I picked up a small 1.8 ton digger from the hire centre in Kaikoura and over the next 3 weeks Jocelyn and I got stuck in. First up Jocelyn measured out the paddocks then we made up all the pods onto the alkathene lines. Then all the hydrants had to be dug and the old existing ones dug and capped. We made good progress then we got a fair bit of rain which filled up a lot of the holes we dug with water. Then fittings wouldn't fit and trips to town for new ones that turned out still didn't fit. Then discussions on is that 50mm or 40mm. Oh no that ones 63mm. Then thats 50mm but that pipes high density so that low density fitting doesn't go on. It was a bit of a brain strain at times. We didn't end up finishing the whole job but we got the bulk of it done.
I enjoyed learning to operate the little digger. Having never used one one before it takes a while to coordinate your hands on all the levers and pedals. But once you get the hang of it you become quite proficient. Now I want to play on a big digger.
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| Me and my toy digger. |
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| The new ute got turned into a farm hack. |
James was there for about a week and with him and Rod doing stock work up the Puhi block they were always coming back with deer that needed cutting up. I went for a hunt with them on the DOC block through the neighbours property and managed to miss one and shoot one. Obviously not getting enough practice. Still you never run short of venison with Rod and James around.
Before we left we went to pet day. Gracie had reared a goat this year. Daisy was rather lovely and very friendly. Catherine had made up costumes for Grace and Daisy and on the day the judges picked them both for first place best in class and best costume. Its great to see all the youngsters there having a great time and loving their pets.
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| Gracie and Daisy. |
Jocelyn was getting itchy feet again. Rod was threatening to take a wheel off the rig so we couldn't escape until all the work was done. But eventually we packed up and we headed inland as the coast road was shut again. As we got to Waiau we turned left and this took us to Parnassus where we stayed a couple of nights at the NZMCA camp again. We did a couple of bike rides and took the ute and had a look at Motunau beach and the Hurunui river mouth. There were a lot of people at the mouth fishing. Quad bikes everywhere. White bait nets and surf casters. Talking to a few people they were catching mainly Kahawai and the odd sea run trout. It was probably a bit early to see good numbers of salmon running yet. Anyway it was a bit crowded for me. The coastline is quite exposed along here and the sea was dirty coloured so no good for snorkelling.
Next stop was Christchurch where we stocked up on a few items, mainly coffee. We found the Nespresso shop and spent far too much on coffee capsules. We also went to Hagley park and had a walk through the gardens there. That Avon river that flows through there is real nice. I spotted a few good size trout in there too.
Back to the rig and we found ourselves back on the road through the Mckenzie country. Through Tekapo and onto Twizel. And yes we ended up back at Ohau C camp backed into the very edge of lake Benmore. The camp had filled up with all the summer caravans and camper vans . They had built all their windbreaks and attached fairy lights around their sites. Although there were still very few actual people around but everything was in place to enjoy those warm summer days.
It wasn't long and I had the kayaks down and the fishing rod out. The first outing didn't produce a fish but the next morning I landed 3 good size trout keeping just the one. Over the next week or so the weather was perfect. Hot sunny days with very little wind, and we made the most of it. Kayaking every day.and the odd bike ride. We even got a bit sun tanned. We got to know a few people camping there. One couple Paul and Wendy were parked next to us. Paul had a tinny and invited me out for an occasional fish. There were a few small salmon about and they were added to the larder.
One morning one of the blokes called in to show us a trout he had caught in the canal. He always fishes in the dark either late at night or very early morning. He pulled a rainbow hen out of his bag and it was the fattest fish I had ever seen. Definitely obese, and in danger of heart disease. Thinking back I should have gone and got the camera. Anyway he weighed it and it tipped the scales at 21lb. He catches a number of these large fish using shrimp for bait and always at night. And they get a lot bigger than that too. A number of trout from the canals are caught between 30 and 40 lbs.
I got the fly rod out and tried casting to fish from the kayak and managed to land 3 large brown trout. I released them all again. I find this method much more rewarding than just trolling a fly behind the kayak. James arrived from Oamaru for the weekend. He managed to catch 3 trout from the kayak so was pretty stoked with that. It was also Jocelyns birthday so it was great James was there to help her celebrate turning 60. As I am still only 59 I can tell her she is now officially an old fart. Haha. We went in to Twizel and had a nice lunch at Poppies restaurant sitting outside in the sun.
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| A lovely day and a great place to celebrate turning 60. |
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| A nice birthday hug from James. |
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| A couple of good trout to James. |
The time came again to pack up. As always we really enjoyed our time here in this camp. We had good company this time as well with the weather a bit warmer and more people around. Normally we have this camp to ourselves.
Over the Lindis Pass we went, and stayed overnight at Lowburn reserve by lake Dunstan. The rabbit numbers around this area seem to be exploding again. I went for an early morning drive up one of the valleys and the paddocks were just overrun with rabbits. Everywhere you looked were rabbits.
Leaving Cromwell we drove through Clyde and carried on to Alexandra where we stayed at a place called Butchers Dam. This is just a small body of water by the side of the road. Free camping again with no facilities on site. But quite a pretty little spot.
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| 2 nights at Butchers Dam. |
We stayed here 2 nights then decided we were going to take the farm track up to Poolburn Dam. This is on the road to Ranfurly. We turned off at Omakau and this road took us through to Moa Creek where we headed up into the hills. The last time we had come here we arrived in the middle of a blizzard. This time was much better but unfortunately the cold wind was to become a problem. It is a really fascinating place and I recommend to anyone to make the effort and go and spend some time up there. We were a bit restricted this time as we found on the second day a freezing wind got up and stayed with us the whole time we were there.
On the third day we loaded the truck with a picnic lunch and took the Old Dunstan road out past the Dam and through the hills. This is a four wheel drive road through the station and takes you right through to Paerau. The landscape and rock formations through here are other worldly. You could be on another planet. It is quite a bleak landscape and being between 900 and 1000 ft above sea level the weather can turn nasty very quickly. The wind was persisting so we weren't that keen to get the picnic basket out as it was also freezing. We eventually came out on the road to Ranfurly where we stopped at the I site and commandeered a picnic table to eat lunch. As we got out of the truck it started to hail so we didn't take too long getting lunch down. Then we did the full circuit and arrived at Moa creek and turned back onto the Poolburn Dam road back to the rig.
Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge.
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| Moonlight over Poolburn. |
Wind over the water
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| Jocelyn battling the wind. |
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| A little respite. |
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| The end of the track. |
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| Typical bullet ridden sign. |
It was still bloody cold so the decision was made that in the morning we were going to pull out and get down to a lower altitude to warm up again. That night just before bed I opened the door to have a look around and it was snowing quite heavily. In the morning the snow was still on the hills around the dam when I went for a walk. So now we are back in Cromwell at the NZMCA camp and this weekend we are meeting Joel and Julie in Queenstown. I think the plan is to do a wine trail through the Gibbston Valley on the bikes. I'm wondering how Joc will go on a bike after a couple of wines. That could be real interesting.
