think, is courtesy of the Kiwi Experience Bus passengers; they come here for a sunset bonfire & drinks.

I took these photos especially for our friend Bluey, to show him what a good dog does when a pesky weka comes a calling. This little pooch must have a whole heap of willpower, either that or she’s too scared to move. Bluey, she is a looker, you could be in with a chance if you ever meet & can show her some restraint. When it comes to weka.

At the south end of the beach is the Buller River breakwater and the Westport Bar, a wild section of water that has claimed many lives and boats over the years. I missed getting a photo of a fishing trawler exiting the mouth as we arrived, there was a large swell and huge waves were rolling in. The boat rode over the top of them, crashing down the other side with sea spray flying in all directions. It made me feel sea-sick just looking at it. Later a very small and cute older fishing boat came up the channel, I was hoping to see it cross over so I could get some photos but it spent about half an hour going round and round in circles fishing for live bait and by the time we left it was still weaving about and the swell had subsided.

We’ve now been to the source of the Buller on Lake Rotoiti at the Nelson Lakes and to the mouth of the Buller here in Westport.

Before the tide turned and the waves settled there were a large number of surfers riding the waves on the north side of the breakwater. There was a lot of white water but a few good sized waves too. I even managed to catch a fish enjoying a wave (top right-it looks like a kahawai).

This little house was just down the road from the Park, it looks to have been part of the racecourse at some stage. A little harsh perhaps, but it’s aptly named ‘The Box’. Cute!

We visited Cape Foulwind, just south of Westport, where there’s a 2km coastal walkway between the lighthouse at the Cape and Tauranga Bay further south, where there’s a seal colony. Nearby are the Gibsons Beach sea stacks, there used to be a huge single stack further out called Giant’s Tooth but it crashed into the sea after an earthquake early last century.

We didn’t walk the track, there was a cool breeze blowing, it was getting late & we didn’t fancy retracing our steps to get back to the car afterwards. Instead we drove to the other end, to the carpark at Tauranga Bay and walked up to the seal colony.

It’s just a short walk to the lookout over the colony where a steady stream of visitors were hoping to catch sight of the seals. The last time I visited here, many years ago, there were hundreds of seals spread out over the rocks below but unfortunately today there were only a handful of pups playing in a pool while their mothers are away feeding at sea.

And if you didn’t have binoculars (like most of the visitors), or a camera with a good zoom, you would have been hard pressed to see them. This colony has nothing like the huge numbers of seals that are in the Kaikoura coast colonies.

We drove around Tauranga Bay and over to Nine Mile Beach which is a beautiful long isolated sandy beach backed by large dunes covered in marram grass. Today there was just the solitary figures of a horse & sulky rider working out before the rain arrived.

There was one last chore to do before we headed north towards Karamea. With only two public dump stations in Westport and both of them in the parking area of a supermarket we had to use New World who had the best access. Although they had no potable water so then it was across to Countdown for that.

Who in their right mind would team up a dump station with a supermarket? Not only is it a weird combination but also there's the tight maneuvering for bigger rigs inside the car park- especially on a Saturday morning.  I guess the supermarket came up with the idea, hoping we’d buy our groceries there while we dumped (and we did). In one door, out the other!

Pupu Hydro Walkway, Takaka

Located further up Pupu Valley from the Te Waikoropupu Springs is a rather interesting loop walk. The walk retraces  an old gold-mining water race, which has been reused for power generation from early last century. After a major fault developed in the early 1980s (what engineers call a “flashover”) the power station was abandoned. But due to one man’s determination and the hard work of many, the power station was fully restored along with the water race and headpond, and began re-generating power again in 1989.

The climb to the water race is a little steep and at times awkward for those less nimble footed. It felt like we were actually in the old water race at times but eventually after 30 minutes or so of steady zig-zag climbing we broke out onto a flat and level walkway that then followed the old disused gold mining water race ‘upstream’ along the side of the hill deeper into the valley. The complete water race stretches for 3.7 kilometres along the hillside and took 24 men eight months to complete.

About half way along we reached a lookout point beside the headpond & above the power station deep in the valley below. Here the pond sends the water through a debris collection screen and into a pipe that drops the water 107m to the powerhouse below.

From the headpond to the weir/intake it was 1.7km and this part canal/part aqueduct, which was an engineering masterpiece for its time, followed the steep contours of the hillside all the way. It had a narrow boardwalk running alongside it for most of the way. This was the section that was restored & rebuilt back in the 1980s.

For most of the way, trees & ferns covered our view out into the valley but occasionally an open area on the edge of a rocky cliff allowed us to see out. The water in the race was very fast flowing, it was crystal clear and there were plenty of  beautiful emerald green underwater plants swirling in the current. I looked carefully for koura (freshwater crayfish) along the way but didn’t spot any. Towards the end it became quite disconcerting walking along the narrow boardwalk, both of us had trouble keeping our balance right.

Once off the boardwalk the path opened up, wide enough to fit the tiny digger & bulldozer down which we saw tucked into the bush on the side. The digger is obviously used to clear the canal & the bulldozer to grade the path. Picnic tables were dotted here & there along the path along with marker posts counting down each 100 metres to the weir/intake (which were much appreciated!)
We finally made it to the intake and bridge over the creek where most of the water was diverted into the canal with just a small flow over the rocks and into the steep and narrow gorge below.

After lunch at the weir we headed on up the other side, steadily climbing for quite a way before levelling out and winding our way back around the hills on opposite side of the valley to those that we had just walked.

Helpful information boards were located along the way pointing out the water race across the valley, a waterfall up another valley and a path to a lookout that gave us views back down Pupu Valley towards Golden Bay & Pohara off in the distance.

Finally after 2.7kms we made it back down to the valley floor and the small power station building that had a viewing room and information boards inside. Hopefully you can read a little about the power station and the restoration.

We thoroughly enjoyed this walk even though we were both feeling a little weary afterwards, it was steep & awkward walking at the beginning and quite hard walking downhill on the rocky 4WD track on the way back. But there was plenty of interest and a variety of native forest, ferns & mosses along the way to make it worth the effort.

Once home we rested up on the beach steps with a glass of wine in hand, just in time to watch the sun go down.