Back to Queenstown

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Last coffee from Kai Whaka Pai before leaving Wanaka for a while again. Strangely, Wanaka has been pretty quiet all the time I've been here. Which has been quite nice. But I think the holiday-ing families are arriving now for their Xmas BBQ by the lake. Glendhu Bay (part way round the lake) is filling up with caravans - a very british thing moved half way round the planet and much less out of place here than it is in England I must say.

So I drove back towards Queenstown, choosing the wine-growing road this time along Lake Dunstan and via Cromwell. There is a decent ridge of mountains between the two routes to Queenstown - this side gives access to Mt Pisa which rises to nearly 2000 metres (just under 7000 feet). Having checked the map, there are two roads (dirt-tracks) that lead part way up the range so I've picked the southern one of the two. Now, there are two "towns" on my map and I need to turn right just after Mount Pisa the town (as opposed to the mountain). However, if you've ever been down this neck of the woods you'll understand that it's not always that easy to know where the "town" is. Obviously, I've been using quotes around the word advisedly. They are likely to be a farmstead or two with perhaps a crumbling "hotel" in between the two and maybe even a shop of some sort (a "dairy").

I drove past Mt Pisa Rd, noted it as a possible and drove on until I reached what looked like it might stand for a settlement and noted another road to my right. Hmm. Drove down a wee bit further to pause by the lake at the 45th parallel (that'll answer Rob's question that I couldn't remember the answer to). The top of the ridge was puddled with blotches of snow so it was looking tempting. Right, I think the first one I passed was likely to be the one. So I drove back up and turned down Mt Pisa Rd. I drove along with a sudden convoy of cars that all seemed to appear from nowhere and were heading down this dead-end dirt track to nowhere. One ahead of me and half a dozen behind me. I soon realised where they were going. The one in front turned off into a field where another trio of cars were parked. They were all meeting for a grape-picking day (farmers advertise for willing hands around here and you just turn up, pick grapes and get some small amount of money in return).

I drove on alone now until I ran out of road completely still at least a mile or so from where the track should start and with a valley in between me and the rising slopes of Mt Pisa. That was the wrong road then. So I drove back out to the main road (the workers were receiving their instruction now and I was slightly tempted to join them but thought better of it). Down the road a few miles and I turn off onto the second road that looked likely. I drove down rows and rows of vines before reaching nothing but the farmer's house - firmly noted as a "private property". Ah - not that one either then? Oh dear. I think I've run out of options for Mt Pisa this side of the ridge. Without meaning to underestimate mountain ascents, often the hardest thing is getting to the beginning of the climb. Sigh.

So I gave up on Mt Pisa for the day and drove down the length of Lake Dunstan and into Kawarau Gorge (some of you may know the name - more later). I decided to stop at Roaring Meg but not for the photo opportunity (all the waters are still grey with silt from the rain of the last few days). I crossed the road from the tourists (leaving a couple of them surprised as I changed into my trekking gear but my boxers are still quite respectable really) and found the Roaring Meg track (better known as the Kirtle Burn track). The track rises up to Tuhoys pass and then up to Meg hut but I wasn't planning on going that far - just up the gorge a bit and back again. The track rose through invading pines and looked shockingly dry. It swiftly rose to meet a track - a "4WD track" as they call them here i.e. a mountain road. Now I don't enjoy these but I thought I'd give it a chance. I could see a pass only an hour or so away and it looked tempting but as I turned the first corner, I could see this road rising all the up to the pass and that was to be the "track" to follow. No fun. And there are powerlines running all the way down the gorge - manscars. And the ground is dry and it's covered in pines and there are cicadas shouting everywhere. Wait a minute...this could be Cyprus! Oh dear. Done enough of this style of walking to last me a lifetime (sorry Cyprus-dwellers but it's not the most exciting and is definitely the wrong thing to be doing when there are mountain lakes, sounds, fiords, snowy peaks, alps etc to be had).

So I turned around and started to daydream about other things as I walked. Which, not that unusually, meant I walked straight past the junction with the wee track back down and down the road for half a mile before I realised I'd gone too far. Back up the boring track then and to the sign - how on this dusty earth did I miss that? And back down and take a pic or three of dirty Meg.

Then back to Queenstown, avoiding the temptation to stop and watch and./or photograph some unoriginal idiots throwing themselves of the original rubber-band clad bridge (the Kawarau bridge ius where Mr Hackett first threw one of his friends off to see if it would work). Not heading for the town of Queenstown - drive straight through that. On the road to Glenorchy and pull over at the beginning of the track to Mt Crichton. This is more like it. An undulating track alongside a gorged river with no sign of human intervention in sight. Mountain faces rising around me. Half an hour in and I reach the old miner's hut which is full of character, bugs, smells, mice, and everything else a proper old hut should be.

The track rises a little too easily (DOC taking their responsibility to provide access a little too literally again) up to the junction with the Lake Dispute track. I refuse the Dispute track today and march back down pausing only to plan a run/walk along Lake Dispute and up to Lake Moke - looks worth it but I think a run might be good as it seems to be another "highway" track.

And so back to Queenstown for a very welcome shower. This is to be home base now until I fly out on Tuesday. I'll be repeating the drive up the Glenorchy road quite a few times (perhaps every day) to access a whole bunch of tracks in and around Paradise. Glacier Burn, Kea Basin, Earnslaw Burn, Lake Rere, Lake Sylvan, Mt Alfred. I'm saving Mt Alfred for the last day before I go (not sure why, but I planned it that way a long time ago, so I'm sticking to that plan) but all the rest are interchangeable dependent on the quantity and quality of rain the clouds deliver. Kea Basin is the only one that will be completely inaccessible if the rains persist as it involves fording the Rees river. Earnslaw Burn may also mean wet feet but will probably be ok.

So I have a wonderful challenge for the next four days - rise every morning and choose a march to go on. Whatever challenges the weather brings, I feel like one of the luckiest people on earth right now.

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Photos

45th
and Lake Dunstan

Twelve Mile Creek
Just behind Sam's hut - strange perspective but the free advertising on the boot gives it away.

Twelve Mile Creek
Without any feet in the way

Comments

[Rob]

Sun's out
Ahh 45th parallel. As it happens, one of your 'Fit routes' allowed me to pan out until I got more perspective. Jolly nice trip, although I feel you were struggling a bit towards the end. Time now for you to sample a beer, or even ale, or two and avoid the seedy spots of Queenstown.