NZToday-Special Edition South Island Road Trips

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CANTERBURY TO MCKENZIE Timaru to Tekapo &FAMIROLRIEE Allan Dick explores SH8 from Timaru to Tekapo. Words + Photos Allan Dick and explode out of that green and pleasant land into the stark beauty of 1 the Mackenzie Country where, before the arrival of Europeans, there wasn’t a tree to be seen – just unrelenting emptiness. E ver since my first visit to Fairlie 50 years ago, I’ve had a mental image of it being the last outpost of civilisation before the great But there were trees here, once: totara forests in the valleys and on expanse of the Mackenzie Country. It was where the spread of the tops. These were burned by Māori when they hunted moa and they early European civilisation stopped quite abruptly and said, never returned. ‘Whoa, we’re not going there …’ Fairlie is set in a green and pleasant landscape, quite heavily wooded Fairlie was, literally, the end of the line. with English trees, and rolling pasture. On a quiet day with the sun in If you can remember back to the early days of television in New the sky and birds singing, you can almost hear “… and was Jerusalem Zealand, when it was black and white and Ena Sharples terrified the founded here, in England’s green and pleasant land …”. But 15 or 20 drinkers at the Rover’s Return, there were two ‘fillers’ that we saw once minutes later, after passing through the tiny hamlets of Kimbell and a month or so. One followed the scow Tuhoe up the Kaiapoi River, and Burkes Pass, you crest a rise at the curiously named Dog Kennel Corner the other, the AB steam loco at the head of a train called the 2 Fairlie Flyer as it chuffed and tooted its way from Timaru 50 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition to Fairlie. These ‘fillers’ had no spoken words, but were accompanied by music that bordered on being musak. The Fairlie branch railway line was opened in stages between 1874 and 1884, and for a while it was so well used that there was a dedicated daily passenger train, the Fairlie Flyer. This ended in 1930 when increasing numbers of passengers opted to travel by road, but a mixed passenger/goods train continued until 1953 when it became a goods-only line, and that ended in 1968 when the line was closed, the rails torn up, bridges demolished and stations removed – save for the 2.5 kilometre section into Pleasant Point from the east. This is now used by the local railway society which has a significant operation involving two steam locomotives, passenger carriages and a Ford Model T-based railcar. But, enough of the history, what of today? We’re about to find out.

3 My original travel plans were delayed a week by Cyclone Gita, but it 4 was a bright and sunny Friday morning when I cleared Oamaru and headed up SH1 for Timaru, where I turned up SH8 at Washdyke, the branch lines in Southland. I have no idea what prompted the Fairlie real home of legendary racehorse Phar Lap. people to replicate a failed experiment, but I am glad they have because it’s (a) popular and (b) has preserved a link to a piece of history that Pleasant Point is the first town on the route – a place that lives up to would have otherwise been lost. its name. There’s a broad main street, with enough shops and businesses operating to warrant a stop, and a curious mixture of street names that Gordon and Dilys show me through the station with its many historic include Kabul and Afghan! displays. This is worth stopping at when you visit Pleasant Point – and the monument to Richard Pearse is nearby, so you can also go and pay It’s also the passenger pick up and drop off for the ‘Pleasant Point homage to him. Museum and Railway’ which is all neatly based in the lovingly restored railway station. I head for one of the most famous – and fascinating – businesses in Pleasant Point, G D O’Rourke & Sons, Taxidermists, but along the There used to be a factory in Pleasant Point that made slashers for way cast a sad glance at the old Post Office. Shearer Steve Casey and clearing the country of gorse and broom – Lienert’s, but that’s long his partner, once created a wonderful café here called Legends and gone. The township suffered a devastating flood in 1986 that saw one ran regular talent nights. I was asked to be the MC on a couple of fatality and caused $120 million worth of damage. them. Sadly, it’s now closed and washing on the lines in the courtyard indicates it’s now a dwelling. You pass the operating base and workshop for the railway at the eastern boundary of the town, with the 2.5km stretch of line heading arrow- 1. The Wolds (established 1876) mailbox near Tekapo straight for the station/museum. I see a sign stating that the historic 2. Poignant memorial to the soldiers that left the back country to go to war – Model T railcar is operating daily. “Operating daily?” Can it really be? some never to return 3. It’s square and it’s the Pleasant Point Model T railcar Yes it is. I see the dark-red, square box of the railcar parked on the 4. Your driver of the Model T railcar today is Mr Gordon Somerville lines by the platform, waiting for passengers. A man is standing on the platform, talking to someone inside the ticket box. He is today’s 51NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition railcar driver Gordon Somerville, and the ticket person is Dilys Looms. Both are volunteers and both bemoan the fact it’s quiet. Gordon had a long career in radio as a copywriter, so we have plenty to talk about. He offers me a ride in the railcar, but I’ve done it before and I want to get to Fairlie. The railcar is a replica of a failed experiment for NZR back in the late twenties when three were built and used on the Waikaia and Glenham

CANTERBURY TO MCKENZIE Timaru to Tekapo 5 I’m sidetracked before I reach O’Rourkes. An old garage fronting onto the main street has been given a new lease of life by Gilbert Bailey and 6 his partner Sharon. Best way to describe the place is that it’s a man cave devoted to cars and motorbikes, with Sharon running a shop within 7 the cave selling fascinating and collectable knick-knacks. The place is 52 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition called Frocks and Shocks, sub-titled ‘Obsolete Iron Motors’. Gilbert’s ‘real job’ is as an engineer with PrimePort Timaru, but this is his passion and one day it will become full time. It’s a gathering place for like-minded people. Gilbert restores cars and builds motorcycles, including a Bonneville Salt Flats monster powered by two, three-cylinder Triumph engines. He’s been to Bonneville once and would like to get back again this year. Almost next door is O’Rourke’s – probably the most famous place in Pleasant Point these days. The business was founded by Gerald O’Rourke almost 60 years ago and today is run by his two sons, Lance and Kerry, although the business itself was sold to local interests two years ago. “We signed on to continue running the place for two years after the sale,” says the quietly spoken Lance. And when the two years is up in a month or two? “We’ll renew,” he says, with a laugh. This is a busy place and it has an enviable record. OK, some people aren’t going to be all that comfortable standing in a showroom surrounded by dead animals, but this is very much old, grassroots New Zealand – with the exception of a very large bear which has been in the showroom for years. How much does this sort of thing cost? A look at their website shows that ‘stuffing’ the head of an elk will cost $1795. That’s probably less than I expected. I gave half a thought to grabbing a bite to eat, but then thought of when I was younger – and slimmer – and decided to carry on. Pleasant Point is indeed pleasant. The drive out of Pleasant Point and on towards Fairlie is through unremarkable, if pleasant (that word again)

8 5. An acre of machinery at farming country. Green is the dominant colour. Sutherlands 6. Gilbert, Sharon and a Next stop is Sutherlands – not much left here – just the old school motorbike. Shocks and set well back off the road, grounds which are now a paddock, and a Frocks in Pleasant Point war memorial to one side. The eastern neighbour is a man who collects 7. Small river stone church machinery – he has an acre of fascinating looking stuff, including the in Cave is almost hidden boiler from a steam loco’ and some old Chevrolet cars. by trees 8. The Memorial Church I meet the neighbour on the western side – a young blonde mum in over the hill from Cave is a black shorts and gumboots. While the other neighbour has an acre of Norman-style church that old machinery, she’s got an acre of grass – and she’s cutting it with an is almost a museum ordinary motor mower. 9. Old limestone building was almost certainly a “Gidday,” she calls to me. “You’re another one. Lots of people stop hotel near the Albury and look at this place.” railway station The pub still operates, but the Vampire’s long gone. There’s a shop “It’s the old school,” I reply, not sure if she knows that or not. But I that sells groceries, petrol and ice cream. It has a noticeboard outside have a more pressing point: “Why aren’t you on a ride-on mower with as many country stores have. so much grass to cut?” I drive around the handful of back streets. This is a quiet, peaceful place of mostly older, modest homes, and it seems to have more churches “Oh, it’s my exercise,” she says, taking a last puff on a skinny looking per house that any other town in the world. Cave has one very special rollie and stubbing it out. “I put the little one down and get stuck in church, but it’s over the hill a bit on the back road and I’ll save that for to this.” the journey home. I drive on, into the thickening trees, under a blazing hot sun pouring I run an eye over the land she’s got to mow – it’s a young farm and I out of a cloudless sky. I’ve left the dairy cows and irrigators behind and reckon there’s half a day’s yakka here. this is mainly sheep country – sheep and cattle – although I see free- range pigs and hens and grow to love this countryside. Traffic is light “We’ve had a bit of rain – makes it grow and I hate those,” she says and I have the road pretty much to myself. I’m enjoying the drive so indicating daisies and clover flowers. “They bring bees and I don’t want much, I switch off my iPod. the little one stung.” Next stop is Albury. Where Cave was small and compact, nestled in trees, Albury is scattered – and open. The pub, long closed, has reopened, We say goodbye and I go and look at the war memorial. but with restricted hours. I see churches. Struth! there seem to be more On the way back to my truck, the young mum mower shouts out here than at Cave. Lots of churches in this area. The shop is now a house, over the two-stroke roar, “Seeya …” and I spot what could once have been two garages. I wonder how many I wave back. people outside South Canterbury have heard of Albury? Up the road a bit you start to get into the trees. In fact the next place, Along the way there are remains of the old railway line – mainly Cave, is almost hidden in so many trees you could call it a forest. Cave’s concrete bridge abutments, but also the raised track bed. It’s a hobby tucked off SH8 in a dog-leg. I guess the old road followed this at one time. of mine, visually tracing the route of old railway lines. About where I know a bit about Cave. Two friends of mine spent time here. I guess the Albury railway station used to be, is a limestone building Eoin S Young – known variously as ‘Buster’ and ‘Easy’ – who became that was almost certain to have been a pub for train travellers. Today it one of the best-known writers this country has ever produced, grew looks like it’s a holiday home. The end of this road ends in a thicket of up here. He started out being a bank clerk but ended up writing about willows and a couple of river fords. motor racing, and in 55 years he produced thousands of syndicated columns and maybe a dozen books – all best sellers in their field. 9 He was my mate. 53NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition And Brian Conroy, a publican from Timaru, owned the pub here once. He bought a Vampire jet fighter off the RNZAF when they sold them off at give-away prices and he parked it outside the pub, just because he could. Both have passed on.

CANTERBURY TO MCKENZIE Timaru to Tekapo 10 On to Fairlie – the last leg – and I pass through quaintly named beautiful? I settle for the latter. Trees which have covered an increasing places called Cricklewood and Winscombe where there used to be area of the landscape are suddenly marched into order lining the towns – now they are just place names on the map. highway, and are so big and mature they almost touch and form an arch. This is Peace Highway, created after the ‘Great War’. Because I’ve been here before, I know that if I turn left just before Fairlie, I will find an old ammunition dump – a dozen or more, squat Fairlie is like a bigger Pleasant Point in many ways, but with that and solid looking, windowless, red-brick buildings half buried on edge-of-the-world feeling I mentioned at the beginning. While there the hillside. are still many of the businesses that flourished here in earlier days, looking after the wants and needs of farmers, some have closed and Perhaps because Fairlie was so remote, it was chosen as the place now the place is a curious but attractive mix of those old-style rural where an ammunition factory was set up during WWII, and the outfits and newer ones catering to a new gold rush – tourism. ammo was stored in these red-brick sheds before being taken off to the various theatres of war. The ammunition was made in a factory in The quiet run I’ve had on SH8 from Timaru is about to change Fairlie proper, which is now the museum and a café, but Bill Hamilton, for it’s in the middle of Fairlie that SH79 from Geraldine ends, and farmer, racing driver, engineer and inventor of the jet boat also had that means I’ll be joined by the tourist traffic heading to and from an ammunition factory on his farm at Irishman’s Creek over the hill Queenstown on the Inland Scenic Route. in the Mackenzie Country. Apart from the red-brick storage buildings, there are also a couple of very military looking weatherboard office blocks, one of which has been converted into rental holiday accommodation. The arrival into Fairlie could be described as sensational. Or 10. Tekapo’s famous Church 11 of the Good Shepherd - now with fence and gates 11. View down the side of Lake Tekapo towards the burgeoning town 12. Lake Alexandrina – idyllic, but spoiled by too many ugly signs 54 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

As I arrive in town, I see the red and blue flashing lights of a police I learn that he will be looking after the service station in the morning. car. It’s stopped and the officer is out speaking to a ‘client’. The ‘client’ I want to talk to him about his father – and the sled. is a bearded face under a cycle helmet, astride a push-bike with packs. I know we blame tourist drivers for bad behaviour on the roads – but Instead, I mooch around the town, looking here and there, all the time cyclists? I wonder what offence this man has committed. aware of the tourist traffic pouring off SH79 from Geraldine, turning right and beetling off for Burkes Pass and beyond. Later I pass him a dozen or so kilometres up the road; he’s pedalling furiously, teeth gritted, his forehead knitted in a scowl. Dotting the grass strip in the centre of town are trees (of course) and a series of stunning photographs of this region, for Fairlie is the centre Fairlie’s most famous business these days is the new Fairlie Bakehouse of bureaucratic power for the Mackenzie District. There’s also a bronze which was established about 18 months ago, offering a vast range of statue of sheep stealer James Mackenzie and his dog. designer pies along with other goodies. And the place has been a huge hit, with people driving from all over the region and then standing in Most of the shops have a history of the property displayed in their line waiting to be served. In Fairlie! – where there have never been front window, giving information about the first and subsequent owners lines of people before. Except maybe at the annual A&P Show – which – very interesting. There are a lot of tourists enjoying the balmy late I have been to. afternoon and patronising the numerous eateries. Last year, as a self-styled ‘Pie Expert’, I wanted to see what the fuss Time is slipping by, so I decide to press on over Burkes Pass into was about, but I was thwarted by a road rage incident when an angry the wild beauty of the Mackenzie Country and take a look at Tekapo. woman threw a punch at me outside the shop! On the way I pass through Kimbell with its pub and camping ground On this mid-to-late Friday afternoon I look inside the bakery. Blow and artists’ residences – again, lots of trees – and through Burkes Pass me down there’s a line of hopefuls waiting for the golden sachets of where I want to spend time tomorrow morning, exploring. meat and goodness clearly on show in a huge pie warmer. I think of my figure and the fact that my evening meal is just a couple of hours The arrival into the Mackenzie Country is breathtaking – and dramatic. away. So I decide to wait until the morning. Towering columns of white thunderclouds cluster around the horizon while the mountains fade into deep blue. Some years back, encouraged by Eoin S Young, I visited Fairlie to see Ian Jones, a motor engineer who had ‘looked after’ Bill Hamilton’s I mooch around Tekapo town for a while. The place is awash with racing Bentley. Sadly, Ian had died a month or so prior, but I was tourists, and I am left with no doubt that Tekapo is going to be our next shown inside his workshop – all locked up and left like a shrine to a Queenstown. It has the lake, the mountains, breathtaking scenery, two very clever man. Time capsule stuff with period spanners all neatly in ski fields, hot pools (heated by gas, not au naturel), an ice-skating rink their rightful place and, tucked away in a corner, something I was told and the developers are moving in. Mini suburbs of small, architect- was a motorised sled from the Scott Antarctic expedition. It certainly designed houses, sitting on postage stamp-sized sections, sprawl up looked old, but Scott? I knew Scott tried sledges, but they failed, so he the hill, and there are plans for a lakeside resort. and his team marched into tragic history. Tekapo is at an uncomfortable spot in its history – some traditional I call in at Mackenzie Country Motors, but Ian’s son, Paul, isn’t there. Tekaponians feel intimidated and threatened by what’s happening, and the row over access to the famed stone church is representative of that. It’s been fenced and gated off with restrictions on access. 12 55NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

CANTERBURY TO MCKENZIE Timaru to Tekapo 13 You get the feeling that the juggernaut of tourist development is about here where he makes and sells a wide range of outdoor furniture made to overwhelm the place. from macrocarpa, but it’s much, much more than that. It’s a small village of sheds, shacks, shops, garages, signs, cars – and a coffee shop. Next morning I head off to visit the Mount John Observatory and This is fascinating. have breakfast at the café, but I don’t want to spend the asked-for eight dollars to use the road to get there. That charge is new since I was last By now it’s 1.30 and the place is bursting at the seams. I look at the here. A pity, as the views from the top are incredible. menu and see among the designer-pie offerings, ‘silverside and creamed cabbage’; there is also a ‘normal’ pepper steak pie which is my idea of Instead I drive on to Lake Alexandrina, and here there is more evidence a pie. I size up the situation and decide to come back later rather than of the conflict between tourism and the locals. When I was last here wait as long as it seems I will need to wait. five years ago, there was just a small collection of holiday homes at the outlet of the lake into Lake Tekapo. Now There’s a camping ground, Instead, I go and see Paul Jones who is now looking after the Jones’ which appears to be operated by the crib/batch owners, and it’s popular, family service station. Paul is third generation in the business, and but in this breathtakingly beautiful place there’s visual pollution in the although he’s never married, his brother has and has a son, and so there form of proliferating ugly signs, most of which start with a huge black will be a fourth generation. ‘NO’ then a list of things you aren’t allowed to do, ending with a row of exclamation marks. I ask Paul about his father Ian, his relationship with Bill Hamilton, and the story behind the motorised sled. There’s no indication as to which authority has erected these signs, nor whose rules they are; I find them ugly, bullying and unwelcoming Ian Jones did indeed maintain the Bentley that Bill Hamilton raced at in such a spot of paradise. I feel a bit gloomy about this and head back Brooklands in England in the thirties and brought back to New Zealand. to Tekapo to buy some diesel before returning to Burkes Pass. He also looked after several other important classic cars in the area. Here I visit the cemetery. It’s surrounded by trees (of course) with plenty Paul’s grandfather, Stan Jones, went to the UK with Hamilton when he of bunny holes pocking the hard earth. There is a mix of very old and raced the car, and it was Stan’s brother Charlie who built the motorised quite new headstones – a fascinating place. One of the first headstones sled. It was built in the early 1930s, and it seems it was meant to be sent I read is a new one and I’m surprised to see it’s for William Apes – Bill to the USA to see if Admiral Byrd would be interested in taking it on Apes who was the local policeman for many, many years and was often his Antarctic expedition. But something happened, Byrd didn’t take it in the news. Later I find a headstone to mountaineer Gary Ball who and it was returned to Fairlie where it was used to deliver mail around died on Himalayan Mt Dhaulagiri and who is buried there. He died the Mackenzie Country during a couple of winters when snow made in poignant circumstances – trapped by a storm but able to speak to wheeled transport impossible. the outside world by his satellite phone and to say goodbye to his wife. While we’re talking, the forecourt at the garage fills up with customers, Burkes Pass, as a village, has come and gone a bit over the years, and so I say goodbye to Paul and head back to the Bakehouse. the fire that claimed the pub could have been the final act, but today it’s a must-stop place. Local boy Dave Taylor has created ‘Three Creeks’ Only a dozen people this time, so I order a pepper steak pie ($7) 56 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition and a sausage roll ($4) and take them to a park table to sit and sample them in the sun.

I am joined by a couple from a campervan who are having on one side of the road and a magnificent set of stone gates on the other. a picnic lunch. They’re from Holland and I’m impressed Then I spent an hour tiki-touring the back-country roads, through with their preparations for this holiday in New Zealand. the Pareora Gorge where I spotted an old dam far below, water spilling “I looked at maps, Googled and came up with a route over it, finally emerging at St Andrews and then a straight run back book of my own,” he explained. I asked where they’ve been to Oamaru. and where they are going and he’d missed out nothing. Great couple of days. The verdict on the pie and sausage roll? The meat in the pie was sublime – big, tender chunks of steak in minimal 13. The Three Creeks in Burkes Pass is a fascinating stop gravy – but a bit light on the pepper for me and I didn’t 14. Once someone lived here like the oily, flaky pastry which made it very messy to eat. The sausage roll was huge, but the same comment applied to the oily, flaky pastry. Thirty minutes later I was back on the road, heading to where I’d come from the day before, but turning off at Cave for the trip over the hill and back onto SH1 at St Andrews. On the way I stopped at the Cave store to buy a bottle of water and there was a family of three girls, a mum and a dad ordering what surely must have been the biggest ice 14 creams in the world. A couple of them were three scoops tall, with each scoop the size of a soccer ball. They were licking away to their heart’s content, obviously enjoying them. I spent 15 years of my life, rolling ice creams in my parents’ store and that put me off ice cream in cones forever! Just over the hill on the back road is St David’s memorial church, built in Norman style from river stones. This is a famous church, a work of hand-made art and a memorial to the early pioneers, but particularly the Burnett family, of Mt Cook sheep station fame, some of the original pioneers of the Mackenzie. It’s well worth the stop to look inside where it’s as much a museum as it is a church. I stood in the sun and drank in the beauty of this place. The church Americana • Collectibles • Macro furniture and so much more A MUST SEE 2119 Fairlie/Tekapo Rd, Burkes Pass Ph 03 685 8544 57NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTHLAND Central Otago A CSOPAUNNITARRYDFSOR The Giant Spaniard (Aciphylla scott-thomsonii) is a member of the carrot family, and is one of the largest and fiercest of New Zealand’s spear grasses. It wields large needle-sharp spears that threaten to puncture tyres or disembowel sheep and cattle. It’s found at high altitude and that’s where we were going this trip – up above the snow line! Words + Photos Allan Dick 1 W hen gold was discovered in Central Otago in the mid-19th the last part of the latter 19th century, was the wealthiest and most century, there were no roads and the miners that flocked influential town in New Zealand. Miners arrived by ship and set out here from every corner of the globe had to find their own on the cruel and unrelenting march into the hinterland. way – usually by the most direct route which took them Those heading for the Lawrence and Waipori goldfields caught a paddle through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the steamer from Dunedin that sailed down the coast, up the Taieri River country. Without doubt, some perished. into Lake Waihola and set them back ashore at the southern end of the Later, the road builders found easier routes that were less susceptible lake. From there, they made their way, on foot, up the Waipori Gorge. to snow, ice and gale force winds, and in time the original trails became Those heading for Central Otago had it far tougher. They walked from part of historic lore, wrapped in mystique and romance. Dunedin over the Taieri Plains to what is now Outram, then up what Dunedin boomed on the back of the gold rush and, for much of is now SH87, and then across the Lammerlaw Range, which still feels like the roof of the world, and dropped down into the southern corner of the vast Maniototo Plain. Here there was brief geographic respite before the second part of the journey into the lower reaches of the Ida Valley – this was the Dunstan Road, also known as the Old Dunstan Trail. GOLD MINING WILDERNESS In the first few days of the New Year, the Navigator and I packed up ‘Old Blue’ – the faithful Nissan Pathfinder that has taken us to every corner of New Zealand for the past decade – to follow the Waipori Gorge and Dunstan Roads and, for good measure, a run through the Nevis Valley, another legendary gold mining wilderness region. Five days on the road in total, with a few of nights camping in DOC parks along the way. It was raining lightly when we set out from Oamaru for Dunedin, with the threat of heavier rain later, but 2 clearing weather for the next few days. 58 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

We stopped briefly in Mosgiel for provisions then headed out was sold off, I think first as a single unit, but then properties were sold through the very pretty town of Outram, skirted along the foot of the off independently and some houses were moved away altogether. Maungatua Range to the virtual ghost town of Woodside and on to Berwick where the Waipori Gorge Road heads up into what eventually What remains today, and there is still plenty, is a sad change from becomes the Lammerlaws. the proud, pristine halcyon days of Council ownership. It seems to be a mix of holiday homes and cheap permanent residences. For instance, This is a spectacular, demanding gravel road that twists and turns a property advertised on Trade Me with an asking price of $85,000 has its way alongside the Waipori River up through an increasingly steep three bedrooms, is fully furnished and comes with a V8-powered jet boat! and narrow, bush-clad gorge. We drive around, feeling saddened by the obvious neglect of some Back when Dunedin was wealthy, powerful and had great vision, of the properties in such a stunningly beautiful part of the country. the city built a series of electricity power stations up here, fed from a We don’t see a single living human being, so head off for the dam and large dam and lake at the top – Lake Mahinerangi, originally set amidst the lake. the wild splendour of magnificent tussock country, but today largely surrounded by pine forest. Here Trustpower has locked everything up, but has established a picnic ground where some holiday makers have set up a small village In a fit of what many people at the time thought was absolute madness, of tents and caravans. the Dunedin City Council sold off the entire Waipori power scheme – dam, lake and the generating stations – to Trustpower during the ROCK AND PILLAR RANGE Max Bradford Electricity Reform, banking the millions of dollars but retaining the pine forests. We push on through increasingly heavy rain, cross the lake via the causeway and the Edgar Stark bridge (named after the bridge’s designer) While the drive up the lushly forested gorge requires maximum and detour to the old Waipori Cemetery to show the Navigator the attention, you can still get glimpses of the generating stations tucked memorial to Private Wilfred Victor Knight, the first ANZAC casualty into the bush. of Gallipoli that I wrote about last issue, and to visit the grave of old mate, Norman McCraw. When the Council owned Waipori there was a sizeable permanent staff and a village was established here, complete with dozens of small On SH87 I look across at the Lammerlaws and can’t see them under houses, a shop, fire station, hall, school and a swimming pool. This is a heavy blanket of cloud – “Hmmm, might be snowing in there,” I the township of Waipori Falls, clinging to the steep hillside, almost mutter to the Navigator and decide to take a quick return trip into invisible in the bush and you really need to take some time to explore Middlemarch, the centre of the region known as the Strath-Taieri. the side roads to appreciate the size of this remote settlement. On the way I see a large shining tube of aluminium in the schoolyard Today, modern hydro-dam management doesn’t require on-site staff of the long-closed – and remote – Shannon School. The school is now so the workers and the village became redundant decades ago and it a holiday home and the ‘tube’ is an American Airstream caravan! 1. Looking like angry triffids, this gathering of Spaniards needs to be treated with caution 2. In Middlemarch these horses were being given a training plod in readiness for the Cavalcade 3. The historic suspension bridge at Sutton was a work of art — until it was washed away by a flood shortly after the author took this photograph 3 59NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTHLAND Central Otago 4 Middlemarch, a low, sprawling town in the shadow of the Station before it heads up into the wilderness of the Lammerlaws. Up Rock and Pillar Range, is the meeting place of the Otago here you feel close to God – there’s nothing above you, only sky, and an Central Rail Trail and the Taieri Gorge Railway both of overwhelming sense of lonely beauty. A gentle breeze ruffled across the which have breathed fresh economic life into a town that top of the golden tussock while the fearsome, angry-looking Spaniards was going nowhere. stand stiffly to attention. There is serenity in this magic landscape – a serenity that was at the centre of the wind-farm argument a decade ago. The pub’s open and doing good business and we view the ‘Middlemarch Submarine’ outside the museum and have a Whenever I come this way I stop to look around an old Dunedin chat to a couple of Southern Blokes riding a large covered City Council trolley bus that was hauled to a small peninsula when wagon drawn by two handsome draught horses – “getting the Loganburn (a lake) was created in the early eighties as part of the them ready for the Cavalcade” we were told. Maniototo Irrigation Scheme. A Middlemarch man had plans to turn the trolley bus into a fishing hut but that never happened and, for the On the very last remaining section of the old Central past thirty-odd years, the trolley has sat there surviving the weather, Otago railway line is parked the dozen or so old carriages shotgun blasts and fires that have been lit inside her. She sits there from the Coastal Pacific passenger train that runs from Picton to Christchurch. These were replaced three or four years ago with very flash, upmarket units built at Hillside workshops in Dunedin just before the place closed. On the way back to Clarks Junction where the Dunstan Trail begins, we look around the area known as Sutton 5 where there was once an Army training base. We find a historic suspension bridge over the Taieri River and think seriously about taking the hour-long walk to the salt lake nearby, but decide the weather’s a bit tricky. The Sutton salt lake is the only one of its kind in New Zealand, a sort of mini-Utah Salt Flats. The land here is like much of Central Otago – dun-coloured and peppered with outcrops of schist rock. It’s spectacular. Near Clarks I decide there’s still too much low cloud and decide to make camp at the roadside and hope for better weather in the morning. I’ve been here before and got trapped by snow and don’t want a repeat. Morning is clear and quite chilly as I point the nose of the Pathfinder onto the Dunstan Trail, following the path of those early gold-miners who were of much hardier stock than me. With no snow, the bone-dry road is easy for the first 15km to Rocklands 60 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

defiantly – a curiosity in this harsh and beautiful land. Sadly, since my 6 last trip, someone has pulled her onto her side, apparently to get at her rear axle. I fume at such wanton vandalism and can only assume that 4. The Dunstan Trail winds its way over the top of the Lammerlaws, someone restoring a trolley bus needed the parts. At least they could while pylons feed power from the Roxburgh dam to the national grid have rolled her back upright. 5. Odd artefact at the Middlemarch Museum was lowered into the Taieri River, sharp end upstream, while men inside worked on the We stop here, savouring the beauty of the place and have brunch riverbed looking for gold! It was an idea that failed … before pushing on to the Styx (aka Paerau) at the southern end of the 6. Before the Loganburn dam was built as part of the Maniototo Maniototo Plains. Irrigation Scheme, this was the Great Moss Swamp – now a lake 7. Old Dunedin trolley bus vandalised and on its side at the time of Here there is a collection of buildings on private land including the this visit, but now back sitting on four wheels old Styx Hotel and jail. The Styx was an overnight stopping point on the way to Dunedin before heading over the trail. Police taking prisoners for trial used the pub, while their prisoners were locked with leg irons in the jail. The leg irons are still attached to the wall of the jail. The gate to the complex is open – I know the owner, Ewan Carr, so call in to see if he’s there. Ewan, along with painter Grahame Sydney, was amongst the leaders of the group opposed to the proposed wind- farm. Ewan’s not there. The Maniototo Plains were once arid, but home to large farms (runs) owned by well-established farming royalty. Today, irrigation has brought dramatic change – it’s lush and there are now dairy cows where once there were sheep and cattle. Many of the old farming family names remain. We decide on a quick detour some 60km to Ranfurly up through Patearoa – a small, attractive little town sweltering in the early afternoon sun – and find Ranfurly very busy with holidaymakers and Rail Trail riders. It was once an important railway town. Today the railway station contains the i-Site and public toilets, and the classic art-deco tearoom is a museum. We find an antique shop – The Curiosity Shoppe – in a brand-new building adjacent to the old loco shed on the outskirts of town. 7 61NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTHLAND Central Otago 8 With a few purchases made, fuelled up and with a shot of caffeine, we head back to Patearoa, the Styx and the second part of the Dunstan Trail. THE NEXT STAGE Much of the first leg of the trail – Clarks Junction to the Styx – is closed during the winter and so is the Styx to Poolburn dam section on the second leg. This ‘no winter use’ policy has paid-off because, while wreathed in mystique and legend, the Dunstan Trail is passable by pretty much any vehicle when the weather is dry – which is often. Styx to the Poolburn Dam presents the most demanding section of the Dunstan Trail – it’s steep, bumpy and rocky in places. You also have gates to open and close and there are a couple of fords but it’s worth it. Somewhere along here a track to the left leads to the famous Serpentine gold fields where the most remote church in New Zealand is to be found. I’m always tempted to find it, but each time I think about it I am reminded of warnings from locals of peat bogs and the advisability of travelling in convoy. In due course, we reach one of my most favourite places in New Zealand, the Poolburn Dam – one of several irrigation dams built in Central Otago in the first half of the 20th century and completed in 1929 – the tall narrow concrete dam flooding a wide, shallow basin dotted with tall blocks of schist. The result is the most spectacular landscape in New Zealand – the views are wide across the lake and countryside with some of the schist blocks poking their heads above water like miniature islands. The surrounding land is also covered with these huge outcrops of stone and dotted among them are dozens of huts – this is a rich fishing region. The native Koura (fresh water WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU Phone 03 441 0288 | www.parkresidence.co.nz Phone 03 441 0288 | www.thcnuggetpoint.co.nz 154 Arthurs Point Rd, Arthurs Point, Queenstown 9371 146 Arthurs Point Rd, Arthurs Point, Queenstown 9371 62 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

9 down into the southern corner of the Ida Valley where there was once crayfish) are so plentiful the limit is 50 per day per person. a small township called Moa Creek. All of the huts are old and many are ramshackle but much loved – Some of the filming of The Lord of the Rings was done in this area and notices say that the future refurbishment of any existing huts is now the Falconer family at Bonspiel Station offer tours with accommodation prohibited. This is a secret, spectacular, beautiful, surreal place at any in the old Moa Creek Hotel. It closed in 1974 in the era when pub licences time, but on a fine day without a cloud in the sky and no wind it is the were gold, and the licence was transferred to a new hotel in Whanganui. Garden of Eden. I’ve been here before and the old pub’s always been locked up. This And so it is today. Even though it’s only 3pm we decide this place is morning though, there are two vehicles outside – a red Ford Telstar just too breathtaking to leave so we drive off-road and down the slope and a Toyota Ute – and the front door is open. towards the lake, stopping in the lee of two huge schist monoliths, get out the deck chairs, the table, the barbeque and a bottle of wine. We stop, we alight and are met by a man coming out the door. He is short, scrawny, wearing farm clothes, a beanie on his head, a scrubble We go to bed early, content that we have found heaven. of beard and a stubby of Speights in his right hand. He has the brightest I wake early to look out and see the whole basin wreathed in mist, blue eyes that shine like spotlights from his weather-beaten face. He’s but as the sun rises, the mist burns off giving us another glorious day. Ash Pope and he’s worked on farms around Central Otago all his life. But we move on, now on a better maintained, all-year road that drops He’s currently helping the Falconers out at Bonspiel and opens and closes the pub when tourists are staying. Ash and I chew the fat and discover we both know a lot of people in common. He’s a good bugger and we talk for 30 minutes or so before we head into the pub and look around. The bar is as it was in 1974 and the place is clean and honest and colourful. So too is Ash. “I’m buggered. Had prostate cancer 12 years ago when I was 49. It’s come back, nothing can be done. I’ve got about another year. But I’ve had an extra 12 years,” he says. “Doctor keeps fussing, asks how much I drink – I tell him 12 to 15 bottles and some whiskies. The Doctor asks, ‘Is that a week?’ Nah, I tell him, each day.” I like Ash and could still be there, yarning to him but we need to get back on the road. I shake his hand, but really want to give him a hug and we head for Alexandra over the Crawford Hills through the farming district of Galloway and into town. 8. Hard-case Ash Pope kept the writer amused at the old Moa Creek hotel. Ash is facing terminal illness with great spirit 9. Looking for somewhere to get away from it all – this old shop in lovely Patearoa might be the answer 10. Halfway up the mountainside to Duffers Saddle and the Nevis, is the old gold-mining town of Carricktown – with Cromwell and Lake Dunstan miles below 10 63NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTHLAND Central Otago It’s hot and Alexandra is bursting at become a very fashionable ‘suburb’ of Cromwell and is the home of the seams. We have coffee and brunch many famous wineries. at the Tin Goose Café and I go next door to say hello to the folk at Classic We drive down Felton Road past Mount Difficulty, and at the end Gold Radio. Sam Neill’s vineyard, Two Paddocks, is serving lunch courtesy of the Flying Trestles catering company’s Airstream caravan to customers Owners Bill and Nola Willis are in seated at tables under the fruit trees. and so too is their new morning star – comedian and broadcaster Peter Rowley. Then we drive around to Cornish Point and more famous wineries. Peter’s been there for just three weeks Before we leave for the Nevis we go behind Bannockburn and visit – “It’s like coming home, the Rowleys the ruins of Stewart’s Cottage where there are the remains of an old come from Central – a lot of them at sluicing dam. On the way out we call in to have a look around the old Hawea,” he tells me. Bannockburn General Store where there is a copy of NZTODAY sitting outside for customers to read. They run a true blue, local community radio station and good on them. NOW FOR THE NEVIS CLYDE AND CROMWELL Like the Dunstan Trail, the second half of the Nevis is closed during the Moving on through Clyde, we catch winter to save unnecessary damage up with Andrea and David, who have from 4WD hooligans, but the drive finished their refurbishment of Olivers. in from both ends, Bannockburn Originally opened in the 1980s by the and Garston, is on reasonably well- legendary Fleur Sullivan, the Ritchies maintained roads – a mix of fine bought it empty six years or so ago 11 gravel and dirt. and started off by refurbishing and upgrading the accommodation to an incredibly high standard. With But instead of this, we opt for that completed, the restaurant is now open and at 11.30 in the morning the more challenging route via it was full to capacity. Carricktown and the ‘Young Australian’ – a waterwheel used There’s a lot of traffic on the road through the Cromwell Gorge by a gold mining company. This and the day is stunning. In Cromwell, Highlands Motorsport Park is is an 1870s Central Otago gold humming – tourists and holidaymakers pouring in to see if everything mining route at its harshest – the they’ve heard about this ‘miracle in the desert’ is true. It is. Since I track is almost vertical and barely finished establishing the museum there two years ago, more and more formed with huge, sharp-cornered attractions have been added. This place is unique and I’m proud to chunks of schist the size of footballs, have played a small part in its creation. deep wash-outs, sharp corners and steep drop-offs. We stop at the massive Jones Fruit Stall to buy cherries and dried apricots and head across to Bannockburn before travelling over the At times I can’t see which way hill and into the Nevis. Bannockburn is a pretty little village that’s the track goes over the snout of the Pathfinder. I gave its four-wheel- 12 drive system a real work-out as, for 64 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition an hour or more, we crept our way

up this rugged hillside, bouncing, lurching and crashing. in the Nevis (and elsewhere around the country) became ‘fair game’ At the top, as you look down on Cromwell and Lake Dunstan so far and were ruthlessly stripped of everything with any value. And once the roofs, doors and windows were gone, the weather got in and made below, you wonder at the stamina of the gold miners who built the stone short work of the mud-brick and schist buildings. huts whose remains are still evident, and who dug the numerous races that still carry water to orchards in Bannockburn. And what about the We find our favourite camping spot in the shelter of some huge rocks lunatics who lugged the Young Australian Waterwheel up the side of and by a deep and swirling pool in the Nevis River. Pioneer, the local this mountain? electricity company, had wanted to dam this river and flood this part of the valley, but the Environment Court refused permission to the The Nevis (Valley) is fantastic. It’s a vast high-altitude valley of two delight of many – including myself. halves, with the Garvie Mountains to the east and the Remarkables to the west, joined in the middle by a narrow gorge – the Upper Nevis Before we settled down for the night though, we barrelled along the and the Lower Nevis. road to catch up with Ken and Anne Adie who, apart from the Heaney family on Ben Nevis Station, come the closest to being the Nevis’s only Too cold, too harsh and too difficult for the Tangata Whenua, it was permanent residents. the Pakeha who first settled in the area – the first arriving about 1860 and the reason they came was gold! Between 1860 (or so) and the Great Ken Adie’s great-grandfather arrived in the Nevis from Scotland in Depression, the number of people who lived here reached as high as 1860 as a gold miner and Ken’s family still own the house his grandfather four or five thousand – some living alone working their claims and had built in 1898. Ken and Anne spend about six months of each year some in small scattered settlements with names as telling as North Pole. in the Nevis and the other six in Rangiora. The main settlement was Nevis and it boasted a pub, post office, Theirs is a fascinating story which I will tell in a subsequent issue general store, bakery, brewery, racecourse, rugby club and dozens of of NZTODAY. houses. The weather here is so harsh and extreme that many miners opted to leave in May and return in October. The Great Depression saw 11. Sam Neill’s Twin Paddocks vineyard with alfresco dining some of the married miners and their families move out while other 12. Historic mud-brick cottage and fruit trees at Stewart Town behind single men were ‘manpowered’ in! But there’s no doubt that the thirties Bannockburn. This was the centre of a successful business – building saw the end of Nevis as an established society. a dam and supplying water to the miners’ sluices down below 13. Once there was a small village here in the Nevis – now there are After World War Two, the shortage of roofing iron, plumbing, water just the remains of two cottages and a small lake tanks and other building supplies meant that the dozens of empty homes 13 HIGH COUNTRY JOURNEYS c1705kdHigh Drive from station to station and experience the HIGH COUNTRYFULLY CATERED 7 DAYS, 8 NIGHTS JOURNEYS majestic South Island High Country Fully Catered 7 days- 8 nights www.highcountryjourneys.co.nz • Self drive your own 4WD from Blenheim including Molesworth Station to Cardrona in Central Otago through a network of high country tracks. tDhreivme afrjoemstisc•• STt(tr3aSaa-yv6etoinvlieacuohtoiamctnlqehfousr)ite.taIotebsrleplsafaactrenmaw-dtisttihaoysHsmn. ialglearhfnuldlCy goueiudxendpttoeurrrygireounpsce • Self drive your ownN4WEWD f!ro6mdaByle-n7hneiimghtto“CCeanrdtrraolnOatiangCoe&ntMraal cOKtaengoziein”cclouduinntgry explorer Mfaromle-sswtaoyrsthaSntdatlioodngtehsr.o•ugTtohrauavrenslteaattwrtaoinrqkguoiienftehOrimgphaacrcaoemuwnaittrwhy itlsrlamaclakslosle.br•efuSaltlvayaygiliuanibdcleoedmfotfoorur2tra0gb1rl7oe/u1p8s. NEW! 6toduarysta-rFB7toiannrrgignfihuentryO“tshCmLeeaanrrtnairnmaefl,aoORrwtmDaigl1alo,at&RilsoAoMnNbacFecoUKaneRvtnaaLzicYliaetb:”lJecoofhuonnr t2Mr0y2ue0lxh/p2ol0ol2rl1earnd Phone 03 444 9703 Mobile 027 228 8152 For further informationIcnofnot@acht:igJohhcnouMnutlhroyljloanudrnBeayrns.ecyos.nLazne, RD1, Ranfurly Ph: 03 444 9703 or 02w7 2w2w8.8h1i5g2hceomuanilt:[email protected] 65NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTHLAND Central Otago The Navigator wakes me at some ungodly hour to ask pass. This is another of my favourite places. We are first there, but the time. “Why?” I grumble. “Look at the sky,” she replied. are shortly joined by five or six other vehicles. I do – it’s ten minutes to 11 and the sky just above the back of the Remarkables is still light from the setting sun. On one side we have Anne Stratford from Dunedin. Anne’s recently retired, bought herself a campervan and has just spent a week at Next morning heralds another brilliant day and we Mount Cook. On the other side are Juha and his wife – they’re from pack up and head for the southern end of the valley Finland and “escaping our -40 degree winters. We love New Zealand – where there are 25 river crossings in 24 kilometres. On always the South Island, never the North. This is our 15th year here.” the way we stop again at the Adie’s where Anne serves us morning tea with home baking from the coal range I am astounded! they keep burning 24/7. They spend four months a year here in the campervan, which they leave in Timaru. Juha is a computer programmer and is able The climb out of the Nevis is as sensational as the route to continue his work while in New Zealand thanks to the Internet. in – you feel you should be in an aircraft! Juha is unashamedly a ‘greenie’. The time he spends here allows him to get involved in environmental issues. He was involved in We meet an Invercargill family – mum, dad and stopping the damming of the Mokihinui River on the West Coast, 13-year-old son – who are off for a three-day tramp was involved in getting made public a secret report into pollution in the mountains and we feel guilty. Then it’s a young of rivers and streams on Molesworth Station, and now he’s worried Swiss man having his lunch at the side of the road while about plans to dam the Hurunui River for vineyard irrigation in he contemplates his mountain pushbike, which has North Canterbury. developed chain problems – “I think I have to go back, 14 “He’s too much of an activist,” says his wife. “One day he will not otherwise it will break entirely.” get a visa …” I hope not. We need more Juhas. We feel even more guilty because we’re driving. Next morning we’re reluctant to get up, pack up and get out, but Garston, at the foot of the hill, is – apparently – New Zealand’s home, Oamaru, is just 90 minutes away, so we dawdle along in the most inland town. It should just be a place you drive through, but an blaze of colour in the Lindis provided by the millions of lupins, enterprising French woman has made it a stop. stopping in Omarama for brunch at the excellent Wrinkly Rams Café. ‘Bene’ (short for Benedictine) and her husband, Tony Sparks, live It’s an easy drive down the Waitaki Valley to Chez Dick in Oamaru here and years back they bought the art-deco hotel turning it into a where there are lawns to be mowed – and a story to be written. place of charm and style. They had a sign outside proudly proclaiming the hotel did not have pokies. I thought that was classy. But they 14. A national disgrace. At Kingston the sold it to focus on another enterprise, and since then the pub went famous Flier and its environs are tatty, run- backwards. So much so, that it closed and there was a hunt on to down and rotting away find someone who could restore it to its former glory. Bene bought the old garage across the road from the pub where she now operates a very, very stylish gallery and a honey shop. Garston is small, but there’s a really good feel about the place – it’s neat and tidy with first class public toilets and fantastic tourist information boards. There’s plenty to show that someone really cares about Garston – and I suspect Bene is that person. With the pub closed, there was no food in Garston – until Sharon and Mark Ford arrived and set up their B&B. They also have a wonderful roadside diner based in yet another Airstream caravan. I have a Garston Monster burger, the Navigator has an American hot dog and we sit in the sun and devour them. From there, we head on and stop in Kingston where I weep and wail, gnashing my teeth with rage over greed and stupidity at the sight of the Kingston Flier steam train, locked up and decaying. This is a disgrace and someone needs to step in, declare the train a national treasure and bang some heads together. Traffic is heavy up the side of Lake Wakatipu and at Frankton I easily resist any temptation to turn left for a visit to Queenstown. Like many Otago-ites I find modern Queenstown an alien place. So it’s through the Kawarau Gorge, past Cromwell, heading for our last night by the ruins of the old Lindis Pass Hotel, deep in the This beautifully restored 1899 Heritage Hotel on main street historic Clyde offers a unique boutique bed and breakfast experience. Stay at Dunstan House in the comfort and elegance of yesteryear and discover Clyde’s hidden treasures, the wineries, restaurants and galleries all set amid a rich gold mining history. The perfect venue for special occasions, functions and weddings. The ambience of the building combines easily with the licensed café and bar featuring local foods and wines. Boutique Accommodation & Licensed Café • 29 Sunderland Street, Clyde, Central Otago, New Zealand +64 03 449 2295 | [email protected] | www.dunstanhouse.co.nz 66 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

Ride the Rail Trail with 3 mates during Spring and save. Experience the pioneering heritage and stunning natural landscape of the iconic OfOivtpeaegdnoaayClsleyoneftarcarylrcRoliauninlgdT, r,watihal,lekNiOnegwtaogZroehaColaernsndet’rsraidol RirniaggiilnoTanrlarsilaaihfleatrsaainitldaolpel ea–nsfyototurracitylosc.lists, walkers or Choormseeraidnedrseoxfpalollreagoeusrtowiednejooyp. en spaces and stunning scenery. EBxapcekpriaecnkceerso,ubrupnikohnoeuesreinsg, luhxeurirtyagloedignecsluadnindgplheinsttoyroicf epautbesr,iegsosltdrung out along the trail, mallinfainmgosuitsefso, ratnhdiegrrseoaut tkhiwerinhhoossppitiataliltiytyt,hcroomugbhinoeutt.o make your visit unforgettable. 1S5ta2rtkpilolamnneitnegrsyoofusrptericptancouwla:r cycling starts right here: www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz 67NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 1 68 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

TISHLEAGNRDERAOTASDOTURTIHP You have 10 days to see the best that the South Island has to offer; can it possibly be done? Allan Dick has the answer to that. Story + Photos Allan Dick 69NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 2 bit of everything that makes the South Island so special. Is this ‘The South Island’s Greatest Road Trip’? I think it is. In fact, I A couple of years back a survey of international travelers asked what destination they would like to see before they died. Pretty grim think it is New Zealand’s Greatest Road Trip. way of putting the question, but the results were interesting. In order of preference they were, the Grand Canyon, Queensland’s LEAVING QUEENSTOWN Coral Reef and the South Island of New Zealand. That puts us in pretty exalted company and ahead of things like the My advice is to get out of Queenstown after a couple of days because Great Wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru. the place is so captivating and such a trap that there is the danger of spending all of your time – and money – there. Instead, save a bit of Are you surprised? South Islanders won’t be because we are well both for the end of your trip. aware of the incredible beauty of this place – a land mass about the size of England but with a population of only one million compared to 56 Many older New Zealanders don’t like the modern Queenstown – too million! That leaves an awful lot of the South Island for the mountains, big, too flashy, too commercial they say. They preferred it when you lakes, rivers, forest and remote beauty for which we are famous. could arrive in town without a traffic jam all the way from Frankton, drive over the humpback bridge into what is now the mall, and find easy Each year, I get about 60 to 80 enquiries from people saying, “I’m parking down by the waterfront. coming to the South Island for 14 days later this year, do you have any suggestions as to what I should see?” In those days one of the most popular attractions was free – watching the fleet of enormous and almost-tame trout off the wharf. Back then Well, there is so much – from the grandeur of the Marlborough Sounds, the Lady of the Lake, the TSS Earnslaw, was a grubby working-class to the West Coast, to the Catlins, to Stewart Island and everything in ship, carrying sheep, bales of wool and sacks of fertiliser to all points of between – but there is really no show of experiencing it all in just 14 the lake only accessible by water. Captain Frank, immaculate in crisply days. Unless you drive like a speed racer. ironed white shirt and shorts with matching long socks, tennis shoes and skipper’s hat, drove the futuristic Meteor; the picture theatre had a roof I’ve thought about this for a long time and have had a route (or a loop) that opened up to the night skies to keep patrons cool; and Buckhams in mind for quite a while. In late autumn I set aside six days to do it. made the local fizzy drinks. A meal out consisted of steak, eggs, onions and chips at a local hash foundry. The loop, with a couple of side trips, encompasses everything that the South Island is famous for – from the soaring heights of the Southern That was several yesterday’s ago. Today’s Queenstown is vast by alps, the breathtaking beauty of our native bush, remote and mysterious comparison. Its growth is breathtaking and there seems to be no end fiords (or sounds), the harsh starkness and energy of Central Otago, the to it. In many ways, Queenstown has become the engine room of the lakes, rivers and streams, and the gothic charm of Dunedin and Ōamaru. South Island economy. While this loop could start at any point of the journey, for this exercise I I decided to do the side trip to Te Anau first, hitting the road to cross opted to begin (and end) in Queenstown – it is, after all, our most famous the sweeping new bridge at Frankton and down the side of Lake Wakatipu tourist attraction. The loop goes from Queenstown back to Queenstown, to Kingston where the overflow from Queenstown are creating their via Alexandra, Dunedin, Ōamaru, the Waitaki Valley, the Lindis Pass, own mini boom. Here though I was heartened to see some progress Wanaka and Arrowtown, with side trips to Aoraki/Mount Cook out of has been made on getting the historic steam train Kingston Flyer back Ōmarama and either Milford or Doubtful Sound out of Queenstown. on the tracks. I set out on this trip at midday on a Monday and completed it at 6.00pm on the following Saturday having covered 2106 kilometres and seen a 70 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

The drive from Kingston to Te Anau is through rolling farmland with a few towns along the way – like Garston (awesome southern roasted coffee found at The Coffee Bomb!), Athol and Mossburn – but you get the ‘big sky’ feeling for which most of the South Island is famous. Sweeping mountains to both sides with farmland in between. And few people. Te Anau remains unspoiled despite the close to one million visitors who pass through or stay in a year. It’s still pretty much what Queenstown used to be when Captain Frank was at the helm of the Meteor. From Te Anau, you can look west across the lake and see the dark, mysterious and brooding bulk of the mountains of Fiordland National Park. This is the edge of civilisation – beyond here there is nobody, except a few hardy hunters and trampers. Maybe the legendary Lost Tribe and maybe strange beasts such as moose – recently re-sighted after many years of questionable existence. 3 In Te Anau you can make a decision – Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound or further afield to the lesser known fiords such as Dusky Sound and Preservation Inlet. A fisherman based in the sounds 1. Aoraki / Mount Cook (the Cloud Piercer), New once said to me, “Dusky Sound is the best, but access is bit more limited. Zealand’s tallest mountain. Breathtaking But if Dusky is a 10, Doubtful is an eight and Milford is a six.” 2. Think Queenstown and one of the first things to Doubtful is accessed from Manapouri, 20 minutes further along the come to mind is the grand old ‘Lady of the Lake’, the road, via a boat ride across the lake and a bus ride over Wilmot Pass Earnslaw. She began life as a working ship but now is to the head of the sound where the good ship Wanganella was based very much a gracious work of art during the construction of the tailrace tunnel for the Manapouri power 3. Milford Sound is spectacular – whether it’s raining station. There are day cruises on Doubtful Sound, but I took an overnight or the sun is shining. Rain creates waterfalls – millions of them one instead, and it remains one of my most memorable experiences. Post Covid-19 cruise options will be less – but well worth seeking out. On this trip I was using a two-berth camper van on a Ford Transit chassis and I opted to drive to Milford Sound simply because this is one of the really great drives in the world. Don’t rush it, take the chance to stop at all the scenic stops (there will be no buses just now) and soak in the sounds, sights and smells of nature at its best. Milford Sound has started to earn itself a reputation as “over-crowded”, however this is only at certain times of the day. Turn up early in the morning or arrive later in the afternoon and you could have the place to yourself. And with the prospect of no international visitors in the near future this jewel in the crown is a must-see for every New Zealander. @monarchwildlife ph: 0800 666 272 25% OFF wildlife.co.nz ONLINE BOOKINGS use code: NZTODAY est. 1983 royal albatross - fur seals - blue & yellow-eyed penguins - larnach castle 71NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 5 You can take a cruise or not, there are also options for sea kayaking, said “come here” as you would a puppy. He came towards me a metre diving and scenic flights. You’d be crazy not to take advantage of all or so and then slipped behind a tree to play hide and seek with me – this on your road trip! popping his head out to see if I was still there as he moved from tree to tree. Eventually he got tired of the game, toddled off into the dark, There is no way I would recommend staying in Queenstown if you and I went back to my meal. want to ‘do’ Milford Sound. Pre Covid-19 each day was a veritable non-stop procession of tour buses departing Queenstown jammed with The next morning I woke to the sound of light rain on the roof of my passengers who, I am sure, aren’t really aware of what they are in for – a camper. In all of the times I have been to Milford Sound I have never 20-hour day! Staying in Te Anau or Manapouri makes so much more experienced rain, but instead of cursing, I was joyous. I have been told, sense – only two hours to Milford Sound – but the tourist industry many times, that when it is raining, you see waterfalls. seems hell-bent on maintaining Queenstown as its major jump-off point for non-self-drive holidaymakers. And you do – thousands of them. Traffic was light. I struck the Homer Tunnel lights on green and had There is accommodation in Milford Sound – at the Milford Sound a sensational drive into Milford – the rain, waterfalls, low cloud and Lodge – and it is a pleasure to stay; great food and coffee, boutique the slightly primeval feel made this a very special drive. cabins if you want a bit of luxury otherwise powered sites tucked into The stunning Hollyford Valley is no longer accessible following native bush. I’m a self-driver so I headed out on the Milford Road devastating flooding in February 2020 resulting in the legendary and and stopped off at the first of the half dozen excellent Department of historic Gunn’s Camp being destroyed, the road and Hollyford Track Conservation camps along the way. being washed out with trapped tramper’s being evacuated by helicopter from hut rooves. It was dark as I organised my evening meal and prepared to eat at Back in Te Anau the rain had stopped. I made a quick trip to the outdoor BBQ table – my illumination being one of those lights you Manapouri – arguably New Zealand’s most stunning lake, and back wear on your forehead. before retracing my steps back to Queenstown, spending my night with other ‘vanners’ at a spot the council have set aside just past Kingston I was focused on eating when I became aware of a noise to my left. I on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. turned my head and there was a fully grown possum, just a metre away, Up and on the road again early next morning and down through helping himself to one of my ciabatta rolls. And he was in no hurry the Kawarau Gorge. to leave. He just looked at me, his eyes shining red in my headlight, Once a rugged, lonely drive through spectacular and harsh country munching away. with rocky mountains to one side and the turbulent Kawarau River on the other, today it’s the host of many tourist activities including bungee When he did finally leave the table, he just ambled away clutching jumping, wine tasting, beer and cheese tasting. the roll in his left paw! So, I looked around for any of his family and spotted a small bloke on the ground just looking at me. I squatted, clicked my fingers and Phone 03 441 0288 146 Arthurs Point Rd Arthurs Point Queenstown 9371 www.thcnuggetpoint.co.nz 72 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

You emerge from the gorge into even more vineyards. This is Cromwell Alexandra’s role as the capitol of Central Otago is being taken over – once just a town that served the local farmers and orchardists but today slowly by Cromwell, but it remains an attractive, easy-to-live-in town a place that is rapidly becoming the working capital of Central Otago. with plenty of opportunities for day drives such as up the Ida Valley to places like Ōmakau, Ranfurly and Ōtūrēhua. The change began with the building of the controversial Clyde dam in the late seventies and eighties when Cromwell became the base for I could live in Alex’… as it is called. workers; a new town centre was built as the old one was to be drowned by the new lake. 6 5. Rain creates the waterfalls for which Milford Sound is famous. To get Since then, Cromwell has taken on a new life almost as the service a scale of this you need to look at the bus in the lower right hand corner centre for both Queenstown and Wanaka, but also as the centre of the 6. A side trip off the Milford Road into the Hollyford Valley will bring you burgeoning viticulture area which continues to expand. And expand. to Gunn’s Camp — sadly it has been badly damaged y floods since this photograph was taken. But in recent years, Scottish pet-food millionaire Tony Quinn has 7. NZ Fur Seal – once hunted to near extinction now a common sight given Cromwell another reason to expand, taking over a project to create on rocky outcrops in Milford and Doubtful Sounds a motor racing circuit – and 30 million dollars later, Cromwell has a facility that is world class. But Highlands Motorsport Park is more than just a motor racing circuit; it is an experience in excellence with a car museum, a café, car sculptures, wild rides and dinosaurs in the forest. All of this has made Cromwell a perfectly acceptable address with the upwardly mobile. For me, the old part of Cromwell and nearby Bannockburn are my favourite places. At the east end of the Cromwell Gorge is the very pretty and historic town of Clyde – get rid of the cars, spread some gravel on the main street and it could be 1867. But Clyde too is on the move, with an expanding suburbia and a twin to the main street. Olivers, the famous restaurant started by ‘Fleur’, is back in business and as good as it’s ever been under the ownership of David Ritchie and his wife. David is solid Otago stock being of the family that launched (NMA) National Mortgage and food wholesalers J Rattray and Co back in the 19th century. You are hardly into top gear before you are in the broad streets of Alexandra that, compared to Queenstown, Cromwell and Clyde, remain ‘unspoiled’ and the way Central used to be. 7 73NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 8 START YOUR RIDES FROM TODAY – YES TODAY! BECAUSE WE ARE ALL ABOUT YOU 25 Holloway Street, Historic Clyde email: [email protected] Ph: 0800 245 366 NZ Freephone Ph: 1800 446 356 Australian Freephone www.bikeitnow.co.nz 74 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

9 10 The drive from Alexandra to the even more ‘unspoiled’ Roxburgh is pure Central Otago – barren, harsh, a landscape strewn with schist 8. Central Otago has, in just a few decades, become rock where every tree is an immigrant. Blindingly hot in the summer a producer of some of New Zealand’s best wines and one of the coldest areas in New Zealand in the winter, the road is 9. The mighty Clyde dam with Lake Dunstan which often closed by snow. stretches for kilometres behind it. It was created I overnighted in the camper at Butchers Dam – a freedom-camping amidst a storm of controversy over the unstable area for self-contained vehicles on the shore of a man-made lake. There nature of the surrounding land and the loss of so were half a dozen others there, but we were so scattered that privacy much of the landscape was ensured. No possums, but there was wildlife in the form of several 10. The fruit sculpture at Cromwell was created armies of rabbits, as well as ducks on the lake. before the arrival of grapes The night was magical – the moon was out, there was snow on the 11. Central Otago is dotted with ruins and nearby Old Man Range and ice forming around the edges of the lake. reminders of the gold-mining history of the region. I almost had tears in my eyes with the beauty of the place. I rugged This is near Bendigo up – beanie, gloves, scarf and heavy jacket – and took a glass of vin rouge outside for 30 minutes of reverie listening to the ducks gurgling the gym the following week, so in honour of my old best mate I flew to each other, and I toasted this blessed country. to his funeral in Auckland and met his daughter Audrey. Shortly after Two years ago, I renewed contact with my very best mate at high that she moved south and now owns Lye Bow Gardens on the shores school, Brian Murray Smith. Unbelievably, Smithy dropped dead at of Butchers Dam and the adjacent Lake Roxburgh. The property was established by a Chinese man, Lye Bow, in 1860 as vegetable garden and orchard and became famous for the produce. Today, Audrey runs it as a Bed and Breakfast and has adapted well to the climate and the beauty of the place. I arrived too late and left too early to see Audrey, so headed for Roxburgh, making a short detour off the main highway to visit spectacular Mitchell’s Cottage. This is a superb example of the stone mason’s art using Central Otago schist. The place is owned by DOC, is unoccupied but open 24/7 and is well worth a visit. If you have a 4WD vehicle you can continue up the road – which becomes almost vertical – and find yourself on the top of the Old Man Range which is as bald as an egg save for amazing five-storey-tall plinths of schist. Roxburgh is a fifties time-warp, unchanged since the crews pulled out after constructing the Roxburgh hydro. Again, like Alexandra, it has a main street that is super wide and here you can find the home of South-Island-famous Jimmy’s Pies. Thinking nothing of my figure I bolted down a standard Jimmy’s Mince followed by a cream bun the size and shape of a rugby ball. Truth is, I really organised this trip just so I could have the cream bun. From there I crossed the Clutha River – now free and untamed in its way to the Pacific after being trapped behind the giant Roxburgh dam – to follow the parallel road down the other side of the river; I wanted to see the remains of the largest woolshed in the world at Teviot and have a coffee at the new café established in the old Faigan’s Four Square store in Miller’s Flat. I also wanted to drive the Millennium Track from Millers Flat to Beaumont to see the Lonely Graves and the amazing Horseshoe Bend swing-bridge – the latter is a bit of a walk, but worth it. This track follows the old Lawrence–Roxburgh railway line and is a bit rough in places, so if you’re nervous, stick to 11 the main road down through Dumbarton. 75NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie I rejoined the main road at my misspent youth, messing around in dangerous old V8 cars and Beaumont where there must be the chasing girls, mostly without any success. oldest and most rickety bridge in New Zealand on a State Highway. And it’s And on to Dunedin. I know it’s my old hometown, but Dunedin is my in a state of constant repair. favourite city in New Zealand. It’s home to only 110+ thousand people and the weather can be unpredictable, but it’s sized just right to retain a The pub at Beaumont is owned by strong sense of identity and community, and, more than any other city a progressive fellow who hails from in New Zealand, it has long learnt to treasure its heritage. Iceland. He also runs the adjacent camping ground. There is so much to see and do here – just stroll the main streets looking at the original stone buildings, the churches, and soaking up It’s here the landscape begins to the atmosphere. Dunedin used to be Scottish-Presbyterian-staid, but change from pure Central Otago to in the past 25 years it has blossomed into a beautiful place with a café the lush green of South Otago. and restaurant life that’s on a par with Wellington as consistently the best in New Zealand. I stopped and moseyed around Lawrence for a couple of hours. I love Dunedin was once the wealthiest city in New Zealand, and that wealth Lawrence – a former gold-mining is still clearly evident in the huge number of amazing homes that line town, it is full of history, old buildings, many of the streets. You can spend a couple of days just cruising the old shops and tree-lined streets. It’s streets marveling at these homes. And there is also Otago Harbour and in a valley, so it’s cold in the winter, Otago Peninsula – home to spectacular views, experiences and wildlife. often with an inversion layer trapping smoke from the wood fires. At one 12 stage Lawrence was almost a ghost town with just one or two shops left open. Today, it’s been discovered by tourists, but without becoming overdone or too commercial. Lawrence is famous for being where God Defend New Zealand was written, and as the place where two lions escaped from a visiting circus and had to be shot by constable Mike Lodge in the dark of the night. It’s also the place where a disgruntled farmer once dropped a load of manure onto the steps of the local council offices to show his annoyance over some matter. From there it’s a pleasant run through green, hilly farmland to SH1 and the town of Milton, once a thriving industrial town and the home of the Bruce Woollen Mills. But that’s long gone and today Milton, famous for its kink in the main street, is a quiet rural community. Instead of following SH1 all the way from Milton to Dunedin, I stopped at Waihola and visited the broad but shallow lake and wondered again why it hasn’t become a major holiday destination for Dunedinites. I then headed over the hill to the fishing and holiday village of Taieri Mouth and the spectacular coastal drive to my old stomping ground of Brighton where I allowed myself to wallow in nostalgia, remembering 13 76 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

And Larnach Castle – possibly the best known ‘home’ in New Zealand. 14 I know Dunedin like the back of my hand, so I only stopped here 12. The Lonely Graves on the Millennium Trail between Millers Flat one night, staying with friends, before heading north to my present and Beaumont hometown of Ōamaru. 13. Lawrence, on the border between Central and South Otago, was the scene of a significant gold rush when the metal was discovered by Again I detoured off SH1, heading first for Port Chalmers, an interesting Gabriel Read. Today it is making a comeback as a quaint tourist town and historic place to have a mooch around, then over to Waitati past the 14. The statue of Scottish poet Robbie Burns in the Octagon, gives a Orokonui Ecocentre before taking the Coast Road through Seacliff and clue as to where Dunedin’s early settlers came from Karitane – such a pleasant drive with sensational coastal views. Back onto SH1 and up through Palmerston and Hampden, stopping off to visit both Moeraki and the Boulders (each has its separate road) which are worthwhile detours. Moeraki itself is a picturesque fishing village and home to ‘Fleurs’ – no apostrophe – and it will take you back to what seaside villages were like in the fifties. Maybe even the twenties. The Moeraki Boulders are simply weird! Hampden is a small town that straggles along SH1 and it has what seems to be a constantly changing speed limit. Vanessa’s Café is worth the visit just for Steve’s handmade pies. Waianakarua is the home of the famous Millhouse – a once empty and abandoned stone flour mill which was rescued, restored and turned into accommodation and a restaurant by two gay characters from Dunedin called Bill and Ben. It’s a beautiful place to stay. Here, I turned off again to follow the coastal drive through Kakanui to arrive in Ōamaru via the back door. But again, because I know the place and didn’t tarry more than an overnight break at home. Ōamaru flies below the proverbial radar. It’s a town that has never really discovered the confidence to market itself properly – and yet it should. Most of Ōamaru’s assets are hidden away from the main drive through on SH1, but get off SH1 and you will be as astonished as I was when I first discovered it. 77NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

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15 The town’s old commercial centre – ‘abandoned’ when the main to drive along the northern side of the lake to reach the top of the third shopping centre was moved north – mostly remains in original condition dam, the massive Benmore, made of packed earth. – traditional Ōamaru Stone (limestone) buildings on a grand scale, and narrow streets all just reeking of turning back the clock a century The views from up there are staggering. or more. Here are artists and artisans, beer makers and steampunkers, Then it was back to the main road at the former hydro construction all of whom your average Oamaruvian doesn’t even pretend to know. town of Otematata and on to Ōmarama (‘the place of light’). You are now in the vast Mackenzie basin where irrigation has brought many Victoriana, steampunk, penguins – and the world-famous Riverstone changes – including grass and dairy cows. Kitchen – are what make Ōamaru so special. But it’s easy to miss and Ōmarama is a small, pleasant junction town where you can turn the charms of the town are, sadly, still largely promoted in a way that left to Central Otago via the Lindis Pass, or right into the heart of is too modest. A must-see part of it is Ōamaru Harbour, a ‘Victorian’ the Mackenzie country. I turned right as my destination was Aoraki/ harbour bounded on two sides by coastline and, on the other, by Mount Cook. two artificial moles or breakwaters with just a narrow entrance. It is Actually, I made a bit of a sprint of it and went to Tekapo first, because painfully picturesque. I firmly believe it is destined to be our next ‘Queenstown’. I saw a huge new supermarket that had been opened and a new observatory that’s From Ōamaru, head north up SH1 briefly then abruptly turn inland well on the way to being completed. There were hordes of tourists around up the Waitaki Valley. the Church of the Good Shepherd, and construction sites everywhere. Yep, 10 years and Tekapo will be Queenstown all over again. If Ōamaru is a bit of a secret, then the Waitaki Valley is For Your Eyes I found a side road leading from near Tekapo to the northern side Only, in spy-talk. Take your time as you move from lush, irrigation-fed of Lake Pūkākī, but unless you are looking for adventure, stick to the dairying country, through small towns and villages to a landscape that main road. is as harsh as that of Central Otago. I was astounded to find a small hut at the side of this road with a plaque on the door proclaiming it to be a roadworker’s hut dated 1914! There is plenty to see and do: detours to the weird and wonderful And it’s occupied! A big smiling face opens the door to reveal a tiny, Elephant Rocks, Māori cave art, Campbell Park the grand baronial house but cosy interior with just enough room to swing a cat. Fire burning, at Otekaike, and some spectacular limestone rock formations. There are also three giant hydro dams – the first built in the Great Depression 15. The coast south of Ōamaru is home to the famous when conditions led directly to the creation of New Zealand’s trend- Moeraki Boulders which sit on the beach, while nearby setting social welfare system, and the Kurow museum pays tribute to Shag Point is home to a more ‘rustic’ type of boulder this history. 79NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition You are now in the midst of a wine-growing region that’s almost as secret as the valley itself, but fine wines are produced here. Kurow is also the secret host to one of the best cafés in New Zealand – Waitaki Braids. This is Captain Richie McCaw country. The next hydro dam is Aviemore, and here I detoured over the dam

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 16 candles lit, meal just eaten. He’s a man ‘finding himself ’. He’s a squatter. ahead most of the journey. “Stay the night. Park up man,” he exhorted. I politely said “thanks, I stopped at the midway point – Glentanner, where there are tourist but I’ve gotta keep moving.” activities and accommodation – to say “thanks for the offer of a campsite, We shot the breeze for 10 minutes before I moved on – it was time but my travel plans have altered.” This is a lovely setting and not as crowded as Mount Cook can get. to find a spot to park up the camper for the night. There were plenty of approved sites for overnighting. I found one in Mount Cook village was basking in warm sunshine, so I headed for the huge Hermitage Hotel and had a coffee in the café. The tourist season the dark and woke next morning to a glorious sight – the sun was out, was at its end and there was no overcrowding this trip. the lake mirror-like and Aoraki/Mount Cook was gleaming. I was up and at ’em and on the road, turning off to head up the southern side I headed back to the main road (SH8) towards Ōmarama but detoured of Lake Pūkākī – a magnificent drive with the ‘target’ visible directly off to have a brief look at Twizel. This was where the work force for the 17 giant Upper Waitaki power scheme was based, 80 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition but unlike most other construction towns, it remained after the colossal job ended. It still looks like a power scheme town – in an ill-fitting ball gown – but people like it for its access to lakes, rivers and mountains, and it’s booming as a holiday town for ordinary Kiwis. It’s also a main base for the Alps to Ocean (A2O) cycle trail. I decided to not make the short detour to Ōhau township and headed direct to Ōmarama where I girded my loins with a second coffee for the day at the famous Wrinkly Rams Café. This is Big Sky country before heading into the magnificent Lindis Pass – a superb 100km ‘alpine’ drive through mountains to Central Otago. I have done this trip many, many times, but never tire of it. It’s a high-density traffic route through mostly isolated country splendid in its ruggedness. The Lindis Pass is one of the highlights of this odyssey. At the other end I turned off at Tarras, a pleasant little hamlet and home of Shrek (the famous sheep), and headed for Wanaka.

18 Wanaka is a more-grounded ‘Queenstown’ – it’s got an open feel to it to the outside world by road – before that the good ship Earnslaw was with stunning views from the town right up the lake. You can still get the way in and out. Despite much of the road now being lined with an idea of what Wanaka was like before international tourism, from multi-million dollar lifestyle blocks, there’s still an edge-of-the-world the traditional Four Square Store in the main street. feel to Glenorchy – a picturesque little village. I headed for the bakery and scoffed a pie and a cream donut before I called to see Dave Smith whose father Laurie arrived in the town going in search of the ‘Wanaka Tree’ – a small willow that’s been growing in the Great Depression as a scheelite miner. But then he opened a out of the lake for decades but which has become an international workshop repairing tractors and trucks and later bought a diesel generator celebrity after a photo went viral. Locals wonder what all the fuss is about. to become the Electricorp of Glenorchy, supplying power to the town. I left Wanaka behind and headed up a long, slow climbing road to Dave runs Glenorchy Motors, his father’s original business, but he Cardrona and its famous pub. What goes up must come down, and was out delivering a load of rock to a new subdivision. Multi-tasking shortly after Cardrona village the road peaks, with spectacular views is what Glenorchy is all about. out over the whole Arrowtown basin. This is ‘gulp’ material. Camp Glenorchy is a new place in the town. Built by a wealthy The road down is slow, winding and full of hairpins. For decades American, it’s a combination of hotel, motel and camping ground. I this road – the Crown Range – was automatically closed each winter was given a tour of the place by a young woman who turned out to because of snow and ice. But pressure from Cardrona ski field developer come from my hometown Ōamaru! The place is stunning, and if you John Lee in the eighties saw an all-weather road constructed and it’s wonder what happened to a lot of the demolition building material now open all year round. out of Christchurch, here is your answer. This complex is 75 per cent recycled material, with most of it coming from Christchurch after the Returning to what felt like sea level after the giddy heights of the Crown earthquakes. Range, I was back into heavy traffic, turning off to visit Arrowtown. I have a mate who lives here – Bob Grubb – and I found him sitting Although the town has virtually been rebuilt in recent years, it’s been in the sun at his home reading the Death Notices in the Otago Daily rebuilt ‘in period’ and is prettier than a picture. Times, something that you do at our time in life, to see who you know that has fallen off the perch. I pointed the nose of the van up the trail leading to the remote gold- mining area of Macetown; not for me this trip, I decided, but I did take a 16. Ōamaru is a Victorian-flavoured town with the best collection of stroll through the partially restored remains of the village where Chinese unrestored Victorian buildings in New Zealand. This is Harbour Street gold miners lived in the nineteenth century – an interesting place. 17. Elephant Rocks – a spectacular limestone formation near Duntroon in the Waitaki Valley. Then I was back where I started and I stayed with a mate in Queenstown, The area is noted for its limestone formations with just one more mission to accomplish – a trip to Glenorchy at the 18. The Wanaka tree. The most famous tree in New Zealand. Like head of Lake Wakatipu. those at Glenorchy, it’s grown from a willow fence post Next morning, before heading up the lake I explored old Queenstown 81NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition and new Queenstown – to be honest, there is a sense of excitement about the place. The Earnslaw now gleams and glistens, Captain Frank and the Meteor have been replaced by two-person devices that howl across the lake in a spray of water, and there’s a general feel of ‘it all happens’ here. It’s only in comparatively recent times that Glenorchy has been linked

SOUTH ISLAND Allan Dick’s Great Roadie 19 We nattered away for 30 minutes and then I was back on the road to grasped the concept of ‘freedom camping’ for self-contained RVs and Queenstown for another look round before making tracks for home have designated some prime spots. base in Ōamaru. Next morning, I was back home in Ōamaru. I still recall the pleasure of that drive home to Ōamaru. Of course I had seen wilderness, vast open spaces, wildlife, rivers, lakes and I ran into darkness, and this time I parked up in a designated spot, streams, gothic cities and towns. In short, I had captured the flavour along with a couple of dozen others, alongside Lake Dunstan between of the South Island. Cromwell and Tarras. I’m impressed by way most councils have now 19. The Lindis Pass – a 20 sensational drive through low alpine country that can be blocked with snow and ice in the winter. Much of the landscape takes the form of a gently folded felt blanket 20. It’s only in reasonably recent years that Glenorchy has been accessible by road. Prior to that the Earnslaw – run by New Zealand Railways – was the only means of transport in and out 82 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

Explore Fiordland Spoil yourself on a relaxing Overnight Cruise or a 5 nights charter to Dusky Sound • Awesome scenery and amazing wildlife • Small ship – friendly and knowledgeable crew • Fishing for your dinner • Kayaking to explore up close Phone 0508 888 656 or +64 3 249 9005 Email [email protected] Web fiordlandexpeditions.co.nz fiordlandexpeditions.co.nz NZ ADVENTURES BACK COUNTRY TOURS NZ Adventures, the long established four wheel drive back country tour operation is again offering five different tours in the 2020-21 season throughout the South Island and the dates for these trips have been set. The tours are: HIGH COUNTRY HERITAGE A six day (seven in March) tour from Blenheim to Cardrona with overnights in Hanmer Springs, Methven, Fairlie, Omarama and Cromwell. The route of this most popular trip follows the eastern foothills of the Alpine Divide along the 1200 km trip. WEST COAST EXPLORER A 5 day tour starting in Hanmer Springs with overnights in Murchison, Westport, Reefton and finishing in Greymouth. 46 SOUTH NZ Adventures most popular tour follows an imaginery line across the far south from the Catlins to Fiordland before turning north to end in Cromwell EASTERN EXPLORER From Geraldine to Alexandra this tour winds its way through the Eastern hillcountry of South Canterbury and Otago and is incredibly diverse. INFO PACK CAN BE SENT ON BIG SKY REQUEST FOR THE 2020/21 SEASON Six days touring from Geraldine south into the MacKenzie Basin and Central Otago before finishing in Alexandra. email: [email protected] Ph: 03 218 8569 NZ Adventures are also branching into the North Island in June 2021. This is more of a backcountry road trip rather than a cross country tour. 027 550 6727 or 027 435 4267 This tour is the Heartland Tour. For further details check out our website www.nzadventures.co.nz

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins VOSIICLEESNCININMGYTHHEEAD Justine Tyerman defies ‘age-ism’ and ‘sensible-ism’ on an Easter road trip, revisiting places in Central Otago last travelled as a child, exploring new territory in the Catlins … and sleeping in the back of a station wagon. 1 Story + Photos Justine Tyerman Eyebrows were raised to the ex-hairline and there was much option of a hotel or motel if the weather really misbehaved. tut-tutting among our friends as they inspected the double bed “Late-life crisis,” I heard them mutter as Chris and I piled our far-too- neatly made up in the back of the JUCY Cabana station wagon and the little kitchen tucked into the rear of the vehicle. large suitcases into the JUCY campervan and prepared to depart. The “You’re a bit old for this sort of thing,” they guffawed, shaking cases hadn’t looked so bulky in the palatial guest wing of our friends’ their heads in disbelief. “And besides, it’s far too late in the season to luxurious Wanaka home, but we were now wondering what the heck we’d do with them at night time. Note to self: ‘If you want to relive your be camping – you’ll freeze to death. youth, get a rucksack and travel lightly.’ “Stay on here with us – play golf, go fishing and e-biking … sensible, We waved goodbye and drove off into the delicious unknown with an age-appropriate activities. Or at least check in to a hotel along the way,” old-school paper map on my knee… and a new-age Roadtrippers App. they said. They were off to golf and lunch at a winery; we were heading in That’s all it took to galvanise the stubborn in me and harden my resolve the general direction of Kākā Point at the north-eastern boundary of to defy ‘age-ism’ and ‘sensible-ism’, throw caution to the non-existent the Catlins, revisiting places along the way I’d last travelled through wind and be daring – some might say reckless. as a child. After all, we were only heading for a brief sortie to the Catlins, not a In our mid-60s, in the heady post-children and pre-grandchildren month trekking overland in Outer Mongolia, so there was always the zone, we had lately developed nomadic tendencies that worry our adult daughters. It’s a classic case of role reversal – we get texts from Sophie and Bridget urging us to take care on the road and report in at the end of each day. Their parents love nothing better than to wander around the countryside going wherever the spirit wills and the weather looks most settled. The idea of not being tied to an itinerary or having to book accommodation ahead appeals to us. It gives us a giddy sense of freedom and brings back distant and fond memories of youthful road trips. Following the untimely deaths of a couple of friends, the road trip also helped to silence a cluster of voices in my head urging me to make the most of my good health and ‘do it while you still can’. I felt so privileged to be able to enjoy the simple, unsophisticated pleasures of cooking outside in the fresh air, sleeping in the back of a station wagon and hiking in bright sunshine under clear skies amid the beauty 2 of Aotearoa in all her autumn regalia. 84 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

We were so late making the decision to undertake the trip that the 3 Cabana was the only vehicle JUCY had left. I was tingling with excitement and up for the challenge. The weather certainly wasn’t promising as we drove out of Wanaka under a slate-grey sky like a duvet firmly tucked into the folds of the mountains. It looked ominously like the linger-all-day inversion layer common in these parts in May and June, but by the time we reached Lake Dunstan glimpses of blue peeked through holes in the ‘duvet’ and soon the sky cleared to reveal a dazzling autumn day. Nowadays the man-made lake looks much more natural and at ease in its environment than when the Clyde Dam power station was commissioned in 1992 and the vast 26km2 hydro storage reservoir was formed from the waters of the mighty Clutha River. It took 18 months to fill and reached its full height in September 1993, but for many years it looked temporary and out of place. There are smart new settlements on the shores of Lake Dunstan such as pretty Pisa Moorings 10km north of the township of Cromwell at the foot of the Pisa Range. Where farmland, tussock, and stone and pipfruit trees once held dominion, vineyards now cover hillsides facing the sun, and huge cherry orchards under nets have sprouted up on the flat lands. Cromwell was relocated to higher ground in the 1980s before the lake swallowed up its original location at the picturesque junction of the Clutha and Kawarau rivers – along with 2300 hectares of productive land. A resilient town, having survived many a boom-and-bust since its birth in the 1860s gold rush, Cromwell exudes a new sense of confidence. Long in the shadow of self-important neighbours Queenstown and Wanaka, Cromwell has emerged as a thriving hub with a well-preserved historic old town, a colourful gold mining history, a beautiful lake for fishing and aquatic activities, award-winning wineries, excellent cycle and hiking trails … and affordable real estate, something its celebrity neighbours do not have. 1. Coal Creek Flat near Roxburgh 2. A quick bite at Kaka Point 3. Autumn reflections in Alexandra 4. Lake Dunstan at ease in the landscape © Regional Identity, Shirley Howden 4 85NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins 5 I vividly recall Cromwell of yesteryear, the mingling of the turquoise craggy, weathered mountain tops that once towered above us. Clutha and the blue or sometimes muddy Kawarau at their confluence, Fifteen minutes from Cromwell, the curved rim of the Clyde Dam the graceful old Cromwell suspension bridge with its cables and red brick piers and the huts of the Chinese gold miners, all now nine or looms into view, the 103m-high concrete gravity structure that holds ten metres beneath the water. back the water thanks to one million cubic metres of concrete and steel. As a child prone to car sickness, for me the winding Cromwell Gorge Shortly after the completion of the Clyde Dam in 1993, we took a to Alexandra was just another obstacle to endure on our long car trips guided tour of the power station including a walk-through of the dimly from Dunedin to our little crib in Arrowtown. But the old gorge road lit, vibrating interior corridor of the dam wall. I doubt I would do that is long gone, submerged under Lake Dunstan, and the new road is now, having researched the history of the dam’s construction during straighter and much higher up the side of the gorge wall, closer to the PM Robert Muldoon’s ‘Think Big’ era, and the discovery of fault lines above the dam as well as safety compromises made back then. 5. The 103m-high concrete gravity structure 6 at Clyde Dam holds back 26 sq km of water 6. The mighty Clutha Mata-Au River. Credit Regional Identity, Shirley Howden Explore Queenstown with us! • E-Bike Hire [email protected] www.owakamuseum.org.nz • Self Guided Rides • Supported Tours 0508 7829253 027 952 5801 [email protected] www.aroundthebasin.co.nz 86 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

llLooocccaaatttiiiooonnn. Go where you want, when you want. With motorhoming and caravanning, the destinations are almost endless. From famous attractions to hidden gems along the way, TrailLite makes it possible to experience the best of New Zealand at your convenience with all the comforts of home. What’s your dream lifestyle? Auckland Christchurch 0800 872 455 77 Paerata Rd, Pukekohe 61 Hayton Rd, Wigram TrailLite.co.nz 49NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins Clyde has transformed itself into a seriously classy village since 7 the days we used to drive through the sleepy settlement and stop for a cuppa beside the river. Now the start/end point of the immensely popular 152km Otago Central Rail Trail, Clyde has a great range of accommodation and eateries including Olivers – an upmarket craft brewery, bar, bakery-café, and gourmet restaurant with boutique accommodation – located in the old stone gold-rush-era general store. Six or seven minutes further on is Alexandra whose claim to fame in my teenage years was the October Blossom Festival. I seldom managed to get there because I was always in Dunedin, buried in my books studying for end-of-year exams. Alexandra reached its heyday during the late 1800s when huge gold dredges worked the Clutha River. The most successful dredge was the Dunedin, which extracted around 528kg of gold. Today Alexandra is better known for its pinot noir vineyards, apricots, peaches, cherries and apples. In mid-winter, we used to go ice skating on nearby Manorburn Dam, the largest natural ice skating area in the Southern Hemisphere. The dam has been a popular place to skate and play ice hockey and the game of curling since the late 1880s. Parts of the dam still freeze over but most 8 Phone 03 441 0288 88 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition 146 Arthurs Point Rd Arthurs Point Queenstown 9371 www.thcnuggetpoint.co.nz

people now go to the artificial rink in town. 7. The Junction at Cromwell in springtime. They sure knew how to build beautiful bridges in the Credit James Jubb, Tourism Central Otago 8. The graceful stone towers that once ‘old days’. The graceful stone towers that once supported supported the historic Alexandra bridge the bridge over the Clutha/Mata-Au, built from 1879 still stands strong in New Zealand’s to 1882, still stand strong and proud in New Zealand’s swiftest river swiftest river. The vivid turquoise of the Clutha against 9. Vivid autumn colours in Central Otago. the bright gold of the autumn poplars and willows on the Credit Regional Identity, Shirley Howden riverbank and the deeply weathered rocks on the hillsides above is stunning. Justine Tyerman travelled courtesy of JUCY Rentals Pick up a JUCY campervan, 4WD, people mover or car from JUCY Rentals The replacement bridge, built in 1958, looks so utilitarian www.jucy.co.nz at Queenstown Airport. We’ve tried them all, but this time and ordinary by comparison. we had a two-berth JUCY Cabana campervan with a double bed and a little kitchen which gave us the freedom to camp out whenever we felt Near the bridge, van-loads of excited cyclists were setting like it. The Cabana is not self-contained so we stayed at camping grounds off to do the three-stage Roxburgh Gorge Trail, a 34km and met some awesome people along the way. We liked the ease and trip following the Clutha River from Alexandra to Lake manoeuvrability of the basic little campervan and the freedom of not being Roxburgh Dam with a boat link in the middle. tied to an itinerary or pre-booked accommodation. • A lexandra township to Doctors Point – 10km • B oat transfer Doctors Point to Shingle Creek – 25mins • S hingle Creek to Lake Roxburgh Dam – 12km Combining fascinating history, stunning scenery and wildlife, this is definitely top of my e-biking list. A remote wilderness experience with no road access, the trail passes 9 through what’s described as New Zealand’s ‘Grand Canyon’ with rocky bluffs 350m high on both sides of the river. It also takes in some of the best-preserved relics from Central Otago’s gold mining era and if you’re lucky, sightings of the magnificent kārearea (New Zealand native falcon) that’s made its home in the gorge – I can’t wait to experience it. I’ve always regarded Roxburgh as the heart of Central Otago, “well- suited to the making of ‘Westerns’,” my father used to say whenever we drove over the wild, barren landscape scattered with jagged, grey- brown rocks. Roxburgh’s hot, dry summers and cold winters are ideal for growing apricots, apples, pears, raspberries and strawberries. We used to stop at a friend’s orchard there to pick sweet tree-ripened sturmer apples. Roxburgh is near the site of the earliest of the large hydroelectric projects in the South Island. Opened in 1956, the concrete gravity structure dams the Clutha River/Mata-Au, 9km to the north of the town of Roxburgh creating a lake 30km long. The land flattens out towards Raes Junction so we took a detour just before Lawrence, opting for the Tuapeka West Road to Balclutha. What an incredible contrast. Suddenly we were surrounded by rolling green pastures populated with well-fed sheep and cows and barely a rock or weed in sight. A huge dairy factory stood in the middle of nowhere. At Balclutha, we headed towards Kākā Point and the much-anticipated start of our Catlins adventure, all new territory for us. I stood there gazing in disbelief at the silvery sea and white sands of Molyneux Bay on New Zealand’s south-east coast. It all seemed far too easy to have left the snow-capped mountains of Wanaka in the morning, traversed the wild and arid heart of Central Otago and the verdant pastures of Tuapeka and arrived at the seaside by lunchtime. That’s one of the myriad things I love about New Zealand. The contrasts are huge but the distances are not. Phone 03 441 0288 154 Arthurs Point Rd Arthurs Point Queenstown 9371 www.parkresidence.co.nz 89NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins Y‘ODUOSITTIWLLHCILAEN’ Lighthouses and sea lions act as bookends to Justine and Chris Tyerman’s Easter road trip in the Catlins where they drove the Southern Scenic Route Story + Photos Justine Tyerman abundant prey in the coastal waters of the southern coast during the 1 early 19th century, and European settlers arrived in the mid-1850s to mill timber. The name Catlins was bestowed upon the region in honour I ’m a great fan of information boards (I read every word, much to of a whaling captain, Edward Catlin, who purchased land beside the the extreme frustration of my travelling companions), and at Kākā river from a Māori chief in 1840. Point on the south-east coast of the South Island, the boards told us we were standing where the Clutha River used to flow to sea Late in April, just after Easter, we almost had the place to ourselves. until a massive flood in 1878 moved the river mouth to the north. Ten minutes down the coast, the headland at Nugget Point looks as Molyneux Bay marked the much-anticipated start of our Catlins though it has thrust itself into the Pacific Ocean with such force that adventure, all new territory for us. fragments have broken off. Captain Cook decided the rocky outcrops scattered at the tip of the long, deeply weathered finger looked like gold Māori settled here about 900AD living on moa and seal meat. Captain nuggets – hence the name. James Cook sailed by in 1770 but did not make landfall. He named the bay Molyneux after the ship’s master who died on the journey. A lighthouse, one of the oldest in the country, was built on the far end of the promontory in 1869–70 at Whalers and sealers from England and Europe came to hunt the the height of the coastal shipping era. The 600-metre walk to the impressive white beacon runs along a narrow 2 ridge allowing breathtaking views of the coastline to the 90 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition north and south. Vertiginous cliffs rise almost vertically in both directions. Built from locally quarried stone, the Tokata Lighthouse stands an impressive 9.5 metres high and is 76 metres above sea level. Watching the surge of the waves pummelling the rocks far below, even on this calm day, was a lesson in the awesome power of the sea to shape and fashion the face of our land. I’d love to return at the height of a storm and witness the winds that force all trees there to grow horizontal to the land. A hotspot for marine diversity, over 40 species of seabird inhabit or visit the headland, and fur seals and sea lions are a common sight. Orca, southern right whales,

3 humpbacks and dolphins are occasionally spotted off the point … but the beach but there was never any evidence of foul play so one wonders not today. We did however see fur seal pups frolicking far below in why he leapt to the conclusion that the deceased had been eaten. It’s sheltered rock pools. a remote, windswept bay with a huge rock standing sentinel at the northern end and a long curve of sand stretching south. The information boards, especially the wood-framed stone plaques with beautifully written descriptions in Te Reo and English, are superb. We walked the length of the beach, drawn by a cluster of people They read like poetry: “He wahi taoka – a special place … Toitu te whanua, taking photos of large dark shapes in the water. As we got closer, we toitu te iwi – As the land endures, so too will the people.” realised with great excitement that eight or so critically endangered New Zealand sea lions or ‘rapoka’ were having some sort of territorial Roaring Bay, just south of Nugget Point, is a breeding ground of dispute on the beach and causing a heck of a ruckus. Having read the yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho, the world’s rarest penguin. Standing up on protocols about how to behave around sea lions, we kept our 65cm tall and weighing about 5kg, they are the fourth largest penguin. distance. But we were so fascinated with the battle being waged in the shallows, we were completely taken by surprise when two more large Hoiho means ‘noise shouter’ a name given because of their shrill call. creatures suddenly appeared from the sand dunes behind us and came We spent a good half hour scouring the seashore from a hide above the lolloping towards us at great speed. beach but there was no sign of the creatures coming ashore. Reading the information in the hide about their life cycle, we discovered that We beat a rapid retreat but the pair were not remotely interested in it’s uncommon to see them in March/April because they are moulting us. They were intent on joining the noisy fray among the other sea lions. and confined to land until their new feather coats grow. They are not The behaviour was fascinating but puzzling. A female appeared to be waterproof during the moult so they cannot forage at sea, relying on protecting a young calf on the beach while a large bull with a shaggy their fat stores to survive. ‘mane’ was vigorously fending off challenges from younger rivals. The attacks were relentless. It must have been exhausting for him. According to the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust, despite efforts to protect this critically endangered species, there are only 225 breeding As the light began to fade, we found an excellent overnight camp pairs left on mainland New Zealand, the lowest level since 1990–91. site called Newhaven Holiday Park at Surat Bay named after the sailing This is indeed sad news. vessel Surat that was wrecked there in 1874. We got there just in time to set up our comfy, cosy double bed in the back of the campervan Cannibal Bay was our next stop, a place name that conjures up all sorts of macabre visions. Long ago, a surveyor found human bones on and stroll down to the beach with a bubbly and beer to watch the sunset. 1. Built from locally quarried stone, the Tokata Lighthouse at Nugget Point stands an impressive 9.5 metres high and is 76 metres above the sea. Photo by Cicell Jenks 2. The silvery sea and white sands of Molyneux Bay marked the much-anticipated start of our Catlins adventure, all new territory for us 3. A group of New Zealand sea lions or ‘rapoka’, were having some sort of territorial dispute on the beach at Cannibal Bay 4. I envied the 20-30 bach owners with their 4 properties right on Jack’s Beach 91NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins 5 Visit southlandnz.com to find out more! 92 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

6 Our campsite was on beautiful Pounawea Estuary, fed by the Owaka 7 and Catlins rivers, a place rich in birdlife and virgin podocarp forest. only area left in the South Island where native forest covers the land It was so mild, we cooked outdoors in our little ‘kitchen’ … so from the hilltops to the sea. Some trees are over 1000 years old. There’s convenient, like an upmarket tent on wheels. And so much for freezing an abundance of wildlife with native birds, New Zealand sea lions, to death; during the night we had to open the doors, the campervan yellow-eyed and little-blue penguins and albatross frequenting the area. was so warm. Access to Cathedral Caves is across private Māori land so there’s The young ones in tents around us thought it was pretty cool to see a charge of $5 per adult and $1 per child. The 1.5km track through a couple of ‘oldies’ sleeping in the back of a bright purple and green kāmahi/podocarp forest drops 100m to Waipati Beach and then there’s station wagon. That really did make us feel like teenagers again. It a 10-minute walk along the sand to the caves. Our timing of the tides brought back memories of the carefree roadies of our youth. was accidentally perfect. We were able to explore the entire sea cave system which has two huge entrances joined by a V-shaped passage. Next day we were up bright and early, our heads brimming with It’s one of the finest in New Zealand, and at 199m, among the longest things to do and places to see. In our excitement, we nearly missed in the world. the turnoff to Jack’s Bay and Blowhole – so glad we didn’t. 5. Florence Hill lookout has sweeping views of perfectly-curved Tautuku Beach to Remote Jack’s Bay with its pristine white sands is unbelievably the south and Tahakopa Bay and Long Point to the north beautiful, especially on a calm, sunny autumn day. I envied the 20–30 6. After descending through native forest, there’s a 10-minute walk along Waipati bach owners with their properties right on the beach. Beach to the twin entrances to Cathedral Caves 7. The V-shaped passage connecting the twin Cathedral Caves is 199m in length, The blowhole is at the end of a scenic coastal walkway, about one one of the longest in the world. hour return. It’s a giant gash in the earth, 55m deep, 144m long, 68m wide and 200m from the sea. Even on a calm day, the force of the 93NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition water swirling and churning far below was riveting. I’d love to see it spouting up at the height of a southerly storm with a big sea running. After brewing a quick cuppa in our handy little kitchen, we drove to pretty Pūrākaunui Falls, a very popular spot. The lovely 10-minute walk alongside the stream that feeds the falls is through a lush forest of tōtara, tāwhai, mataī and kōtukutuku with native birds flitting among the branches. At the foot of the exquisite three-tiered falls, there were dozens of overseas tourists and photographers with tripods and extremely long lenses, trying to capture the perfect image. It’s one of the most photographed waterfalls in New Zealand, so if you want time alone here get up early or stay late. The track to the 22m-high McLean Falls, the tallest waterfall in the Catlins, was closed by a rock fall so we consoled ourselves with lunch at the award-winning Whistling Frog Restaurant. The blue cod was the best fish I’ve ever tasted, washed down with an ice cold Monteith’s crushed pear cider. The restaurant is the hub of a substantial accommodation complex with cabins, motels, chalets and tent sites. Well-fortified, we set off towards Cathedral Caves, stopping at Florence Hill lookout with its sweeping views of perfectly curved Tautuku Beach to the south and Tahakopa Bay and Long Point to the north. This is the

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins 8 94 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

In contrast to limestone caves which form by the Hoping for a glimpse of the rare yellow-eyed penguins at this location, chemical action of water dissolving calcite in the rock, we found the perfect spot to park up overnight, at a camping ground right sea caves are formed by the action of the waves eroding on the seashore. But Curio Bay’s penguins were also in hiding, along or collapsing the rock. with the endangered Hector’s dolphins… so a return trip is definitely on the cards. We took a torch so we could examine the ceiling (up to 30m high) and deep recesses of the Jurassic sandstone that The recently opened Tumu Toka CurioScape at Curio Bay has a café dates back about 160 million years. Just inside the west and outstanding interactive museum with a wealth of information or first entrance, the ceiling is much higher, indicating about the region. an area of roof collapse. Over time, such features create skylights such as at Jack’s Blowhole. 8. The trees grow sideways on the Catlins’ coast 9. Justine at Slope Point, the windswept southern-most tip of the South Island The caves are outstanding and well worth the fee 10. Waipapa Point is the site of New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck and the one-hour hike down and back up, but to avoid 11. In April 1881, 131 of the 151 passengers onboard the S.S.Tararua lost their disappointment make sure you check the tides and the lives when the steamer was wrecked on the reef just offshore closing time of the track. The petrified forests at Curio Bay had long fascinated me and again our timing was spot on. The tide was well out allowing us to explore this extremely rare phenomenon. The incredible story of how the forest was formed is 9 recorded on a series of excellent information boards overlooking the rock platform where the tree trunks and stumps are lying, set in stone. A lush forest stood here about 170 million years ago, along with ash-covered volcanoes nearby. After heavy rain, a great flood occurred submerging hundreds of kilometres of land under mud, ash and rocks washed down from the volcanoes. The ash in the floodwaters was rich in silica which impregnated the trees, turning them to stone. Thousands of years of pounding by the sea have worn away the soil to reveal the fossilised trees. I lost track of time as I wandered around the tree trunks and stumps, frozen forever in time, trying to imagine the forces of nature that could bring about such an event. The fallen tree trunks still look like timber but when you touch them, they are hard, cold stone. You can even see the growth rings in the stumps. The forest was alive when New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland – and we’re able to see the remnants of it today. At the southern edge of the platform, I was transfixed by waves of kelp surging and swirling up and down a narrow channel in the rock. I stood there until the incoming tide began to lap at my feet and the kelp threatened to envelop me like a thousand slimy eels. 10 11 95NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

OTAGO Central Otago to Catlins Before heading south, we climbed to the top of a headland where west corner of the Catlins. It’s the site of New Zealand’s worst shipping the views are stunning. An information board there said that by 1840, disaster. In April 1881, 131 of the 151 passengers on board the Tararua with 1000 whalers operating in New Zealand waters, the southern right lost their lives when the steamer was wrecked on the reef just offshore. whale was already becoming scarce. The invention of the explosive- tipped harpoon in the 1860s made other species of whale harvestable It’s a short walk to the cemetery where many of the victims were because the device caused whales to float when dead. I was horrified buried. In response to this tragedy a lighthouse was built and became to read that 65,966 whales were killed worldwide during the 1961- 1962 season. operational in 1884. Automated in 1976, it remains active today. I read with great interest the 1866 Instructions to Lightkeepers: Twenty minutes south, we reached Slope Point, the “Keepers are required to act as signalmen, telephonists, and southernmost tip of the South Island. A 10-minute walk undertake such duties as may be required of them, without through private farmland, the point is a windswept, ruggedly receiving any extra remuneration.” Other duties included beautiful headland where the trees grow horizontal to the cleaning, routine maintenance, gardening and tending land and the waves of the southern ocean crash onto the ‘Tararua Acre’ gravesite. rocks sending walls of spray high into the air. A couple of sea lions were cavorting in the turbulent surf near the lighthouse. It seemed fitting that our A signpost marks the exact spot as Latitude 46° 40´ Catlins odyssey began and ended with lighthouses 40˝ South; Longitude 169° 00´ 11˝ East. From here, the and sea lions; they are quintessential images of the Equator is 5140km north and the South Pole is 4803km Catlins and my enduring memories of this remote south. It was blowing a freezing cold gale but photos had and beautiful corner of Aotearoa. to be taken at the signpost and on the cliff edge above The voices in my head are quieter now but they the pounding surf. are still pestering me to ‘do it while you still can’. There will be time for more ‘age-appropriate’ Our last stop on the Southern Scenic Route was activities … when we grow up. the Waipapa Point lighthouse at the far south- 12. Waipapa Point lighthouse at the far south-west corner of the Catlins 12 96 NZTODAY RV Lifestyle South Island Road Trips Special Edition

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