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Liz and I loaded up the Jeep and headed down towards Queenstown, one of the adventure capitals of the world and also right next to some pretty good 4WDing tracks. The aim was to explore up the Arrow river to a deserted gold mining town of Macetown. Taking Tobins track that starts at the Coronet Peak skkifield access road this is an easy 6km across and down in to Arrowtown, arriving at the Arrow river for the first of what would be many crossings for the day.
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After a brief circuit of Arrowtown to pick up some more Macetown info we spent a good five minutes looking for the road down into the riverbed as our info was a bit out of date.
There were heaps of cars and people on the early part of the track and we stopped to do some gold panning at the first crossing point near and overhead pipeline. This also coincided with a chap trying to drown his Subaru by crossing at the deepest ford. He made it through (just) and the car promplty died. I took the air cleaner out and it had got sodden and bowed out like some origami art. The car was still turning over but the floorpan was full of water and the electrics weren't firing. I offered to tow the car back across the river as it was only a short distance from Arrowtown and guessed with time the electrics would dry enought to start. This was the first use of my tow rope. Little did I know just how long it was as I was across the river before the Subaru even started to move! Note to self, double the rope up next time. The Subaru owner was very appreciative ,a lawyer from Christchurch so may come in handy one day
. Following this unplanned delay Liz and I jumped back in the Jeep to start the trek into Macetown.
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I had read that it was a busy and narrow road and we even passed people in the river bed. Due to traffic I was going fairly cautiously around bends but one motorcyclist had to slam on his anchors to save himself a nice reversed Jeep imprint on his helmet. The flowers were out and it was very picturesque. The main concern was watching for oncoming traffic and passing opportunities on the high narrow sections of track, something that would repeat itself to a lesser extend a day later when we drove Skippers Canyon.
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After around an hour we arrived at Macetown. There were three or four other vehicles camping for the night and another couple furhter up the river. After helping setting up camp I headed off with my shovel and gold pan to make my fortune!
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150 years of gold minig had pretty much removed everything that nature had laid down in the last few million years so after around an hour and a half and several locations I had a few small specks (not even big enough to call flakes) along with a lot of sandfly bites on my wrists to show for my efforts. It was at least satisfying to get some gold, even though such an insignificant amount and it is cool to see it slide around in the water filled glass bottle, being 19 times heavier than water it behaves quite different from anything else.
After a little sleep in our small tent (note need bigger tent, or at least one that is bigger than I am tall) we packed up the follwing morning to make our way back out. There was a lot less traffic early morning so a bit more of a relaxed trip.
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Once through Arrowtown we set off for Skippers canyon. Whilst a smoother and slightly wider road there was more traffic including a lot of apprently locals in 2wd sedans driving flatout. The road was in good condition appart from some syrations but kept the Jeep in 2wd for the trip back. The guys who drive the buses towing a pile of rafts on a trailer must be pretty game as they can't back those things easily.
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Second night was in Queenstown at the Copthorne, OK accomodation and farily cheap at around $140 for the night.
Third day saw us drive back home via Alexandra and Danseys (sp?) Pass, gravel road with a nice pub around half way and another chance to pan for gold but this time with zero luck.
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All in all a good trip with a fair amount of driving over 3 days but we got to see some great scenery and it was nice to mix camping one night with a second night in a hotel. Averaged 12.0 l/100km from Chch to Cronwell which I was pretty impressed with.
For some more pictures of the trip check out :
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...Skippers%2009/
[/IMG]After a brief circuit of Arrowtown to pick up some more Macetown info we spent a good five minutes looking for the road down into the riverbed as our info was a bit out of date.
There were heaps of cars and people on the early part of the track and we stopped to do some gold panning at the first crossing point near and overhead pipeline. This also coincided with a chap trying to drown his Subaru by crossing at the deepest ford. He made it through (just) and the car promplty died. I took the air cleaner out and it had got sodden and bowed out like some origami art. The car was still turning over but the floorpan was full of water and the electrics weren't firing. I offered to tow the car back across the river as it was only a short distance from Arrowtown and guessed with time the electrics would dry enought to start. This was the first use of my tow rope. Little did I know just how long it was as I was across the river before the Subaru even started to move! Note to self, double the rope up next time. The Subaru owner was very appreciative ,a lawyer from Christchurch so may come in handy one day
. Following this unplanned delay Liz and I jumped back in the Jeep to start the trek into Macetown.[/IMG][/IMG]I had read that it was a busy and narrow road and we even passed people in the river bed. Due to traffic I was going fairly cautiously around bends but one motorcyclist had to slam on his anchors to save himself a nice reversed Jeep imprint on his helmet. The flowers were out and it was very picturesque. The main concern was watching for oncoming traffic and passing opportunities on the high narrow sections of track, something that would repeat itself to a lesser extend a day later when we drove Skippers Canyon.
[/IMG]After around an hour we arrived at Macetown. There were three or four other vehicles camping for the night and another couple furhter up the river. After helping setting up camp I headed off with my shovel and gold pan to make my fortune!
[/IMG]150 years of gold minig had pretty much removed everything that nature had laid down in the last few million years so after around an hour and a half and several locations I had a few small specks (not even big enough to call flakes) along with a lot of sandfly bites on my wrists to show for my efforts. It was at least satisfying to get some gold, even though such an insignificant amount and it is cool to see it slide around in the water filled glass bottle, being 19 times heavier than water it behaves quite different from anything else.
After a little sleep in our small tent (note need bigger tent, or at least one that is bigger than I am tall) we packed up the follwing morning to make our way back out. There was a lot less traffic early morning so a bit more of a relaxed trip.
[/IMG]Once through Arrowtown we set off for Skippers canyon. Whilst a smoother and slightly wider road there was more traffic including a lot of apprently locals in 2wd sedans driving flatout. The road was in good condition appart from some syrations but kept the Jeep in 2wd for the trip back. The guys who drive the buses towing a pile of rafts on a trailer must be pretty game as they can't back those things easily.
[/IMG]Second night was in Queenstown at the Copthorne, OK accomodation and farily cheap at around $140 for the night.
Third day saw us drive back home via Alexandra and Danseys (sp?) Pass, gravel road with a nice pub around half way and another chance to pan for gold but this time with zero luck.
[/IMG]All in all a good trip with a fair amount of driving over 3 days but we got to see some great scenery and it was nice to mix camping one night with a second night in a hotel. Averaged 12.0 l/100km from Chch to Cronwell which I was pretty impressed with.
For some more pictures of the trip check out :
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...Skippers%2009/
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