Heading Home

Our ICA Rally had come to an end, and everyone headed off home.  But not before Robin pulled a very large, and rather expensive motor-home off the sodden grass.  With that job done and dusted, we headed south.  The weather report was a worry, with warnings of cold weather, snow, and high winds arriving over the next couple of days.  We stopped at Tokoroa to use the dump station and came across two trucks back to back in the large car park.  There was a lot of noise going on, and the stamping of hooves as they endeavored to transfer cattle from one truck to the other.  We had never seen that happen before.

Wrangling cattle

You know it’s winter when all the leaves have been blown of the trees.  What we didn't expect to see were all the birds nests up in the bare branches, that’s an awful lot of nests in one tree.

Seen in Tokoroa

It was decided to take the scenic route around the western side of Lake Taupo.  This took us over the Whakamaru Dam, that was certainly interesting.

Driving over the Whakamaru Dam

Friday night was spent at Turangi NZMCA Park.  Plenty of room here and we decided to park on the upper level.  The night was cold, wet, windy, and freezing cold – no wonder Gemma spent her time cuddled up to us on the bed.  What would the morning hold, we wondered, hoping it wouldn't be too windy for the final part of our drive home.

Not nice here at all

The weather conditions were checked the following morning – we should be fine to travel, we decided, although snow was expected on the Desert Road.  We’ll just take it easy.  We saw several groups of snow ploughs parked up on the Desert Road, ready and waiting for the snow to fall

Snow ploughs at the ready

The snow did fall as we drove along, falling  soft and sludgy on the windscreen.  And the temperature dropped lower and lower, right down to –1C.  Goodness me, that’s rather cold for us.  There was no chance of getting a glimpse of Mt Ruapehu in these conditions with the clouds so low.

Brr, it’s cold outside

Once past Waiouru the temps started to slowly rise and we left the low clouds, rain and sleet  behind us.  We decided to stop at Flat Hills for lunch, but a bus load of passengers beat us to the lunch counter, so we tagged onto the end of the queue.  This is just one of three buses which stop here each day for lunch, we were told, which must make such a difference to the turnover, I imagine.  As it was such a chilly day I was so pleased to see soup on the menu.  So it was pumpkin soup for me, a steak and cheese pie for him, a nice hot coffee each, and we shared a piece of carrot cake. 

Lunch break

The name Flat Hills is certainly a strange name.  The painting hanging in the café tells the story.

“Flat Hills is the dreamland of the high country shepherd and his dogs, exhausted from climbing the steep rocky mountains.  Flat Hills is a curiosity, it’s a geological impossibility, a pipe dream of simplicity brought to reality”.

Flat Hills

Driving through Bulls we were getting much closer to home.  Statues of black bulls are dotted throughout the town, and we wondered what strangers think when they see a large black bull standing on the street.  The unexpected glimpse must give people a bit of a start, I imagine.

I don’t know how Gemma always knows when she is almost home, but she does.  The caravan was unpacked and put away in its parking area, the first load of laundry was put on, and we sat and had a cuppa.  It was good to arrive home safe and sound, and luckily the expected bad weather did not arrive during our trip.

Visiting Ophir and Poolburn Dam

It was a good idea to stay here in Omakau for a couple of nights, giving us time to get out and about to explore the area.  We started off with Historic Ophir – just a mere 2km away, and not too many changes since our first visit six years ago.

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The old 1886 Post Office has been lovingly restored by Heritage NZ.  As well as attending to postal duties, the Postmistress guides visitors through the building.  Designed by the Public Works, the building was constructed of schist slabs on the sides and back, with the stone worked into blocks for the frontage.

Ophir Post Office and former Cottage Hospital

One building which has changed is Pitches Store, which was in the throes of much needed renovation last time we saw it.  Purchased by an Auckland couple they restored the exterior to it’s 1880s appearance, and modernizing the interior of the building.  It now includes six king sized bedrooms, and an award winning restaurant built around an open fireplace.  Just the place for weary cyclists to have a breather while biking the Rail Trail – or others stopping off for lunch or a coffee break.

Pitches Store

Up and over the hill we travelled into the Ida Valley, where a derelict old building with a sign in front brought us to a stop.  This was the remains of the Moa Creek Hotel and Store, built in 1870 and finally closing in 1968.  The abundance of moa skeletons and bones in the area gave the settlement it’s name.

Moa Creek Hotel and Store

Across the road in a paddock was a cemetery looking rather like a Neolithic burial mound – but is not man made.  There are 16 marked graves on the mound, but a survey using ground penetrating radar suggest a further 55 more, some on the mound and some in the paddock.  It is presumed that the mound became a burial ground because the low lying paddock was prone to flooding.  The burial mound is now fenced off and administered by a Trust.

Moa Creek Cemetery

Then we were on our way up Old Dunstan Road, to travel very slowly up a jolting 12km unsealed rocky track to get to Poolburn Dam.  Believe it or not, but we were traveling through farm land, very marginal land indeed with all those rocks everywhere.

On the way to Poolburn Dam

First view of the dam

There were old buses and baches (known as cribs in the south) dotted around the lake side, and plenty of people in residence.   One or two of the buildings even had TV satellite dishes on the roof, and all seemed to have an outhouse close by.  You would have to be a keen fisherman to come and stay up here, it was much too bleak and wild for me.  This is a summer venue only with the track closed to traffic from June to September.

Poolburn dam

There were a few hardy souls fishing at the water edge, but our arrival was ignored.  So we took a few photos, turned around, and drove back down the slow, bone jolting track back down the hill.  Finally on flat ground once more, we stopped to read a sign at Bonspiel Station.  Seems they are offering Lord of the Rings tours.

And this old truck wasn’t going anywhere, it had finally come to to the end of the line and was pensioned off.

Works End for this old truck

Safely back at Omakau Hotel again I breathed a sigh of relief.  Have to admit I wondered if we would regret making that trip on the rough track up the Poolburn Dam and back, but we made it safely and Robin can now tick this trip off his bucket list.  While chatting to one of the staff we found a little tidbit about the hotel stables. 

Located at the back of the hotel are the original schist stables (now called McKinnons) which were built around 1880 to house Mr Leask’s horses when he farmed the land the hotel now stands on.  This is where Speight’s filmed their Real Southern Men  “Good On Ya Mate” adverts – the most memorable being “The Two Tickets to the Ball”.  Watch the ad here

Inside the stables

We had a “Farewell to Omakau” dinner in the hotel restaurant, and very nice it was too.  What to have?  That didn’t take too much thinking, we both ordered the Pork Belly.  It was a huge serving, and very tasty indeed.

Ready for dinner – note the row of mini bottles up on the ledge

Time to move on tomorrow, next stop Ranfurly.  We have certainly enjoyed our time here at Omakau.  The sites come with power for only $15 per night, and a bathroom block if required for an additional cost.

Our site – with the optional bathroom block

Alex and a trip to Clyde

Time to move on again and this time it was a fairly short drive, 49km up the road to Alexandra. Our first stop was to find the Miner’s Memorial at Gorge Creek – not an easy task as there was no sign on the side of the road.  Luckily we turned into  rest area, and there it was, along a pathway almost hidden by trees and bushes.  The memorial was erected “In memory of the pioneer gold miners who perished in the Great Snow of 1863”.  In July to September 1863 a devastating combination of flood, snowstorm, and blizzard caused heavy loss of life among the mining population of Central Otago.  Mining settlements and camps over an area of more than 800 square miles were isolated or engulfed by the snow, and an unknown number of men perished.

Miners Memorial

Leaving the bountiful fruit growing area of Roxburgh behind, the country was now dry and barren and then we saw huge schist rock formations  protruding through the ground.

On the way to Alexandra

We pulled into POP 8804 just in time for lunch and found ourselves somewhere to park up.  Our hosts were away for the weekend with their caravan, we were told by the camper left in charge, and he showed us where the very important sign-in book was, the toilet, and the honesty box for our fees.  We had decided to stay for three nights and do some exploring from here, leaving the van on site.

All settled in for the next three days

After lunch we drove to Clyde, once the centre of the Dunstan Goldfields.  The stone buildings lining the streets date back to the 1860s so it is rather like stepping back in time.  The small town was buzzing with tourists who were looking at all the old buildings, and sipping their beer or coffee outside in the sunshine.  The Dunstan Hotel must have been the real hub in the town – and a sign on the side wall said the hotel offered “Good Stabling” which must have been very important in those early days.

Dunstan Hotel

General Store plus wine and spirits

Dr Morice arrived in 1863  and was so horrified at the frostbite and malnutrition suffered by the miners that he set up a tent hospital in the grounds of his home.

Home of Dr Morice

Old Undertakers business

Not quite as old as the town, but certainly vintage, we spotted this 1959 Clubman Crusader caravan  parked in Clyde.

Vintage caravan, we’ve never seen one of these before

Just up the road was the Clyde Dam. With a height of100m, width at base at 70m, width at crest 10m and length at crest 490m it is certainly a massive structure.

Clyde Dam

And while we were in the area we went to check out the free parking area overlooking the dam.  It always seems very popular, and  there seemed to be more campers on site than the 12 allowed.

Farm Dogs, Pet Sheep and Bulls

With our tyre pressures checked by a helpful manager at the tyre place over the road from our accommodation, followed by a visit to the dump station, we were finally ready to say goodbye to Tokoroa.  The plan was to travel along SH32 and along the western side of Lake Taupo -  which took us over the Whakamaru Dam.  Whakamaru Power Station is the fourth hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River.   (Robin has a bit of a thing for power stations so is always pleased when we drive by one of these engineering marvels.)

Driving over the Whakamaru Dam

Our travels took us past rolling farmland and we were interested to see some amazing rocky outcrops.  There were plenty of  pine plantations in this part of the country too.

Rocky outcrops

Changing to SH41 at Kuratau Junction, we climbed up hill and down dale, to get our first glimpse of the southern end of Lake Taupo.  Quite a different view to the one we usually see when we travel up SH1.

Lake Taupo

And it wouldn’t be a trip along the Desert Road without a mountain photo.  Here is Mt Ngauruhoe peeping out in the distance.

A glimpse of Mt Ngauruhoe

Our stop for the night was at Makio Farms in Ohingaiti, a CAP (cost applicable property) for NZMCA members only.  As it turned out, the owners had only recently made their property available, and our two vans were their first customers.

The farm dogs gave us a rousing welcome as we drove onto the property, some were tied up to their kennels and a couple of others were running loose.  But once we had arrived and the owners came out to see what the dogs were barking at, they soon calmed down.  After all, they were only doing their job of guarding the property.

Farm dogs on duty

Our vans were soon backed into place, the legs wound down, and windows opened up wide to make the most of the hot sunny day.  Our hosts were very welcoming indeed.

All set up for our night on the farm

The pet lambs arrived – wanting their bottles.  Then one of them checked out the dog house.

Pet lambs

After a restful night in the country, the next morning we purchased  a dozen fresh farm eggs each, said our goodbyes and started on the last stretch of our journey to take us home.  What’s this – bulls on the loose?  No, it’s only one of several statues which now adorn the town of Bulls.  They certainly need a second glance as you drive by.

A black bull on the loose in Bulls

Before too long we were pulling into our village.  The van was soon unpacked and put back in the parking area, ready for our next trip away.  We’ll just get our breath back, before we’re away again.