Tuesday 5th February 2013
Arrowtown to Lake Pukaki
Sunshine, Tuesday morning the grey leaden skies returned to a glorious blue, the rain from yesterday only remembered by the large puddles. Well, l tell a slight lie, the weather had improved by the time we rolled into our overnight stop, thus enabling us to meander through the restored mining village with a distinct Lake District feel doing a bit of window shopping, huge selection of all things wool for some reason?
Anyway, l digress; we were the only rental unit on the site, and after much conversation with local motorhomers, we packed up & set off for the day's journey with the wild or free camping site at Lake Pukaki the end goal.
Today's scenic route took us along deep valley bottoms, over raging rapids & to the car park at a bungee jumping attraction. Now, those who know me, know that l have a serious problem with sheer drops; before leaving home l had thought that jumping off a bridge attached only by a large length of rubber band might cure me of the problem. Did it hell, whilst Stephen marched across the bridge, l just about managed to leave the camper, cross the car park then, very carefully making an effort to keep breathing, managed to get into the souvenir shop, even that was traumatic as the large windows looked out towards the jumping bridge & then down in to the gorge below. Needless to say, l kept my feet firmly planted on terra firma.
Our route continued through devastatingly wondrous, wild country. Past vineyards, through mountain passes, true sheep country & on into Cromwell.
As we approached the town, the fields became flatter & wider with rich agricultural land, home to large dairy herds, fields irrigated by enormous irrigation units & ongoing drilling bore holes for water very much in evidence.
Fruit farms became plentiful, & the whole area was a veritable Eden of fresh fruit & dairy. Cromwell, according to the Rough Guide, has an old town that was moved after the completion of a large dam. Unfortunately, the historic site, [think Beamish], was not as you might say, well signposted, in fact there were more signs directing you to fruit farms. well, we did eventually find the place which is obviously an ongoing project but interesting never the less.
Lunch was spent in one of the en site cafes before plunging onwards towards even more jaw-dropping scenery.
Leaving the plains behind, the landscape became more & more rugged, rolling mountain, sheep stations that seemed to be slightly lacking in sheep thanks to the down turn in the market, those sheep we did spot were mainly Marino.
We drove ever deeper into McKenzie Country until on our approach to Omarama we spotted some rather dramatic-looking cliffs, the sort of colour of kaolin & morphine medicine. After a quick study of our tourist map, a detour along back roads took us to the gate & entrance to the clay cliffs. Attached to the gate post was an honesty box with some slightly confusing instruction regarding payment, together with a group of French Tourists struggling to make sense of what to do next.
The outcome, they followed us along the bumpy, dirt track which seemed to go on for miles & miles taking us up to almost the foot of the cliffs. The final ascent was a short, steep tramp to the clay cliffs themselves, from which the views across a meandering river plain was just truly awesome.
The afternoon stretched on, the open road beckoned us once again, the feeling of remoteness was every present. We filled up at the isolated town with the intriguing name of Twizel which rhymes with Bridle, with its breathtaking views of the snow capped Mount Cook in the distance.
Finally,after a day of scenic overloads we pulled off the road to the Freedom Parking site at the alpine Lake Pukaki. The evening's backdrop was the cobalt blue waters of the Lake backed by Mount Cook. Absolute bliss.
By nightfall, there several other motorhomes had parked up, both local vans & rentals all of us drinking in the views, & as the sun finally set, were privileged to be able to enjoy the unspoilt night skies
today's mileage = 123 miles
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