Our "Central" holiday

St. Bathans - an old gold mining town, looking down towards the old Vulcan Hotel (last building on left), Old Post Office is the 2 storied one in foreground.  You can still get a drink in the Hotel, and the day we were there a wedding was being prepared in the old Town Hall



An old metaled bit of water race, built by the gold miners to take water from a dam many miles from where they were mining.  The people who supplied the water made the money.  Amazing, this race, most of it just dug out of the side of the hill, sometimes fortified with stone or tin, snakes for absolutely miles, with just enough fall to keep the water flowing.  They took it to shallow dams, then used it for sluicing.




CCB in foreground, what an idyllic day, having a picnic on the side of the river, and deciding the road was really not bad at all, despite the AA road map saying "difficult road 27 fords"  (how wrong were we, this was the good bit).




Next day we returned to our spot to carry on through the whole way to come out just North of Garston, at the end of Lake Wakatipu.  Amazed to see these fabulous vintage cars all the way out here, as it was quite a climb out to Cromwell.  They had just come in from Cromwell and returned the same way.  Sensible people!




As you can see Central Otage landscape is well worth a visit.

Unfortunately I missed the two photos I took of us fording rather large puddles,  fingers must've been a bit cold as I had waded through to check the depth before "the Boss" drove through.  Was just over the knees in that one if you took the right track.  The previous puddle we'd had the water coming over the bonnet of the 4WD Isuzu, "not a happy camper" at the thought of water getting into the air intake - apparently diesel engines don't like that one bit.  Anyway as I said the road did deteriorate somewhat, and not very many people on it, so if we'd had a break down may have had a few problems.  It was through the Nevis Valley, an absolutely fascinating place where they'd taken gold dredges, but was frozen so hard in winter they couldn't work the dredges (that means frickin freezing).  There was a school in the valley, but would've have been an absolutely desolate place way back in the late 1800's/early 1900's.  Not idyllic as it was for us on a perfect late summer day.

Anyway our short cut to visit our Nephew at Fairlight, took rather longer than going round via the main highway, but was a lot more fun, and water is preferrable to battling traffic anyday.  We found another road that looked alright too, despite what the old map said, but if we take that one on I think we'll take company!

Central Otago in South Island, NZ, is just the most amazing place to visit, so many things to see.  It is also home to the Central Otago Rail Trail - where you can bike quite a few kilometres on good tracks left by the old railway lines.  Last year 10,000 people did this, and they are predicting close to 15,000 this year.  It has saved many communities down there.  You can do the whole thing,  or just section.  Cyclists are collected and taken back to great accommodation, where you can have all the comforts of home, including wine and wonderful food.  However,  I just love the old mining sites, where you can really fossic.