A Timeless Land- Hawkdun Range, Central Otago; Part 2

Catch-up

Continuing on from Part 1 

We leave Falls Dam behind us; a far away blue scrape in the surrounding tawny landscape.

Not far from the turnoff back onto Home Hills Runs Road we stop to read the DOC information panel which has a map of the various tracks that crisscross the conservation park- the map can be downloaded here.  A 4WD & walking track leaves from this point and heads up towards the mountains to the Mt Ida Water Race Track which can be followed in either direction along bottom of the mountain range. A pair of old trainers, which look to have done their job well, have been abandoned underneath.

The road carries on towards the Manuherikia River and it's becoming quite tacky underneath.

We cross a couple of fords...

...which, unless it's a raging torrent, are easy to cross. They are usually dedicated streams with gravel bases.

It's the burns that have a mind of their own, they seep water out anywhere and will track wherever they want to go, often turning the track to mud and deep bogs. Someone has helpfully diverted this burn into a manmade channel here. 

As we head back towards the mountains the road is getting worse by the metre.

It doesn't help that we're following in the tracks of two heavier off-road 4WD vehicles that have driven through not long ahead of us. They have broken through the surface and cut the track up quite a bit in places, whereas our lighter ute wouldn't have dug so deep. We don't see them but we sure can see where they've been.

Looking back towards the dam

We make it through to the other end of this soft section and stop to open a gate; we're now leaving the conservation park...

...and entering one of the numerous stations that farm across this vast river basin which lies between the St Bathans & Hawkdun Ranges.

The surrounding land is a lot drier through this section of farmland and we're hoping we've got through the worst of the mud and we'll make it to the top of the valley and be able to join up with Hawkdun Runs Road...

...but in fact it doesn't last and before long we're slipping and sliding through mud again. 

At the next gate, David spots a hut way up on a nearby plateau so while I'm opening the gate he takes himself off up a side track. The track actually ends at a circle of beehives and it's not long before he's heading back down (luckily, because he'd have had to drive up it again had he made it to the hut so I could take some photos).

When I zoom in on the top of the valley, I can see the sliver threads of the river weaving through the valley towards us. And I'm thinking that we'll have to ford the river to get to the other side. I hope we don't get all the way there and find that it's too deep or fast flowing to cross and have to come all the way back.

We continue on, crossing a couple more streams along the way, the top of the valley can't be too far away now.

 The track's great, we might just do this...

...and then we round a corner and find one hell of a mess. A stream that has been diverted into a culvert under the track has broken free.

David heads off (at a fast trot) to check it out further up the track. It doesn't look good, this muddy section stretches off into the distance.

And even if we get through the initial water hole...

...there's no guarantee we'll get through the rest. And if we do, it could well be that it's similar all the way to the river. 

We check out the tussock on the edges of the track, maybe we can bump our way through that, past the worst of it. But there are too many hidden rocks and large lumps of tussock and the ground's quite wet under the tussock too. 

I walk to the end of the straight to check around the corner and it's a little drier but not much. I head back and we have a discussion. We probably could do it but we've not seen another vehicle all day, there's no phone reception and it is getting late in the afternoon. We also have to be a careful because the ute tows our home and if anything happens to it we're stuck where we're parked for however long it would take to recover the vehicle and/or repair any damage. 

If we had a buddy vehicle with us we'd probably attempt it but we decide discretion is the better part of valour and we turn around. We'll leave it for another day. So close yet so far. 

See you late Hawkduns.

The trip back takes a quarter of the time...

...with very few stops to take photos. Although I do manage to get David to pull to a halt when I see the chance of getting a reflection in a roadside tarn. Though it turns out to be not the best reflection shot I've taken. 

If only all the waterways were this easy to cross.

We're moving fast along the road now and the merino sheep that have gathered for the night on the warm roadway take off ahead of us into the matagouri & tussock.

We're nearly back to the start of the road and there's one more stop to be had. The light has changed a little  on my 'Grahame Sydney Timeless Landscape' scene since we passed earlier (although still not the best), with the historic Home Hills Runs Station buildings; the shearers quarters, cook house and barn more visible. There's even a row of sheep walking across the front.

We turn out onto the highway not long after and head back towards St Bathans.

But we're not quite finished with the Hawkdun Range just yet.

To be continued...Part 3

A Timeless Land- Hawkdun Range, Central Otago; Part 1

Catch-up

While we were at St Bathans and with the weather so good, we decided to drive the loop and explore along Home Hills Runs Road, visit the fishing cribs at Falls Dam, carry on along the bottom of the Hawkdun Range around into Hawkdun Runs Road and then back to the St Bathans Loop Road, a total of 41kms. Well that was the plan. So far it had been a very mild winter with very little rain or snow fall; the dirt roads were hopefully dry and it would be easy going with no summer dust to content with either.

Home Hills Runs Road

The distinctive flat topped Hawkdun Range is one of my favourite features of Central Otago; it forms the backdrop to the Maniototo & Ida Valleys and the Manuherikia Basin. Big skies, snow capped mountains, vast golden tussocklands and a Grahame Sydney painting in every direction; it's a landscape photographer's dream destination.

Not to mention a number of old farm buildings and clusters of merino sheep along the way.

Seven kilometers along Home Hills Runs Road (named after the farm station we're driving through), we arrive at the first of a number of gates to open. It's another couple of kilometres before we enter the Oteake Conservation Park; 65,000 hectares of mountainous high country, tussock plateaus, scree slopes, scrub, wetlands and old gold mine workings which can all be explored on foot, by horse, mountainbike or 4WD in the summer. Much of the park is inaccessible over winter and the tracks are closed.

The 100km long Mt Ida water race- the longest race in New Zealand- winds it's way along the bottom of the Hawkdun Range. Construction started in 1873, the water from the race supplied the gold miners in Naseby with power for hydraulic sluicing. Water was & is taken from the head of the Manuherikia River at the top of the range, the race now provides much needed irrigation to farmers in the upper Maniototo area. You can see the race line at the bottom of the foothills and just above the tussock line in this photo (click to enlarge).

Wary merinos blend in amongst the tawny landscape below Mt Ida.

We cross several shallow fords...

...before finally entering the Oteake Conservation Park...

...the St Bathans Range & the Manuherikia River basin fill the landscape ahead of us. I took this with my wide angle lens and left the colour balance as it was shot; probably a little too warm, the tawny tussock now golden but I like it.

As we drive down into the basin I see a track heading up a small knoll ahead of us, surely we're not heading up there I think to myself as I spot a group of cribs and the dam- our first destination- to the left.

But no, we pass by the bottom of the knoll and then the Falls Dam and the fishing cribs come into view. A circle of beehives hide in the soft grasses in front of us, mirroring the huts behind. The dam is a millpond with the colours of its surrounds reflected in the water so it's hard to tell where the land ends and the water starts.

We turn off Home Hills Runs Road and follow a track to the edge of the dam and the end of the fenceline where a gate opens into the fishing crib reserve.

The track is a little boggy through to the cribs, I get out to take photos and David slips and slides his way through the mud to the otherside smashing his way through several frozen puddles as well.

I'm in seventh-heaven with photo opportunities in every direction.

There are a couple of very rustic cribs set back from the dam on the banks of a small stream. I attack them first. 

The snow capped Hawkdun Range makes a perfect backdrop to the weathered cribs. And now I have the barrels of hay mirroring the corrugated water tank on its side beside the hut.

I walk back to the dam and wonder where David has tucked himself. I've trained him well...I mean he knows me too well, he's hidden the ute out of view so I can take photos as I walk along the row of cribs.

The cribs at Falls Dam are very similar to the ones I've photographed at two of my other favourite Central Otago locations; Lake Onslow & Poolburn Dam. 

There are a couple of reasonably well built cribs but most have been cobbled together with old corrugated iron, rough hewn planks, second hand doors & windows and anything else that has come to hand over the years. I love the fenced 'outdoor entertainment patios' attached to a few of the huts; I would guess that a cool stiff wind whistles through here on many a summer's day.

While there are a few touches of home, it would seem that all that's needed is a roof over your head, somewhere to sleep, a fireplace to keep warm & cook dinner and a obligatory 'long-drop' for ablutions. Apart from the hardy fisher-people & the families that follow them, very few people would venture to these huts, they are inaccessible for much of the year due to snow & the 4WD road. 

David has a hot drink & lunch set up on the tailgate by the time I've walked the length of the cribs and back to the ute which he's tucked in behind an iron fence. I think he's found an internet connection by the way he engrossed in his iPad but he's checking out the local maps and tracks on ViewRanger instead. 

It's a beautiful sunny winter's day and there's not a breath of wind in the air. This is what we love about South Island winters, and Central Otago winters in particular. Big blue skies, wide vistas, golden sun, snow capped mountains, crisp temperatures, very little rain and very few people. Out here, we could be the only people on earth for all we know. 

I'm surprised to see that the dam is not actually that big and at the far south end of the reservoir I can see the dam wall (see above) at the head of a narrow gorge where the Manuherikia River continues on it's journey down the valley to join the mighty Clutha River at Alexandra. 

We visited that end of the Falls Dam on one of our previous visits to St Bathans. Falls Dam has an unusual feature- actually for me it's a scary feature- it's called a Morning Glory spillway Click on the link to check it out. 

Zoomed in on the dam wall

There's not much else here but silence & solitude.

St Bathans Range- below and to the left at the back somewhere is the DOC Camp where we're camped.

As I'm sure you'll know,  I took dozens of photos which of course made it very hard to select just a few for the blog. But here's a few panoramic shots of the cribs and the Hawkdun Range.

This one is my favourite shot, if I had a bricks & mortar home it would be on a large canvas on the wall, instead it's my header on my Facebook photography page.

It was time to move along, we still had a fair way to travel and we still weren't sure if we'd get through at the top of the valley. David slipped & slid the ute back to the gate while I walked back past the cribs.

I shut the gate, take a few last photos along the fenceline and then we head back up the track to the 'road'.

The Hawkdun Range- A Timeless Land

To be continued... Part 2