Trip reports - Wanaka weekend January
Day 1
I am a new member to the North Otago 4WD Club and I was extremely fortunate my first trip was organised by Donald & Shirley in Wanaka. For some unknown reason I was under the impression there was only to be the one trip on the Saturday, which was Skippers / The Branches but not until having a little alcoholic beverage on the Friday evening at the Lakeview Holiday Park in Wanaka with other members, did I learn there was to be an additional trip on the Sunday.
I am not only a new member, I am also new to the South Island having only been here 1½ years and just prior to Christmas I bought my first ever 4WD (a Suzuki Jimny) so finding out there were two trips was very exciting.
We all met Donald & Shirley at their home at 9.00am and at 9.15am along with Glenn McGregor & Garry Mason being “Tail End Charlie”, 11 vehicles (however because of my excitement I may have got this number wrong) we headed off over the Crown Range turning off on to Glencoe Road then down Tobins Road. At the bottom I had my first river crossing!! What an experience that was for me.
After a quick cuppa in a lovely park in Arrowtown and a comfort stop for the ladies, off we went over the Skippers. What an amazing road – incredibly narrow and incredibly steep – the views are nothing but spectacular. Turning off to the school we continued on as far as we could go, one vehicle got stuck in the mud due to their tow bar – a bit of towing was required I believe. (I presume the rules are the driver/vehicle should not be named).
A lovely outdoor lunch with the most magnificent of views then a stop at the old school which is beautifully restored and has many photos and descriptions of what life was like there back in its day.
A quick stop at the cemetery then a hard left and out to the gates of “The Branches”. A mystery is what lies beyond those gates.
After the trip we were invited back to our hosts for pizza which was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, however tiredness after such a big day made it an early night for some of us.
As a newbie I would like to thank everyone for their patience and help they gave me. I learnt so much – Audrey, my co-pilot, and I had the best two days!!!
Helen & Audrey Harrison
Day 2
Day two’s itinerary for the Weekend was a road trip with a bit of poking around at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
Six vehicles left Wanaka just after 9.00am, traveling via the Crown range, small bit of off-roading down Tobin’s Track into Arrowtown, (passing a mixture of grumpy and happy people, dogs and 1 horse, depending on how high up the track they were!) through to Queenstown and on to Wilsons Bay where a morning tea stop was had and we picked up the 7th Vehicle.
We had a lovely day, not too hot just pleasant and ideal for what was planned. We made our way to Glenorchy and on up the Rees Valley to the public road end, where we had lunch on the riverbank with the always stunning view of MT Earnslaw (or in this new age of Maori names Pikirakatahi (who knew??!) at 2816m). As a training exercise, a river crossing was undertaken before continuing on our way to visit the Dart Valley. A strong nor-wester was blowing down the valley with the clouds from the West sitting on top of the surrounding mountains - Nox, Minos Peak, Black Peak and again Earnslaw. Still a lovely stop at the end of the road at Chainman’s Bluff and even better, the wind was keeping most of the Sand-fly population at home!
From there, we retraced our steps and went into the Start/ End of the Routeburn Track and had a look around at the most splendid building/information hub erected at the car park and a walk along the Routeburn Track over the Swing Bridge which ironically, crosses the Routeburn River. Retracing our steps, we then headed down the southern side of Lake Wakatipu through Kinloch onto the very long Greenstone Station Road which takes you not only to Greenstone Station but also the start/end of the Caple and Greenstone Tracks. We again, had a good look around and walked the start of the Greenstone track going over the Swing Bridge that crosses the Greenstone River. This was an interesting and surprisingly busy stop as a number of vehicles were parked there when we arrived. To finish what had been a splendid day, we headed back to Glenorchy and had a very nice dinner at the Glenorchy Pub together.
Once again a huge thank you to Donald and Shirley for organising a wonderful weekend and Sunday was such a great day out! Sure the only 4WD’g on Sunday was Tobin’s TrackJ, but we all really enjoyed poking around, exploring and visiting places we would not normally do. It was such a great idea to do this - Thank you!!
NB:
So, you are wondering how I got to be in Wanaka for the weekend…. Stan and I always booked accommodation from year to year and I remembered at some point that we had a motel booked. I had decided to keep the booking and enjoy a mini-break as well as catch up with the club members at some point over the weekend. Donald and Shirley kindly offered me a seat in their truck along with fellow passenger, Linley. So a personal thank you to Shirley and Donald for making it possible for me to share in their weekend which I thoroughly enjoyed as well as everyone’s company.
PS: I am not sure if Donald actually really enjoyed our company - as he kept offering to either swop or off load either Shirley or his passengers – and at one point there was also a mention of walking - I can’t imagine why….??
Jennifer Dorsey
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