Central Otago Lakes, Cycle Trails and Great Walks

Historic Cromwell - Bill and his mate!

Leaving Queenstown to move on through Cromwell and Lake Dunstan to spend the night by the lake. We walked the burbs of Cromwell returning by the river, me in a simple shirt as the weather seemed to have warmed up.

Cycling the Clutha Trail

Beautiful mountain views on the trail.

30 Km round loop from Albert Town

We then moved onto Wanaka to camp on the side of the lake at Boundary Creek - a Doc Camp Site towards the top of the lake. It was very blustery here as it was a bit exposed to the wind. However we found a little spot out of the wind behind the trees. The next morning was equally as windy, but fine enough to have a walk around the beach. The Driftwood was amazing and it would have been great to have had a little fire there that night but it wasn't nice enough to stay. As we knew Kidds Bush was only a few minutes back down around on Lake Hawea, we headed down there.
Kidds Bush Doc Camp turned out to be lovely as we remembered it from our time with Peter & Margot when we did a kayaking trip down here back in 2014. We kayaked 10 lakes in 10 days!
The camp is slightly off the main road and not signposted which keeps many tourists out, probably contrived for that reason. The road is a dirt road and somewhat narrow in places. Being part of the main loop around the South Island, if this was better known I'm sure the road would probably be chaos with hundreds trying to come in each day. As it was, the camp had about 6 campers in every night. Lake Hawea is very low compared to what it can be. I would suggest at least 5 to 10 metres lower than it should be. This is probably not unusual at this time of year coming out of winter and the generation needed to keep New Zealand warm.

Boundary Creek at the top of Lake Wanaka

Lake Hawea on sunset at Kidds Bush

The view out over Hawea from the Sawyer Burn track

Dinner time at Kidds Bush

The next morning we headed up Sawyers Burn track - a very steep ascent on the hills immediately behind the camp to the bushline. The views from this vantage point where amazing and many photos were taken before having a light lunch and heading back down to camp. Probably tougher than the going up as it severely tests your knees and thighs. We made it back for a well deserved cold beer at the bottom.

The next day we headed towards Wanaka once more but this time via the village of Hawea. We did a walk through the village returning via the foreshore noting the large cribs being built there now. Some of them were truly stunning and as usual empty. The village is idyllically placed on the shores of the lake but somewhat exposed to the winds. I'm sure it would be a lovely summer place to be.
Just down the road to Albert Town which is where the crossing of the Clutha was bridged years ago. We took our bikes the next day around the peninsular to the outlet of the Clutha river.  Passing stunning Cribs (Baches), holiday homes or mansions, whatever you want to call them. And then onto Wanaka where we had a coffee and a bun. Well Sheryl had a coffee, Bill had the bun.
Heading back via the main road this time on a cycle track, we stopped and walked up the Iron Mountain. Another steep walk but affording fantastic views of Wanaka in all directions. Towards the southern divide and it's mountains, down the Cadrona Valley and out towards Lake Dunstan - very very scenic. An interesting point was how low the lakes were, Wakatipu Hawea, and Wanaka. All very low. Lake Dunstan appears to be at full capacity and this lake feeds the Clutha Dam so I'm guessing at this time of year this is desirable as they still need to be able to produce large amounts of power at a moment's notice.

That evening once more back on Lake Dunstan to spend the night. Meeting an Australian couple who were also camping on the side of the lake. It turns out that Russell and Jeanette were sugar cane farmers from Queensland. An interesting evening was spent listening to the philosophies of a Northland Queensland Cane Grower on how farming has been ruined by governments and other such stuff. A useful insight for Bill.

Looking over Wanaka from Iron Mountain

A very low Lake Wanaka at the Clutha Outlet

Views from the top of Iron Mountain

From Dunstan we headed straight through to Kinloch at the head of Lake Wakatipu, taking our rig through the narrow streets of Queenstown as there is no other way to get through. And Bill missing the turn off because it's not even signposted!! Which brought a 15 m towing rig through some very tight little corners and indeed straight over the top of one roundabout to get through town.
Kinloch is opposite Glenorchy, right around the top of the lake and to get there you must cross the Dart and Rees Rivers further back up the valley. These are large braided rivers making for difficult crossings in the day.
Kinloch I have never visited before. My grandparents would often take us for drives up to Glenorchy and Paradise as a young lad. Sheryl and I had also been to Paradise with my grandparents back in the late 70s when my grandparents still lived in Queenstown. Kinloch is still very much a small place with a few houses. A small YHA Lodge with restaurant and cafe but not overly busy this time of year. It is the starting point or rather the last road into here before starting the Greenstone and Caples tracks and back out the other side the Routeburn track.

A quick look on Google indicated a small 15 km loop walk around Lake Rere would be adequate for our needs. Driving from Kinloch to Elfin Bay we headed through a couple of fords, always fun. The track took us across farmland and then up a creek. We were dive bombed by magpies, one actually hitting Sheryl's ear, much to her consternation. From then on we walked with our walking sticks above our heads to try and deter their vicious swoops 😫.

Lake Rere at Kinloch

Looking at an earlier flood up the Greenstone River 

Looking up the Caple Valley

Lake Sylvan

An ore concentrator

Bill looking into the Burdens
Used to finely crush the ore.

The valley floor heading up the Rees river from the
Invincible Mine

The old mine shaft - now almost buried.

The walk up the creek through Beech Forest was beautiful and scenic but were just amazed at the amount of fallen beech trees, most probably from strong winds flattening whole areas. This was of some concerned as there were many trees still hanging and it was reasonably gusty on the day. Causing the sound of tortured timber frightening us as we went through parts of the forest. Eventually we came out to the small Lake Rere, where we had lunch and a breather. From here we carried on through the bush angling up towards the Greenstone River to a point where a stock bridge was. This area is still part of the Greenstone Station and part Doc Reserve and is grazed mainly by cattle. Signs  of cattle everywhere! As we were descending towards the river and the bridge I spotted an antlered deer running through the bush away from us but with such a quick glance, a photo was not possible. Following on down the Greenstone River  till we reached the Caples track and Caples river.
The Caples and Greenstone tracks through these valleys are a huge tourist attraction. You can see why much of Lord of the Rings was filmed in these areas.
By the time we returned to the car, it was a 5 hour loop tramp - 15 kms. Some very steep sections, and lovely waterfalls following the river through some remarkable landscapes A good day was had, returning to the bus for a well deserved meal.
The next day we headed back up the Dart River towards the start of the Routeburn Track where Lake Sylvan is nestled amongst regenerating beech forest. The area around Lake Sylvan was extensively logged back in the 1890's for timber, which was in short supply for the building going on in Queenstown and Central Otago due to the Gold Rush demands. Lake Sylvan loop takes about 2 hours if you take the old tramway loop. The track has recently been remade and is of excellent quality. Very flat indeed - one would get a wheelchair around most of it with little problem. From Lake Sylvan we returned to Glenorchy for a lakeside lunch before heading up the Rees Valley to the Invincible Mine. Gold miners abandoned the mine back around the 1930s when the gold ran out. Of interest is the mining gear left behind being the best example in New Zealand of some of the equipment used. I guess it's inaccessibility is why so much of the gear remained up there as it would be a mission to get it out. But we are told to spare a thought for those Miners that took the gear in the first place as it is a very steep track up and even with the use of horses, this would have been a mission in the day. The views afforded from up at the mine were absolutely stunning with the Rees Valley going for many many kilometres up into the mountains and looking down the valley back across to Kinloch and the Humboldt mountains. All snow capped and looking impressive.
From here it was back to Queenstown to spend a night at our luxury accommodation catching up on work and laundry.