I left Omarama 8.30 am Sunday 1st February with concern re an unusual on-and-off rattling sound from the right front of the engine which had become noticeable as I travelled up to Mt Cook last week. I therefore decided that after my intended visits Sunday and Monday to Waimate I should get the van checked out by the Ford Dealer in Oamaru.
First stop on the journey east was to the Benmore Hydroelectric Power Station with its earth dam holding back the largest man-made lake in NZ. In 1958 I worked for the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) in the Dunedin Regional Office, and my first job was to design the water reticulation and sewerage layout for the new Otematata Township that was to provide several hundred homes and dozens of single men’s cabins, all for staff involved in the dam construction.
My varsity boarding house and engineering school friend Doug Inch in 1959 joined the MWD staff at Benmore as a senior technical engineer in the soils testing laboratory monitoring daily the compaction of the earthen (gravel and rock) materials being placed and in particular the clay wall core of the dam which is the main component holding back water from seeping through the earth fill. When Lake Benmore was filling the weight of water accumulating in the valley above the dam caused several minor earthquakes as the pressure on the earth’s surface increased.
So I have a vested interest in Otematata and the dam, the project being completed and commissioned in 1965.
The penstocks carrying water from the lake to the power station (cross-section in above photo) were the first-time use of prestressed concrete, replacing the steel pipe penstocks normally used in previous schemes.
The penstocks on the left above are indeed —–
—– quite massive, with the earth dam leading across the valley to —–
—– the spillway which is used when high upstream river flows exceed the needs of the power generation system.
Currently the spillway was not in action, but in full flow —–
—– the energy dissipater at the entrance to the Waitaki River provides quite a spectacular show [above picture sourced from stock photo].
Further down the Waitaki River from Benmore is a second but smaller dam at Aviemore, completed in 1968. This dam is —–
—– half earth and half concrete. Do you see the two thin trees in the field to the left of the top of the powerhouse? Well, two groups of —–
—– merino sheep are there, competing for shade on this very hot day.
Down river from Aviemore is a third dam at the Waitaki Power Station. Waitaki was the first scheme on the river and completed in 1934 with additional generators added in 1949 and 1954.
The dam itself is concrete —–
—– with the top of the dam acting as an overflow weir during high river flows.
I then headed through Kurow south to Duntroon where —–
—– after lunch at the Flying Pig drove some 10 km west to the Elephant Rocks geological wonder—-
—— that I had visited on previous South Island trips.
However this time I walked down and around the massive limestone outcrops —–
—– instead of just photographing them from the main ridge as I had done on past occasions.
The rock formations here were used as backdrops in the first “Chronicles of Narnia” movie 2005.
To get to Waimate and a freedom camping spot I had picked out as a base from which to visit the town Monday morning 2nd February I had to travel back to Kurow, cross the beautifully clear blue waters of the Waitaki River and head east then north to my overnight stay at the Black Hole on the Waihao River Reserve. The idea was to cross off my Waimate visits Monday morning and then travel down to SH1 and through to the Ford garage in Oamaru.
Black Hole was down a limestone valley —–
—– into a very quiet spot overnight. Black Hole referred to a deep swimming pool by that rock to the front of the van.
However, starting up the van Monday morning changed my mind – could I trust the engine to last out until the afternoon? So at 7.30 I cut across backcountry roads to head for SH1 and into Oamaru Ford arriving 8.30 to ask if they could check out the unusual noise and advise if I had a real problem or not. Initially they thought it may be an issue with the timing belt that also drove the alternator and the air-conditioning system but when they turned the air-conditioning on there was an almighty “BANG-clatter-clatter-clatter” and they said it is the drive system for that unit that has failed (and lucky that I happened to be in their workshop yard when it happed instead of way out in the middle-of-nowhere).
The process of repairs involved getting parts (if available) couriered in from Dunedin or Christchurch then fitting them, a two or more day program. So, they lent me a courtesy car into which I packed clothes and the contents of the fridge, and I left them to it while I took off to find accommodation for 3 nights. Three motels I tried could not take me but I ended up with Monday night in the Brydone Hotel and Tuesday/Wednesday in the Brydone’s sister accommodation, the North Star Motel. I needed room and fridge access Monday morning and Brydone was able to put me in a room at 10.30am (allowing me to load my fridge items promptly).
The Brydone was built in Oamaru stone in 1881 —–
—— and became world famous when Mark Twain stayed there in 1895. A feature of the building is the —–
—– ceiling height on the ground floor. It is 17ft (5.1m) as can be seen in this view of the dining room.
The afternoon gave me opportunity to do the last 2 weeks laundry (which I brought with me from the van) at —–
—– the Thames Street Liquid Laundromat (computer controlled – no coins any more as you pay by phone) on the main thoroughfare in Oamaru. An eventful day.
The next day, Tuesday 3rd February, I got a call 11am from the Ford garage to say they had got parts in from Dunedin first thing that morning and had completed repairs to the air-conditioning drive system and the van was ready to go. So I cancelled the 2 nights of North Star motel accommodation, collected the van and headed up north —–
—– to Waimate.
There were several places to visit based on the “Worth a Detour” book including —–
—– the Silo Art on the wheat storage silos at the old flourmill site, and the Waimate White Horse (the white spot on the horizon to the right of the silos above). To get up to the White Horse, —-
—– here seen in this telephoto view from the silos, involved a 10km drive over a very narrow gravel back road up a valley behind the above hills.
The view from the top over the Waimate farmland was great, in spite of the cloudy day.
The horse feature was actually quite small (just 18m high), and was built by retired farmers Norman and Betty Hayman in 1968 as a monument recognizing the contribution of the many thousands of Clydesdale and Shire horses to the district’s farming economy.
Back down in town I called at St Augustine’s Anglican Church, —-
—– an 1872 Gothic Revival building now on the Historic Places Register.
It was then time to head for an overnight freedom camping spot off the road back to Oamaru at the outlet of the Waihao River (recall my Black Hole stay Sunday night). The location is known as “The Box” from a hardwood structure tunnelled though the huge gravel bank between the foreshore and the lagoon into which the Waihao discharges. It was constructed in 1910 to provide a permanent outlet for the river due to the fact that the gravel bank pushed up by the tidal flows raised the river level and flooded local farmland.
On the way down the narrow sealed road through farmland to The Box reserve —–
—– I came across another ruined settler cottage in a harvested field.
Wednesday 4th February I took an early morning stroll to ——
—— take a look at The Box (here seen on the right edge of the lagoon as taken from the rear of the van) —–
—– which on the inlet end is a perching place for shags, and —-
—– on the seaward outlet side takes a pounding from the waves.
Back in Oamaru mid-morning I checked at the Visitor Centre regarding the limestone quarry tours and the evening viewing of the little blue penguins (now just referred to as the Oamaru Penguins), subsequently booking the quarry tour for Thursday and the penguin viewing for the that evening.
At 2pm I called for a visit at —–
—– Janet Frame’s childhood home where her older brother Geordie was fortunate to have a bedroom to himself while Janet and her three sisters shared a large —–
—- double bed.
Janet, whose portrait is featured —–
—– in the sitting room, is one of NZ’s most famous authors with her many works being internationally acclaimed.
So, at 8pm I presented myself at the penguin viewing area on the foreshore under the cliffs that housed the nesting holes that the birds come home to at dusk after all day from 4am fishing way out at sea, —–
—— and joined a full house crowd of whom 90% seemed to be Chinese families. The blue seating area across from the general viewing bench seating area where I sat was for premium ticket holders who were closest to the area where the incoming penguins dashed off the foreshore area through the fence openings into the grass area leading to nests at the base of the cliff.
We were allowed to photograph —–
—– the seals frolicking in front of us but from 8.45pm cameras and phones had to be put away (no photographing of the returning penguins allowed). Two staff then provided a commentary on the life of the blue penguins, the first team member speaking in English, then the second team member repeating the commentary in Mandarin.
By 9.15 three penguins appeared (they were late this evening) and around 9.45 they were coming through in groups of 5, then of 10. Around 15 came through about 10.20 when a lot of people had left. I took off then, snatching a shot of —–
—– the moon lifting itself out of the water on the horizon.
Thursday 5th February was the busiest day of visits to date. I passed this sign —–
—— on my way to Parkside Quarries at 9.0am to tour the limestone workings.
Part owner and operator, Judy, took a stonemason from Bath in the UK and me around the whole complex, including the floor of the current working quarry where Judy was —–
—– working this circular-saw cutting machine yesterday when I phoned for a tour appointment. You can see the depth to which limestone layers have been cut from 1906 when quarrying commenced here.
Once the longitudinal cuts are finished, cross-cuts and a special lifting tool cracks open the base at depth to create 20 tonne blocks that —–
—– go to the processing area (office on left, workshops and processing on right).
You can see 20 tonne blocks forming the wall of this shed where an order for thin limestone slabs is being prepared to architectural requirements.
In recent times the quarry installed a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine that can cut and shape stone into a multitude of forms. There are only two of these machines in the Southern Hemisphere, the other being in Sydney. Here the operator is carving —–
—– a dark rock in the same way dentists use a CEREC machine to carve and shape computer designed crowns for a tooth implant. The operator can move the cutting tool backwards/forwards, up/down, sideways left or right, and then start the programme to allow the machine to run on its own while he goes off and does other work. No more hammer and chisel carving. It is so sensitive that —–
—– it produced this bust of Gollum from Lord of the Rings, as well as the limestone ball alongside. This stand —–
—– of finished limestone items awaiting collection from clients shows the versatility of this ZEDA 1600 machine.
I next drove south of Oamaru to Clarks Mill and Totara Estate. With the local farming area highly suited to grain cropping as well as sheep farming Totara Estate constructed in 1866 its own flour and oatmeal Mill —–
—— using Oamaru stone. Subsequently the Estate concentrated on sheep production and sold the mill to the Clark brothers who installed modern grinding equipment in 1893. After closing in 1976 the building and equipment deteriorated until taken over by Heritage NZ and restored to working order over several years by a team of volunteers.
The “modern” grinding machines feed grain —–
—– to a range of screens and sieves to produce —–
—– both white flour and bran (used in animal feed).
The entrance to Totara Estate —–
—– is most noticeable as you travel from Oamaru to Moheno on SH1 —-
—– with a tree lined drive leading to the Estate complex.
I spent over an hour exploring the buildings and grounds starting with —–
—– the men’s quarters including —–
—— the combined dining/living area —–
—– and kitchen. There were 20 men employed from the 1800s as shepherds, crop farming labourers and butchers with another 20 seasonal workers for shearing and harvesting.
Outdoors I visited —–
—– the stables and several other buildings including —–
—– the butchery and meat storage area where in November 1882 linen wrapped sheep carcasses were loaded at the rate of 240 per day from this red door to horse drawn drays for railway transport to Port Chalmers via ice chilled wagons for then loading into the refrigeration chambers on the sailing ship Dunedin. It took a month of this daily work to load 5,000 carcasses for the 3 month sailing to Britain where the whole cargo sold out via Smithfield markets in London at double the price involved in producing and transporting the mutton. It was huge success, giving birth to the modern meat industry today. Prior to 1882 sheep were only farmed for wool, older animals then dying off. Now the NZ economy flourished on both sheep meat and wool.
I completed my Totara Estate visit with 1.30pm lunchtime refreshments —–
—– comprising South Island cheese rolls plus carrot cake and cream and with a huge pot of tea supplanted by a further large pot of hot water. This was a real treat.
My final visit for the day was to Bushy Beach to view the location where the —–
—– Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) live and nest [stock photo above].
The “hide” on the cliffs above the beach —–
—– provides a good view if you have binoculars (recommended by “Worth a Detour”), but only a handful of birds returning to their nests late afternoon have been reported in recent weeks, so I did not expect to see any at 2.30pm.
I did however spot a couple of seals —–
—– mid-beach, lazily sunning themselves on the golden sand.
Waitangi Day had me on the road again, heading south to Matanaka near Waikouati. First stop on the way was to check out the Moeraki Boulders which in 2024 were almost submerged in sand. There was a big crowd on the beach, —–
—– mainly Asian tourists, but I was able to get a photo of ——
—– the group of boulders I photo’d in 2024 to compare with the —–
—– 2024 picture shown here. Fortunately the sand is now eroded and the beach lowered by wave action to better expose the boulders (as seen in today’s photo).
Further south high on farmland above coastal cliffs at Waikouati is a group of farm buildings thought to be the oldest in NZ, —–
—– surviving from the 1840s. Why my interest? Well, check out this relationship —–
—– between my “hidden places” guide book and the view beyond the cover.
Unfortunately it was a ——
—— cloudy overcast day this Friday so my photo of the buildings could not reproduce the —–
—– sunny outlook of the picture on the book cover. The small building between the schoolroom on the right and the granary on the left is a three-seater “dunny” (chummy times going to the loo in the 1840s).
My final journey for the day had me back-tracking from Waikouati to Palmerston where I turned west to climb in drizzly wet up to Macraes Flat (Oceana Gold country) and then down into the Middlemarch to Hyde Rail Trail valley, passing on the way —–
—the “Fence of Death”. This was described by “Worth a Detour” as the place where some 20 years ago local pig hunters started hanging pig skins to brag about their hunting skills. The latest pig skin and head 500m along the fence is too gruesome to show, —–
—– so here is a recent deer skin.
Saturday 7th February I spent on the Otago Rail Trail which is now very popular with bicycle tourists taking the 4 to 5 day ride from Clyde (near Alexandra) to Middlemarch (north of Dunedin). I met my first group —–
—–at 8.30am as I left —–
—– my freedom camping overnight spot to walk ——
—– over the nearby Capburn Viaduct —–
—– on my way —–
—– to Prices Viaduct where —–
—– this group of cattle took an interest in what I was up to.
After my 1¼ hour 4km return walk to Prices Viaduct I needed refreshment at —–
—– the café at the Hyde Hotel. The café re-opened in October last year after being closed over the last 7 years. A flat white and a cheese roll went down well before I took off to —-
—– Hyde Railway Station to do a 45 minute return walk south to —–
—– North Scrub Creek Bridge where just ahead of me a local farmer —–
—- was moving sheep from one side of the rail trail —–
—– to the other.
After lunch at Hyde Station carpark it was time to head to Ranfurly. I stopped on the way to look across the Taieri Valley down to —–
—– Prices Viaduct (middle foreground) and Prices Tunnel (the tiny hole in the hill way in the distance centre right, which I did not reach this morning) for which I provide close-ups below; —–
—– first the viaduct and —–
—– second, the tunnel entrance.
So another cracker of a week on the road, with thanks to “Worth a Detour” guiding my travels.
Leave a Reply