Trip Report - Wanaka weekend - January 25 / 26 2025
WANAKA WEEKEND with DONALD and SHIRLEY TAYLOR
DINGLEBURN STATION TO HUNTER VALLEY - Saturday, 25 th January
A cheerful group assembled at Taylor’s house in Wanaka on Saturday morning looking forward to the day’s trip up to the Hunter Valley via Dingleburn Station. The weather was warm and sunny with a bit of low cloud hanging about. The forecast had been threatening a wet day all week but had been modified to showers and we were all hopeful that the day would improve as it went along.
There were a total of 12 vehicles for the day which also included Donald and Shirley’s
Granddaughters, Tessa and Abby driving the “little red brick’. Dingleburn Station runs along the
north side of Lake Hawea. We had a brief stop at the picnic area on Timaru Creek Road where we picked up the rest of our group giving us at that point a total of 13 vehicles. It was a very quick hello before we were back on the road heading towards Dingleburn Station.
The drive into Dingleburn Station, particularly around the cliff rock face, is not for the faint hearted. I have been lucky enough to do this trip a number of times and each time I am wowed at the engineering feat undertaken by the then owner himself, with dynamite and bulldozer. I am always so glad I am not driving, as it then gives me time to truly take in the step drop into Lake Hawea on one side and the scrapings of the dozer on the rock face on the other side as well as, the all-round views of mountains and lake which were lovely that morning. A bit of low cloud was hanging around on the mountain tops and it looked wet up at our destination, Hunter Valley, but we were very optimistic that it would be gone by then.
The road is a bit rough and quite long and so it is always with relief when the morning tea stop
loomed at a doc area across from Silver Island. We had a ¾ of an hour stop which gave everyone a chance to catch up and money collected (as yes, we did have to pay per vehicle).
Unfortunately, one of our group had found the drive in very uncomfortable and chose to call it a day at that point, and headed back to Wanaka.
We did catch up with them in the evening so the day was not lost for them at all.
We continued on passing through the Station yard and headed out towards the Hunter Valley. Again the track followed around the lake giving us good views. The track was a bit rough and is becoming a wee bit overgrown in places with brush, due to this the going was a bit slower.
The cloud was still low at lunchtime and there was a bit of drizzle on and off, so we stopped for a quick lunch on the track before continuing.
Our goal was to get to Green Bush Hut and perhaps to the Hunter River. The road passed over a creek that spewed out into a wide gravel fan. The track had been washed out and we had to reverse a little to find another track which went lower on the fan and allowed us to cross over it.
We passed through a paddock of cows, calves and bulls and came to the back yards, a boggy bit to go around, and shortly afterwards Green Bush Hut.
This hut has recently been done up and is, I understand, rented out from time to time. We pushed on hoping to get down to the Hunter River, but again a road washout didn’t allow us to do this.
We turned for home, retracing out steps back along the track. The low cloud had lifted and the sun was out giving us some wonderful views down the lake and of some of the mountain tops. We had a brief stop for afternoon tea in a clearing before continuing on.
We met a station truck with 2 people and lots of dogs, heading out to check on those bulls! We arrived back in Wanaka around 7.00pm. It was a big day but everything went well and everyone enjoyed the trip.
Saturday night tea was held at Shirley and Donald’s where we all had a lovely meal and a great time socialising with each other.
CLUDEN STATION TO LAUDER- - HOME VIA THOMPSONS GORGE ROAD
Sunday, 26 th January
A small group assembled at Donald and Shirley’s Wanaka home on Sunday morning to undertake the crossing from Cluden Station to Lauder and then back to Wanaka via Thompsons Gorge Road.
We had pickups along the way arriving at Cluden Hill with 14 vehicles. Tessa, came again for day 2, switching out Abby for Peter Mountain in her passenger seat.
The weather was threatening rain and the cloud low but forecasts showed heavy rain at 3pm, so we were hopeful we would get across the top to Lauder before the rain set in.
We stopped for morning tea at the beginning of the track at the locked gate. It was nice to have a chance to have a catch up with each other.
Donald took this opportunity to undertake a briefing of what to expect for the day.
We also learnt that a small group from Ashburton were undertaking the same trip and Donald Williamson (our host of Mt Whitmore Station, North Canterbury) was there too.
We did get a chance to catch up with him which was really neat.
We headed up on to the top of the range with limited visibility which in a very short space of time became no visibility with the cloud comming down. This was hugely disappointing to everyone and particularly to our trip leaders as we plodded our way across the top of the range in a whiteout. This crossing has on a good day the most amazing 360deg views.
Because of the conditions we had to take it slowly and by the time we stopped for lunch at 1pm it was raining, it came earlier than 3pm!
We had a very quick stop and were soon on our way as the track down was of concern to Donald due to it being long, a steep drop on one side, steep downhill drive and (with the rain) slippery.
His worries were not unfounded, as the track did become slippery when we were all quietly picking our way down still in white out conditions.
Even so, there was a wee issue at one point and everyone who assisted got very wet and muddy. The Ashburton crowd were behind us at this point and kindly waited for us to descend before they did so.
By the time we reached the Lauder Station Homestead it was 3.30pm and still raining heavily but we were at least out of the cloud. Due to the weather conditions not being conducive for standing around chatting and many of the group were heading back home from this point, goodbyes were quickly said leaving 4 vehicles to travel back over the Thompsons Gorge Road to Tarras.
The trip over the Thompsons Gorge Road was interesting – every gate had to be opened except 2 which were opened by cyclists for us.
Unknown by us, but the Thompsons Gorge Road was included in the Great Southern Brevet which is approx. 1,100 kilometres of a cycling adventure through the South Island. Riders were on pushbikes and had to carry their gear, food, water, clothing and repair tools. They had started at 5.30am that morning at Omarama, crossing the Omarama saddle! They were to spend the night at Luggate. Apparently there were 200 riders. We did pass quite a few as we
traversed the road but were not sure if they were the tail end, middle or leaders.
It looked gruelling and they were all wet, muddy and looked exhausted. (Not an electric bike to be seen!)
To finish the weekend, those of us left in Wanaka went out to the Speights Ale House for tea and a chance to relax and have a chat.
Thank you again to Donald and Shirley for organising this weekend and for their hospitality in
opening their home for tea on Saturday night. It is always a fun weekend and even though the
weather let us down on the Sunday, both days were still good trips and I am sure no one left
disappointed.
It was great to see Tessa and Abby out in the Jeep and I know, Tessa over the two
days did most of the driving, but both laddies did well. Tessa handled the trip down off the
conservation area on Sunday really well, sure with instructions from Grandad from time to time, but she listened and I know her passenger was most impressed as were the rest of us how well she did.
Well done Tessa, we enjoyed your company and I hope we see you out again with us another time.
Jennifer Dorsey
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