Start of the Trip - CollingwoodKaramea - Heaphy TrackRolling River, WangapekaMurchison, New ZealandLewis passArthurs PassRakaia RiverLake Clearwater, New ZealandLake Ohau, New ZealandWanaka, New ZealandArrowtown, New ZealandTe Anau, New ZealandTuatapere, New ZealandTe Waewae Bay
 | walk4kiwis |  | A long walk to Save the Kiwis |  | Wanaka, New Zealand |
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Mar 2 2010, 09:43 PM
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Wanaka, New Zealand
Hot, hot and very hot! Camped on the shores of the Ahuriri River just out of Omarama and boy is it HOT!
This part of the country is just like a desert at the moment, very dry and very dusty. Hard to imagine that in a few months time the whole place could be under snow. Apart from the heat, have had a fairly easy few days, getting from Lake Ohau and now heading up to Lindis Pass. Due to the painful digits and Phils still pretty stuffed knee, we have had to do a bit of rearranging so far as our route goes for the next few days. Original plan was to cut around the bottom of Lake Ohau, across country to the Ahuriri and then down through the Ahuriri Conservation Area to the shores of Lake Hawea. What we have done now is get permission to use some 4 wheel drive tracks over private property and just walk along the fringes of the main highway. Doing this means I don’t have to wear boots and the ground is fairly level and easier on Phils knee. We have come down from Lake Ohau, followed along the Ahuriri River, past some interesting formations in the clay cliffs and down to Omarama.
From here we have followed the main road towards Lindis Pass and tomorrow it is up and over Lindis Pass to a large high country station called Forest Range, were we have permission to use a private track which will bring us out onto the shores of Lake Hawea, which, all going well, we should reach on Monday afternoon.
We have 25k’s of main road still to cover and about 30k’s across the Forest Range Station. A mere stroll!
Had an interesting morning in Twizel yesterday (Friday) Gave a 15 minute interview over the local radio station. It was quite fun, actually. Not having to see anyone and just answer the hosts questions. I was a lot more confident and relaxed then I know I am going to be on Tuesday evening when I have to address the Lake Wanaka Rotary Club!
But back to Twizel. I have only ever passed through this place in the past thinking of no good reason to stop over. I have certainly changed my mind now! This wee place has a real heart and soul to it, which is a lot more than can be said about some of its neighbouring towns. The conservation work they are doing with the Kaki (Black Stilts) is fantastic Now with only 82 left in the world, they really have their work cut out. Again, an awful lot of volunteer hours have gone into this project. Aside from that, everyone we met was conservation minded. No one I spoke to was behind this stupid scheme to put intensive undercover dairy farms down in this part of the country. As I said, this place is a bloody desert and the only 2 things I have seen that seem to thrive here are rabbits (zillions of them) and wild sweet briar. It was never intended for dairy farming, end of story!
But back to Twizel (again). The local bakery builds a bloody good sausage roll and even better steak pie and Tania from the Twizel Pharmacy is an expert on fixing mangled sunglasses! Ok, enough about Twizel.
Were we are camped at the moment is under the flight path from the Omarama Airfield. And what a busy little airfield it is. As I am sure a lot of you know, Omarama is the gliding capital of NZ and there is an almost constant stream of gliders being towed up into the wild blue yonder. (Come to think of it though, I haven’t seen any land!) It is not unusual to see about half a dozen of these machines circling around overhead at the same time. Not for this kid though. I don’t like flying in planes with engines very much!
28/02/10
Have knocked off the 25ks of road and are camped by the Lindis River, about 5k’s from our starting point tomorrow. Will be pleased to get off the road and into the hills again. The only good thing about road walking is that we are able to cover some good kilometers.
We have covered about 135k’s over the past 5 days which is pretty good going. We have been starting out as early as we possibly can (have just noticed the days are starting to get shorter) and knock off in the afternoon before the heat gets too much. The other advantage of an early start is you get a couple of hours before the traffic gets too much. We set off today about 4k’s north of Lindis Pass itself and were heading down the southern side before 8am. As Phil said " wish all our passes/saddles were this easy"
Wonderful plaque on top of the pass commemorating the 1st liberation of red deer into Otago! What a great moment to remember! Like the plaque in the Mt Bruce bird sanctuary near Palmerston North commemorating the 1st release of possums into NZ.
Another advantage of walking roads one usually drives over is all the things you don’t see when doing 100kph. Like all the road kill here are bloody ferrets and the very thin layer of topsoil on this part of the country. About 100 mls deep at most, little wonder the vegetation is a bit scratchy!
Was great to see our first clump of bush again for a week, never realized just how barren this area is.
But even so, this is still a pretty amazing place.
01/03/10
This last section is called "Grandview Track" and a more apt name, you could never get. By far the most spectacular bit of the South Island I have walked so far.
Got away early again as the forecast was for rain in the afternoon and gales along the tops and they were right on the mark! The walk was steadily upwards through open tussock country and the views back towards the Lindis and over to the east towards Cromwell were amazing. The interesting thing was how different this open tussock country was compared to the stuff we went through further north. The ground actually had a greenish tinge to it and the tussock wasn’t nearly as course or hard. The mountainsides were dotted with the most amazing rock outcrops that resembled all sorts of castles and things, depending on how good your imagination was.
We gained just over 1000 meters in height over about 14k’s distance before reaching the top and managed to find a convenient rock to shelter behind for lunch. By now some of the wind gusts were so strong I was having difficulty standing upright and I was waiting to see Phil, who is considerably lighter than me, leave the ground on a couple of occasions. Once we had got over the top the whole outlook changed dramatically. We could see down the whole length of Lake Hawea and across the plains to Lake Wanaka. And Albert Town, where we were heading to
It really was a view to behold. We could also see the rain approaching down Lake
Hawea at a rapid rate, so didn’t dally around up as long as we would have liked to. The descent was very sudden and we dropped over a 1000 meters in less than 4 k’s. It was the first time I had worn my boots for nearly a week to give my toes a chance to recover and the steep downhill was the last thing I needed. Fortunately I had taken my hiking shoes with me but it is going to be interesting in a couple of days when I head off over the Motatapu Track for 4 days. It was a race over the last half hour between the rain and ourselves, I think we won by a nose. Unfortunately, the time had come to say farewell to Phil. He has been with me for nearly 2 weeks, since the Raikia River, and I am really going to miss his wit, humour and can-do attitude to everything. We have been through a lot together, from the rain and fog on the Clents Saddle to the long baking hot days across the Two Thumb Range and our various injuries. Mind you, I doubt he will ever eat peanut butter or salami again. We drove through to Cromwell for the night and abandoned Phil at the bus stop in the early hours of this morning to catch his bus to Dunedin Airport. By the time this update goes on the web, Phil will be back in Brisbane beavering away at his desk. Thanks again for everything Phil, it was great!!
Marilyn dropped me off at Albert Town and I strolled along the Clutha to its outlet from Lake Wanaka and then around the waterfront to Wanaka township.
Getting to really enjoy walking without a pack and on flat land! My priority now is to put together a talk for the Wanaka Rotary Club tonight. Give me the Two Thumbs Range any day.
Catch you again next week. (if I survive tonight!)
Take care and keep smiling.
DONATIONS $7992
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