... lots of whiskey, wine and soft cheese!
Packed up the faithful Isuzu 4WD, and departed home with 2 good friends at 7.30am, and headed to Lilybank Station at the top of Lake Tekapo (at the junction of the Godley and Macaulay Rivers). Where a river truly rules their lives, as you have to ford the Macauley to get in, or use a small plane or helicopter. On the way up we were surprised to see the header working as it is at quite a high altitude, but this year the way the weather has been, they are no further behind those out to the East Coast. Header is the big green machine, the red is a baler, baling up the straw to help with winter feed.
Thar
We were very lucky to stay at Lilybank for the night, in the old Lodge built in the early 1970's, and were given wonderful hospitality by the Manager of the property, who was a friend of our friends. They breed (with a licence) Thar, which are released for trophy hunting (usually Americans coming over). The Station also has White Thar, but they weren't close or still enough for me to get photos.
There is a musters/hunting hut just to the left of the trees. This hut belongs to another station, and is probably used mainly by hunters these days as a lot of the tops of these mountains have gone back to Crown ownership. There are wild Thar in these hills.
Looking up the Godley River. to Mount Moffat and Mt Fletcher. We stopped here, although if we hadn't had a lot more ground to cover for the day the Boss would definitely have taken the river on - just to see what was around the corner. But it was way too cold to paddle to see what the best route through the ford was!! And guess who would've had to do the paddling - not the Boss!!
If we had paid $2,000 each per night we could've stayed in this lodge and enjoyed this fellow's company (I don't really know how I could resist). And this Wapiti stag was only in a corner of the room. There were mounted heads and other animals throughout the rest of the Lounge (not really my thing I'd much rather see them alive thank you)
This is the front of LilyBank Lodge (the expensive one!) It was built by President Suharto of Indonesia who owned the property for a while.
From Lilybank we headed out and up the Ahuriri River valley as far as we could drive. This is at a locked gate on Birchwood station which is also in Department of Conservation hands. We were pleased to see that some of the excess feed had been taken for hay, as it is a haven for birds, but they have bred in this country for many years due to the fact it was lightly grazed and they had the shorter grass. We saw some birds on open water on the river and wetlands, but the only other birds were on the mown grass. Apparently the Black Stilt numbers have decreased in this area as the habitat has changed, and they are a very rare bird. To manage this land properly it should be grazed lightly by cattle over the summer months to keep the grasses under control, and that would also reduce the fire risk. The public could still have access, as is the case on most NZ owned high country stations anyway (YOU JUST HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION). From the locked gate you can carry on by walking, riding horses or mountain biking. One day we hope to return and go up to at least the first hut (which is around the corner!).
We stayed the night in Omarama (home of gliding in NZ) before heading to Wanaka to spend the day at the show.
This is the Taeri River and wetlands at Paerau, Central Otago. There are also paddocks under the water too, and the river is still slowly rising after the heavy rain from the previous days. The fall is very slight through this area, so it takes a long time to arrive and leave. There was still quite a bit more water to come down the river system apparently.
We had come over the hills in the distance the day before, but the weather was so foul I wasn't getting out to take any photos thank you! The track we came on, came past Lake Onslow from Roxburgh ( which is on the Clutha River).
Looking toward the Rock and Pillar Range which they were going to put wind turbines on. Fortunately it is not going to happen at this stage, as it is such an amazing landscape.
A farmer's dogs waiting patiently on the back of the truck. They are not tired just enjoying the sun.
From Paerau it was through the little town of Naseby, where there is an amazing indoor curling rink, and a luge course, and out over Dansey's Pass heading for Kurow. At the top of the Pass you look across to an airstrip. The airstrip for topdressing runs off the ridge just to the left of the track you can hopefully see. Would be fairly hairy at times for the pilot if the wind came up unexpectedly and whistled through the Pass.
A night in Kurow, then up the Hakataramea Valley, with a little detour over Myers Pass, and then a fairly hairy public road (goat track) back into the Haka Valley. We rejoined the Haka at Cattle Creek before arriving at the Hakataramea Pass - altitude unknown to me as some helpful person had shot it out.
From the Haka we came out back into the McKenzie Country, and headed towards Lake Benmore and Haldon Station and then Black Forest Station. And along the way we found this "Dunny" (toilet) in a little picnic spot.
The locals keep this Long Drop (so named as there is no flush, just a pit underneath) in immaculate condition and it even has air freshner in it. They will do this to keep their land clean as many travellers (and not just the overseas tourists, although they are really bad) just think it is okay to toilet by any bush, leaving behind stinking mess, and disgusting toilet paper. IF YOU EVER GET CAUGHT SHORT SOMEWHERE, DIG A HOLE AND DO YOUR BUSINESS IN THAT THEN COVER IT UP PROPERLY. Preferably you hang on and find a proper toilet. Our beautiful land needs to be kept beautiful. I have even picked up dirty nappies at our mailbox, and neighbours up the road had a campervan empty it's toilet opposite their gate, which is only 50 metres from their house. Just imagine the smell, and dogs just love to have a roll in it if they can.
The beautiful "Dunny"
And what a view you get if you leave the door open!! This is Lake Benmore.
On our last day we went past Mount Peel Forest and up the Rangitata Gorge to Mesopotamia Station. On the way back we called into the Mt Peel Church. It was built in the late 1800's, mainly by the Acland family, and has quite a large graveyard around it.
Unfortunately this end of the church was damaged in the September 2010 earthquake, the beautiful stain glass windows at this end were shattered, but the others in the church have survived. This end wall is in a perilous state though as there are large cracks going up each side wall, so it looks as if the end wall could have toppled at any time. We left a donation, and just hope this lovely little church can be restored.
There is an amazing old brick homestead just next door, which has appeared to have survived without too much damage. They had luckily done a lot of restoration and earthquake strengthening to it which was finished not long before the quake.
Then home (after the Men changed the flat tyre) and back to reality really, TB testing the cows next week, and some fat and lazy dogs here to get into shape before that. Just hope the weather is kind to us next week, and the predicted rain for Monday is not too bad.
