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This is an area on the West Coast of the South Island that sees a lot of rainfall hence is very green and very boggy. We camped and explored land that is privately owned by a group of 4wd enthusiasts.
We (I gave a fellow 4wder, Scott, a lift as both our partners were busy that weekend) headed in on Friday, picking our way up Station Creek after turning off north of Springs Junction. It was a matter of following the track up the river bed and taking side tracks around the impassable bits in the river.
Arriving at the locked gate near the hut we had some and were joined by a native Robin.
We then inflated his blow up 2 person canoe and carried it across the 1.5km or so of boggy flat to the forest then it was another 25 minutes walk to the north edge of the lake. The weather was a mixed bag but we got out on the lake in which the water was extremely warm (geothermal??) and no fish showing any interest in our lures but still very pleasant drifting around until the weather turned.
The boat was parked up at the lake edge and we headed back to wait for the main group to arrive and unlock the gate so we could set up camp. The next day Scott and I took off early across the flat with Scott pointing out the best line to drive based on his memory from previous trips. The long grass made this task more difficult. We took several attempts to exit one large hole/rut with water halfway up the passenger door and the truck on about a 35 degree lean but with some backwards and forwards action and full lockers finally got through.
The rest of the trip across the flat was fairly uneventful except one of the last climbs up to the small DOC hut when one of the plastic side steps took a hit (time for some side armour!). Walking through the bush was a lot easier without the boat but we knew we would be carrying it back out again. We rowed across the lake to the hut on the south side to surprise a couple of trampers (about 1.5km there). The aim was to fish on the way back but without any bites and the weather changing we pushed back to the north side helped by a southerly and packed the boat back out. Driving back across the flat I managed to get the back wheels in a different set of ruts to the front but thanks to Scott’s efforts with the shovel we got back on track seconds before two vehicles arrived to pull us out. Great that Team Jeep make it across the flat and back again un assisted! Back at camp the Saturday crowd had arrived and set up camp with a couple of battle scars for their efforts. That night a fire was built and much laughter was had as well as some serious debate on overseas ownership of assets (a very intellectual crowd but the humour won out on the night). The next morning we packed up and headed out as a group with a stop to assess what could be done to remove some trees that were blocking the easiest path- the outcome which was to ignore them and go around or over the bypass track. Some took the alternative hard way out but I was happy to achieve what we did and quit whilst the Jeep was relatively unscathed.
All in all a brilliant weekend in an area that not many get to experience and even fewer by boat on the lake.
Looking forward to putting some side armour on the Jeep and heading back there sometime.
Pics from the weekend:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Feb%202012/
We (I gave a fellow 4wder, Scott, a lift as both our partners were busy that weekend) headed in on Friday, picking our way up Station Creek after turning off north of Springs Junction. It was a matter of following the track up the river bed and taking side tracks around the impassable bits in the river.
Arriving at the locked gate near the hut we had some and were joined by a native Robin.
We then inflated his blow up 2 person canoe and carried it across the 1.5km or so of boggy flat to the forest then it was another 25 minutes walk to the north edge of the lake. The weather was a mixed bag but we got out on the lake in which the water was extremely warm (geothermal??) and no fish showing any interest in our lures but still very pleasant drifting around until the weather turned.
The boat was parked up at the lake edge and we headed back to wait for the main group to arrive and unlock the gate so we could set up camp. The next day Scott and I took off early across the flat with Scott pointing out the best line to drive based on his memory from previous trips. The long grass made this task more difficult. We took several attempts to exit one large hole/rut with water halfway up the passenger door and the truck on about a 35 degree lean but with some backwards and forwards action and full lockers finally got through.
The rest of the trip across the flat was fairly uneventful except one of the last climbs up to the small DOC hut when one of the plastic side steps took a hit (time for some side armour!). Walking through the bush was a lot easier without the boat but we knew we would be carrying it back out again. We rowed across the lake to the hut on the south side to surprise a couple of trampers (about 1.5km there). The aim was to fish on the way back but without any bites and the weather changing we pushed back to the north side helped by a southerly and packed the boat back out. Driving back across the flat I managed to get the back wheels in a different set of ruts to the front but thanks to Scott’s efforts with the shovel we got back on track seconds before two vehicles arrived to pull us out. Great that Team Jeep make it across the flat and back again un assisted! Back at camp the Saturday crowd had arrived and set up camp with a couple of battle scars for their efforts. That night a fire was built and much laughter was had as well as some serious debate on overseas ownership of assets (a very intellectual crowd but the humour won out on the night). The next morning we packed up and headed out as a group with a stop to assess what could be done to remove some trees that were blocking the easiest path- the outcome which was to ignore them and go around or over the bypass track. Some took the alternative hard way out but I was happy to achieve what we did and quit whilst the Jeep was relatively unscathed.
All in all a brilliant weekend in an area that not many get to experience and even fewer by boat on the lake.
Looking forward to putting some side armour on the Jeep and heading back there sometime.
Pics from the weekend:
http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Feb%202012/
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