Lindis Pass, Kawerau Pass to Lumsden

After several easy days traveling, it was a much longer day (150km) from Twizel to Lowburn,  and driving up and over Lindis Pass.  On the first part of the journey we passed the results of farmers cutting hay, first we saw rectangular bales piled high, and then paddock after paddock of round hay bales.  All getting ready for winter feed.

Time to make hay

Driving over the Lindis Pass we noticed that the hills had changed from the very bare hills that we saw around Twizel, and now were lightly covered in scrub.  The  Lindis Pass links the Mackenzie Basin with Central Otago, crossing  a saddle between the valleys of the Lindis and Ahuriri Rivers at an altitude of 971m..

There was no room for us to pull into the lookout, but a little further on we stopped at this sign.  We had now arrived at Central Otago, or as the locals call it, “Central”.  It was all downhill from here, and this side of the pass seemed much steeper than the ascent.

We are now in Central Otago

The road took us alongside Lake Dunstan, and we soon arrived al Lowburn NZMCA Park, another new to us camp right on the lake side.  Set in  a large graveled area, rubbish facilities but no water or dump station.

Lowburn NZMCA Park

The town of Cromwell was not too far away, and look, there is the famous fruit sign, the huge  1.7 tonne apple, pear, nectarine and apricot landmark.   Designed by  Otto Muller  the landmark cost $64,000 to build and a further $24,000 in voluntary labour, and was completed in November 1989.    Cromwell  has a well-earned reputation as the fruit bowl of New Zealand. The ideal climate makes  Cromwell’s cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums  sought-after by high-end export markets, supermarkets, and visitors who call in to buy from the local growers. 

Cromwell Fruit Sign

As we did, buying a box of delicious peaches, and a bag of new seasons apples, then queuing up with other eager customers to buy  a “real fruit” ice-cream.    Absolutely delicious – there is nothing better than an ice-cream on a hot sunny day!

In the 1970s Cromwell became the site of a hydro-electric power scheme which created the huge Clyde Dam to harness the Clutha River.  Lake Dunstan, which formed behind the dam, submerged much of the area in 1992, but a number of historic buildings were saved and relocated.

Lake Dunstan, and a view of the camp from the lake edge

Then it was another big day, 161km from Lowburn to Lumsden along SH6.  This took us through the steep and winding Kawerau Gorge.  In 1880 engineer Harry Higginson was called on to built a bridge over the Kawarau Gorge, a difficult task in a sheer rocky gorge that was known as a tunnel for strong winds. To  meet this challenge, he came up with an innovative bridge design with a suspension bridge that was 42 m high with a 120m long span. The work won a world’s top engineering award, a Telford Premium, in 1882.  In 1963 a new bridge opened and the 1880 bridge was retained for its historic value.  Over 100 years after the bridge was originally constructed,  the bridge became the site of the world's first commercial bungy jump. A.J. Hackett set up operation on the bridge in 1988, with people testing their limits by leaping from the equivalent of a 10-storey building held safe by just a giant elastic band around their ankles. Since 1988, the bridge has primarily been used for bungy jumping and biking.

Gold mining also took part in this inhospitable place, and the remains or maybe replicas of Chinese goldminers huts can still be seen.    The Goldfields Mining Centre is an historic reserve which has been set aside by New Zealand's Department of Conservation to preserve an authentic mining site where gold has been mined for over 100 years and can still be found in the rocks & gravels. 

Goldminers huts in Kawerau Gorge

Driving through Frankton, we were astounded to see just how much this place has grown since we were last here, and the road followed lower Lake Wakatipu – the name means “place where the demon lies”.  According to Maori legend the curiously shaped lake was created when a giant demon captured the daughter of a Maori chief and took her to his home in the mountains.  After struggling against a strong north-easterly wind, the demon lay down with his head near Glenorchy, his knees at Queenstown, and his feet at Kingston.  The girl’s lover crept up to sleeping demon and set it on fire, and its body burnt deep into the earth.  All that remained was the beating heart within a gigantic trench which gradually filled with water to form an enormous lake in the shape of the demon.  We pulled off the road at a photo stop to capture some snaps of this beautiful lake.

Lake Wakatipu

Our stop for the night was at the Lumsden Reserve NZMCA Park, not actually overflowing with campers as there were only a big bus and a motorhome parked up.  We all enjoyed happy Hour together later in the afternoon.

Overnighting at Lumsden

After settling in, and having a late lunch, we drove up town to check out Lumsden – and discovered that the pie shop we remembered from our last visit has now closed down.  The  railway station is now preserved as a tourist information centre. The Lumsden Heritage Trust has displayed the chassis of New Zealand Railways steam train.  Lumsden welcomes freedom campers and the  railway station offers free parking for caravans and motor homes, sinks available for dish washing, toilets, fresh water and a dump station. 

Trains on display at Lumsden Station

Lumsden used to be a major railway junction with lines departing to all four points of the compass. The Kingston Branch from Invercargill ran north–south through the town, while to the west was the Mossburn Branch and to the east was the Waimea Plains Railway that connected with the Main South Line in Gore.  Sadly, those days are long gone now.

The weather has been fabulous lately, real ”blue dome days” as we have been traveling about – lets hope it stays that way.  Next stop, Te Anau.

Ashburton and the Rakaia Gorge

After six nights at Weedon, catching up with friends and family, doing some exploring, it was time to move on.  So we joined the great morning exodus as caravans and motor homes packed up, started their motors and jockeyed for position at the dump station.  No doubt all those empty sites will be filled again by the afternoon.  It was a nice straight drive down SH1, and we drove over the longest bridge in New Zealand at 1.7km over the Rakaia River. 

Longest bridge in the country

I had to keep my wits about me, because just over the bridge is the Rakaia Salmon statue on the side of the road. 

The Rakaia Salmon

After a drive of 70km we arrived at the Ashburton NZMCA Park to stay the next two nights.  Too new to be in the current NZMCA book, Robin found the details in the APP.  Nice and roomy and built in an oval shape with parking on grass.

NZMCA Ashburton

Ashburton was settled in the 1850s and was named after Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, who was a member of the Canterbury Association.  The settlers found the plains inhospitable, without trees and constantly buffeted by the continual north westerly winds.  The determined pioneers began working the plains and began producing wheat and other crops, and grazing sheep.  These days local farmers grow potatoes, corn and peas. A vegetable processing factory owned by Talley's is located on the northern outskirts of the town, and was built in 1996 to take advantage of the good soils and irrigation of the Ashburton district.

On Thursday morning we decided to go on an adventure, and explore the Rakai Gorge.  We made a picnic lunch, filled the thermos, and made sure we took along the sun screen and insect repellant too.  The beginning of the drive took us through paddocks of what we presumed to be blueberry bushes, and the eastern side of the Southern Alps loomed up beside us.

On our way to Rakaia Gorge

Originally we had thought we hadn't been this way, but when the scenery started to look familiar we remembered we had done this trip on our 2012 SI travels with our friends.  Stopping at the lookout gave us wonderful views of the river, the Rakaia River is another of Canterbury’s braided rivers.

View from the lookout

There is a carved Pou at the lookout which tells the story of the Taniwha of Raikaia.  According to Maori legend a taniwha river monster lives in the Rakaia Gorge.  His efforts to block the north west wind led to the narrowing of the river, when he brought down huge stones and boulders to halt the progress of the north west demon and imprison him.

Rakaia Gorge Taniwha Pou

With a name like Windwhistle, we just had to check this tiny settlement out so drove through Rakaia to do so.  All we could find was a small school and a garage.  It is located on State Highway 77 near the Rakaia Gorge.  Windwhistle's name comes from the way the wind sounds when the Canterbury north west wind blows.

The only business in this tiny place.

Then we returned to the Rakaia River for lunch, driving down onto the river bank to enjoy the wonderful views and people watch.  Some were frollicking in the river on their boards, others were walking along, still more were putting their boats in the river and departing with a hiss and a roar.  The bank across the river had rows of  different colours laid down,  always interesting to consider how these occurred.  And we watched as trucks, cars and caravans made their way across the two quite different bridges across the river, then slowly drove up the hill.

Interesting layers in the bank, and two bridging spanning the river

A car arrived from Environmental Canterbury and we watched as a young man went about taking many water samples and readings.  Not a bad place to work, is it, especially in the summer.

Taking water samples

On the way back we stopped off at Methven for a look around and an ice-cream.  This is an interesting place as it is on the edge of the Mount Hutt Ski Field, so in the winter this is a very busy place indeed.

This is a town of two pubs, the Blue Pub on one corner and the Brown Pub across the road on the other corner.  The Blue Pub seems to cater for the younger yuppy crowd.

The Blue Pub

The Brown Pub was built in 1923 to replace the former Canterbury Hotel which was destroyed by fire.    This pub seems to appeal to the blokes, it seems to me.

The Brown Pub

We enjoyed our “real fruit ice-creams” in the shady park. along with plenty of others with the same idea.  The ice-cream was so large I couldn't finish mine!

Ice cream time

It was a real “Blue Dome” day, fine and sunny, and we enjoyed a great day out.  That’s what caravan holidays are all about, exploring our beautiful country.

Hokitika Gorge and Lake Kaniere

It was going to be another very hot day here in Hokitika, we could tell even before we set off for another day of exploring.  But first we needed to pack a picnic lunch to take, bacon and egg croisaants, a couple  of Christmas mince pies, a juicy peach each and a thermos of hot coffee.  The sun-screen and insect repellant came along too.  Now we were ready and drove 30km to Hokitika Gorge - never been there before.  The car park was very full, and we grabbed our stick each and headed along the path.  Most of the West Coast was  covered by vast moving glaciers 500,000 years ago, we read on the interpretation boards, and these shaped the landscape as they moved slowly along. 

At the start of the track

A short 10 minute walk though the bush led us to the Hokitika Swing Bridge.  It may have been short for most people, but took us a lot longer than the 10 mins stated, quite hard going for Robin and his knee problems.   The beautiful turquoise blue water caused when rocks are ground into a fine powder by the movement of glaciers.   We arrived at the look out point for our first glimpse of the very blue river and saw the swing bridge below us. 

Our first glimpse of the river and the bridge

Several more twists and turns on the track and we finally arrived at the bridge.  This had a limit of 6 people at a time so we had to wait our turn.  Here comes Robin over the bridge, and taking a photo from the middle of the slightly bouncing bridge was necessary, but a little unnerving.  And where would we be without friendly fellow sightseers  happy to take a photo for us?

 

Hokitika Gorge Swing Bridge

Robin really struggled with walking back up the track and in the end he did much better using my stick as well, he really needed two sticks for extra balance and a feeling of security, I think.  Resting in the car, and having a nice cold drink of water revived us both, and we went on our way again, this time to Lake Kaniere.  We came across the parking area for Dorothy Falls just before reaching the lake.  Luckily for us, the falls were just across the road, no trouble at all to reach them, and as a bonus, a nice wooden seat was provided. Dorothy Falls are not at all big, just a trickle really, but still nice to see and say that we had been there.

Dorothy Falls

Lake Kaniere was not too far away, another first for us, so off we went.  When we eventually arrived, after driving along a stretch of unsealed road, we found an attractive lake with a DOC Camp close by.  We sat in the car by the  lake side,  ate our picnic lunch, and watched as the day trippers were jumping off the jetty, paddling in the lake, and sunbathing on the grass.  The depression that formed the lake was carved out by a glacier during the ice age, the rock wall created at the end of the glacier forming a natural dam through which the Kaniere River flows.

Lake Kaniere

We passed by a large rock memorial on the side of the road, not a war memorial to fallen local soldiers as we presumed, but something quite different, and known as the Koiterangi Incident.  The Memorial, created using a boulder from Diedrichs Creek nearby and designed by Barry Thomson of Glenavy, was unveiled in 2004, to honour the memory of the seven victims, including four policemen shot by dairy farmer Eric Stanley George Graham. The murders took place in what is now commonly known as Kowhitirangi on the West Coast in New Zealand in October 1941.  One of New Zealand’s largest manhunts ended when Graham was shot on the evening of 20 October. He died of his wounds the following day.

The Koiterangi Incident

It  was quite sobering to read about this happening in such a quiet farming community and was not something I knew about.  It is always quite interesting what you discover on the side of the road as you travel along.

Moving on to Reefton

Heading towards the West Coast, we decided to stop for the night in Reefton.  The discovery of rich gold bearing quartz in the hills and valleys around town, soon gave rise to the nickname Quartzopolis.  The other claim to fame is that Reefton was the first town to “see the light”.  Reefton Power Station supplied electricity to the very prosperous gold mining town and was the first power station to supply municipal electricity in the Southern Hemisphere. It started operation on 4 August 1888.

On our way

Our  trip took us through the Upper Buller Gorge turning off at Springs Junction. I seem to have a bit of a thing for interesting bridges, and although this one had a height restriction, I’m sure it is tall enough for trucks and buses to pass through along this busy road

An interesting bridge

85km later, we rolled into town.  We had not been here since our 2012 trip, quite a while ago now.

Almost there

This time we stayed at the Reefton Hotel, which offers free parking to caravans and motorhomers. Several other vans were there already, and there is a dump station across the road.   Robin went into the bar to make sure it was OK to stay here, and the reply was, “We are happy to have you, please support us”.  Of course we did.

Parked up at the Reefton Hotel

It was another stinking hot day and I left Robin having a wee snooze while I walked the short distance up town to see what I could see.  “Trucks of Quartz Mural” is a tribute to the vital part that horses played in the early days of mining towns.

Mural in town

On our previous visit I was keen to visit the Bearded Miners at the Miners Hut.  The replica 1860s hut is still in the centre of town and the bearded miners welcomed visitors to learn about how miners lived when the promise of gold lured thousands of prospectors to the area.  Today the buildings were locked up tight, not a single bearded miner in sight.

Where the bearded miners hang out

True to our word, we supported the Reefton Hotel with our patronage.  Fourzees was spent in the cool of the shady garden bar, chatting to our next door neighbours.  Then we went into the dining room for dinner, roast for me and a huge burger for him, certainly very good value for money, although I wished I had ordered the small instead of the medium size.  On the menu was a large roast, goodness knows how huge that would be.  There were other vanners inside to chat with, so it was very pleasant evening indeed.

No cooking tonight

First job when we were ready to go was to use the handy dump station across the road down by the river.  But….the potable water tap had a “boil water” notice attached so we left that well alone. Hopefully we will pick up some fresh water shortly.

Across the river

This river side road had quite a history.  The Strand was Reefton’s early business centre and was lined with handsome buildings.  Some time later the businesses moved from the Strand to Broadway, which became the main street in town.

The Strand in it’s hey day