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This was a trip that I had been planning for some time after last year's Macetown trip up the Arrow river. For those familiar with the South Island of New Zealand we were pretty much operating around the Queenstown area.
Day one saw us travel to Queenstown for a night in a nice hotel and a chance for Liz to do some shopping
Day two and it was raining. The plan was to head south and enter the Nevis Valley, an old gold mining area and rumour had it there was still plenty of gold in the river. The first part of the run was up and over a pass before dropping down into the Nevis Valley. This track had a grade 1 rating so we figured that even in the rain it couldn't get too bad- surely.
Well, after two stream crossings and heading downstream it was only going to get deeper. We stopped at what we thought was the end of bypass track to one crossing but it only dead ended at another deep and swift section. A truck appeared around the corner and they were heading out after staying in a hut half way through. They had water coming in over the bonnet on a couple of crossings so that decided it, we were turning around!
After checking our liturature we decided to head to Old Man Rock located atop a mountain. Another grade 1 track. After a brief stop to check out an old gold mining hut we should have got a clue that not only was it still raining but the higher we climbed the stronger the wind got.
Given that this was supposed to be mid summer for us it was pretty unseasonal. Luckily we had our usual bag of emergency and cold weather clothing so felt confident to carry on. As we climbed the temperature continued to drop and the wind increase until we saw the first snowflakes flying past. As we neared the summit at 1600m (about 5,200ft) it was like driving in a blizzard with near horizontal flying snow, high winds and low visibility. The track was still pretty good and after a quick check that it wasn't freezing solid (yet) we pushed on with a combination of excitement and slight aphrehension that can make for some great 4wding.
After a very quick stop at the top we turned around and started the trip back down.
As soon as we dropped below the cloud level it brightened up and the snow stopped. My temperature sensor on the JK had frozen at zero degrees Celcius and didn't thaw out until quite some time latter.
The end of day 2 saw us catch up with some Land Rover Club members at Omakau. This club has been running for nearly 40 years although Land Rovers are now the minority vehicle.
The following day saw us join the Land Rover Club on a trek along the Old Dunstan Road which follows the ridgeline through some spectacular alpine country with more unusual rock formations poking up amoungst the native grasses.
A brief stop was also had at a man made lake that has a lot of very unusual caravans and cabins springing up around it.
Day three saw us say goodbye to the Land Rover Club who were staying on in the area for a few more days. We had one more track through Thompsons Gully to check out on the way back home and finally a chance for me to try some gold panning since I had been foiled in the Nevis Valley. Alas even around the obvious piles of historic tailings I had no luck so it was back into the truck for the long drive back home. All in all a great trip and we definatley need to get back to the Nevis to chase some of that elusive yellow metal
Fore more pics form this trip check out:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...cember%202010/
Day one saw us travel to Queenstown for a night in a nice hotel and a chance for Liz to do some shopping
Day two and it was raining. The plan was to head south and enter the Nevis Valley, an old gold mining area and rumour had it there was still plenty of gold in the river. The first part of the run was up and over a pass before dropping down into the Nevis Valley. This track had a grade 1 rating so we figured that even in the rain it couldn't get too bad- surely.
Well, after two stream crossings and heading downstream it was only going to get deeper. We stopped at what we thought was the end of bypass track to one crossing but it only dead ended at another deep and swift section. A truck appeared around the corner and they were heading out after staying in a hut half way through. They had water coming in over the bonnet on a couple of crossings so that decided it, we were turning around!
After checking our liturature we decided to head to Old Man Rock located atop a mountain. Another grade 1 track. After a brief stop to check out an old gold mining hut we should have got a clue that not only was it still raining but the higher we climbed the stronger the wind got.
Given that this was supposed to be mid summer for us it was pretty unseasonal. Luckily we had our usual bag of emergency and cold weather clothing so felt confident to carry on. As we climbed the temperature continued to drop and the wind increase until we saw the first snowflakes flying past. As we neared the summit at 1600m (about 5,200ft) it was like driving in a blizzard with near horizontal flying snow, high winds and low visibility. The track was still pretty good and after a quick check that it wasn't freezing solid (yet) we pushed on with a combination of excitement and slight aphrehension that can make for some great 4wding.
After a very quick stop at the top we turned around and started the trip back down.
As soon as we dropped below the cloud level it brightened up and the snow stopped. My temperature sensor on the JK had frozen at zero degrees Celcius and didn't thaw out until quite some time latter.
The end of day 2 saw us catch up with some Land Rover Club members at Omakau. This club has been running for nearly 40 years although Land Rovers are now the minority vehicle.
The following day saw us join the Land Rover Club on a trek along the Old Dunstan Road which follows the ridgeline through some spectacular alpine country with more unusual rock formations poking up amoungst the native grasses.
A brief stop was also had at a man made lake that has a lot of very unusual caravans and cabins springing up around it.
Day three saw us say goodbye to the Land Rover Club who were staying on in the area for a few more days. We had one more track through Thompsons Gully to check out on the way back home and finally a chance for me to try some gold panning since I had been foiled in the Nevis Valley. Alas even around the obvious piles of historic tailings I had no luck so it was back into the truck for the long drive back home. All in all a great trip and we definatley need to get back to the Nevis to chase some of that elusive yellow metal
Fore more pics form this trip check out:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...cember%202010/
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