The last in the virtual 4wd series

As a few of my treasured commenters have noted my posts of late have been a virtual journey, so I thought I may as well finish the pictorial story of what has now amounted to 5 days days of 4wd travel incorporating two of Central Otago's block mountain ranges - the Dunstans [Leaning Rock] and The Pisa Range.



2nd cousin Paul and his family...


I had quite a hard time resisting making photos of these formations just below Leaning Rock...


While I made my photos, acquaintance of a few trips like this, Peter, has the front wheel of his 50 yr. old Land Rover realigned. This amazing vehicle sporting number plates from many lands, has been toured in the Arctic Circle and driven to NZ through places like India and Africa. If as I suspect there is an emotional bond, this is something I can relate too, and I could forgive the need for constant maintenance on the journeys...


Most of the 45 [approx.] 4wd vehicles stopped in Thomsons Gorge to look at a restored stamper battery...


The whole day out was led by the owner of Northburn Station Tom Pinckney, and there was a radio transmitter put in his vehicle so he could give us a running commentary all day by tuning in our vehicle radios - it's a brilliant idea! Although Mike and myself and others had recc'd the trip a few weeks previous though, the last section we left up to him, and it turned out to be quite a surprise for myself at least, the terrain becoming very tight, steep and technical...


My job on this day was to stay several vehicles back from Tom the leader, so here we wait and watch with some concern the tail-enders tackle the beginning of the "tight, steep and technical"...


The corner on the left was about as tight and as steep as it's possible to get around - I took three goes...


Tom watches. It must have been a bit nerve wracking - a lot of the drivers may have been perceived as "townies", but many have been doing these trips for 25 years with my cousin. They've perhaps realised that tough sidewall tires and experience, along with a quiet considered approach, goes much further than bull bar and winch festooned "looking the part' macho mentality...


This first day of the weekend ended at the Northburn Winery's "The Shed" for drinks and nibbles and wine tastings. If everyone was as dusty, and thirsty as myself then they may have received a little recompense for the amazing adventure Tom gave us.

Sunday morning dawned again fine and found us on the eastern face of the Pisa Range [photo credit Kim C.] ...


Having gained the tops near Mt Pisa, we stopped so I could show Kim this nice little tarn she photographed...


Toileting has always been a problem on these fund-raisers in the wide open Central Otago landscape, but was solved very elegantly a few years back by realising, no matter what, the sloshing about somehow is contained by the design of these toilets...


At the lower altitude of the southern Pisa Range one of the punters does a sharp turn from one track to another [photo credit Kim C.] ...


Actually we directed and watched the whole wagon train make the turn...


Here Mike and the organisers say a big "thanks to the 90 odd souls, that partake'd of the adventure, while Kim and myself, now turned tail enders, watched from a distance, noting that, if we wished, we could choose to see the line as an organism...


This had to be done relatively high up because when we'd get down to the Kawarau Gorge in 30 mins. there would no room for an assembly point near the very busy main road...


And for those interested the group had about 3 punctures, and one modern Land Rover Disco had to be abandoned during an ascent due to over heating, and the classic well travelled Land Rover broke a centre bolt of the front leaf spring assembly. but completed the whole two days after having it simply clamped tightly. It also had to have a stop while a heater hoses was tightened. On the last day, door-to-door, Kim and I put in 10 hours driving - less an hour each for morning tea and lunch, and only used a third of tank of fuel despite going up to 1900 metres! It goes to show how much fuel we use [waste] on the road simply pushing air at high speed!

The adventurous world of under-runners

As per last week's post my cousin Mike and myself were out again yesterday on another 4wd adventure tidying the choice of descent route off of the Pisa Range for the upcoming North Otago Search and Rescue 4wd fundraiser to be held in a couple of weeks time.

Last week's problem were these things called "under-runners"...


They form in ancient glacial soils/clays comprised of loess [derived from the floodplains of glacial braided rivers that carried large volumes of glacial meltwater and sediments]. Somehow as loess was deposited by wind in certain areas [tors on hillsides seem to accompany the formation] all the particles dropped by the wind were occasionally of a similar size, and it's known that this sort of structure in the soil has no strength to resist the likes of water percolating down mountain sides, sometimes under ancient land slides. Under-runners [of water] then work away eventually under-mining the surface, which collapses inwards, to considerable depths it seems if this hole is anything to go by [stones thrown in clattered for sometime!]...


Although we'd identified this one [which was why I was not in the truck!], Mike dropped a front wheel in as an edge collapsed. At the instant I made this photo, the rear end of the truck [on the left looking] lurched alarmingly into the air and the rear wheel left the ground...


Mike got his first Land Rover about close on 50 years ago, and in those years with 4wd driving as his hobby, I can't imagine anyone more experienced. So to get out of this literal hole he matter-of-factly asked for some weight and drove onwards, but stopping before the back wheel dropped into the hole. We then evaluated options and decided to fill the hole in enough to progress, which worked nicely...


A lot of thought last week was given to whether or not we should bring 50-100 vehicles [with accompanying vibration and base line driver skills in some cases] down this route, and the farmer was consulted. He advised there was another route, but a complex one, so with his knowledge and a very obscure map we set off yesterday from the bottom of the Kawarau gorge this time, to nut it out going upwards from a known exit point rather than last week's downward effort featuring numerous choices. As we climbed up an over grown track the views across the valley became fascinating. This one is of a huge area modified by miners, and there is a wee hut bottom left...


With just one vehicle going quietly and slowly we had ideas of fresh venison, but first morning tea break...


While driving along with the intensity of native trackers on an almost non-existent track hidden by short grasses, thankfully on gentle slopes, we were rewarded by this amazing view of the Kawarau - the road to Queenstown just on the right of the river...


Route finding problem solved we reached known ground and Mike left his marks in the form of fluro paint to aid his leading the trip...


As we gained height we encountered 45 knot winds so we adjourned to this hut down in a gully for a nice picnic lunch out of the wind...


A good clean up is needed 'else DOC may decide to remove this icon of NZ's past...


Mike keeps his boot very still as a confused lizard grapples with a whole new reality...


After lunch we serendipitously meet a 7 vehicle expedition of the Canterbury Land Rover Users Club, and keen to try out our new route down and prove it's safety/viability with very experienced drivers [and mark/flatten the grass] Mike invited them to follow and thus add some real distance and value to their outing [we also had the key to the gate]. Vehicles like this maybe great at mud slugging and handling big Canterbury rivers, but their turning circle is not so good in this terrain....


The descent went well and we were soon back down by the amazingly beautiful Kawarau river...






And for those wondering: venison eluded us.

More Clutha River wanderings

When the sun looked like dissipating the inversion cloud this morning I packed a lunch and Dougal and I headed off for a walk, heading yet again on further personal exploration of the Clutha River near home.

Looking west towards Black Peak and Treble Cone, while we walked in hope of the cloud letting the sun shine on us...


Further downstream past Reko's Point, and looking south to the end of the Pisa and Criffel Ranges...


It had been bothering me - just who was Reko? I knew the name and then I recalled he was the guide of Surveyor J.T. Thomson:

He persuaded Reko of Tuturau to guide him from Otago to Canterbury by an inland route. In September 1853, he, Reko and another Maori companion set off up the Mataura and the Nokomai valleys and over the hills to the Nevis and Kawarau valleys. They crossed the Kawarau River on the natural rock bridge and went downriver to the flats above Cromwell. They made their way to Wanaka and Hawea, before Chalmers, who was exhausted, gave up any idea of going further, and the group returned by raft down the Clutha River (McClymont 1959: 70). More on the New Zealand Dept of Conservation website

Thomson was an accomplished artist and I found a picture he made of a spooky crossing of the Mataura River with Reko on the teara.govt.nz web site

As we walked I asked Dougal to consider that there are people that want to dam this amazing river and drown the landscape. I think he had trouble grasping this and I guess age 16 has not given him enough time yet to ponder the losses I've seen...


I've paddled this river in a past life, camping on the way and that was adventure enough. It must have been something else for Reko, Thomson and Chalmers to build their own raft and head off, bobbing along at speed as the craft became water-logged, and not have much of a clue as to what lay ahead. On many stretches of the river it's really hard to get into the edge as boil ups keeping pushing upwards denying access...


Locally so many of us have concerns about ill conceived ideas to mess up this planet, rivers and all that we live on - and everyone is a local relevant to where they live, so in a wider and more global context take some time please to check out the movie "home"on youtube by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It has beautiful imagery of our mother earth and commentary of our evolution into where we have brought our planet to today. It's free on the web for a few more days [and is a 1.4 Gb download so it is not a short one].

Last week I found some stellar GPS software for my iPhone for about $NZ7 so we tried it out alongside my old GPS and found it remarkably good - nothing like a good day to play with new toys!

Dougal thought it was funny that the map is courtesy of the US Navy - us being inland and all that. This screen shot is of Reko's Point - I wonder if this is where they built the raft, as it's too close to Lake Wanaka to be the first night's camping spot. The green "init" maker is a way-point the phone generates each time it's turned on...


And this week's head's up is to cousin Deirdre's Tininn Lodge site where she has posted photos of her grand daughter Aleisha doing some part time modeling.