Central Otago – New Zealand images

Queenstown NZ and the iconic Remarkables Mountain Range

The most delightful backdrop for visitors to Queenstown is the Remarkables mountain range.

Loved alike by New Zealanders and tourists in all seasons, they’re best viewed from the town. The best viewing times are from mid morning onwards and especially at dusk.

These iconic photos were all made just on sunset in early winter

The Remarkables mountain range, Queenstown New Zealand — P1170216-remarkables [the same as the above featured image]

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A year of photography – 2019

There were various reasons for lots of local NZ travel in 2019, and fortunately I had the time often to not rush trips across the likes of Central Otago, e.g. Wanaka to Dunedin and return.

The images below are very roughly in chronological order, but being lots of them I’ve uploaded with speed in mind – life in 2020 is nice and full, and sitting at a keyboard is best kept to a minimum. Enjoy!

Silver Peaks, Dunedin — *Silver Peaks range behind Dunedin on a day tramp in the damp, which helps engender a sense of mystery*

Sheep on a Southland Road — On various days I’d help an old friend Wayne survey road upgrades in Southland, and so I got to see lots more of rural NZ than I knew existed, as usually the surfaces that needed to be marked out for upgrades were on anything but main roads.

These were long days with lots of water needed to keep hydrated.

Cook Strait looking back at the South Island — An evening on Cook Strait heading to Wellington on a roadie with an old and dear friend. This is looking back at the South Island

Rowing on Wellington harbour — Wellington harbour

A relocated railway station in Central Otago now serving as a musterer's farming hut — A relocated railway station in Central Otago now serving as a musterer’s farming hut. Bordering the Oteake Conservation Area

Lan Yuan, Dunedin Chinese Garden — Lan Yuan, **Dunedin Chinese Garden**, in Dunedin. The garden commemorates the contribution of Chinese people to the history and culture of the city.

I met my cousin and husband down there so it was a delightful family outing looking at some strong history, with them both and my son

On the Rock and Pillar Range looking west — A side trip and camp out in my Land Cruiser camper, to altitude on the Rock and Pillar Range – the last of the block mountains between the Cardrona Valley, Wanaka and Dunedin. A very windy area.

Camping on the Rock and Pillar Range — Luxury with a cold beer out of the vehicle fridge, *on the Rock and Pillar Range* watching the sunset.

It got very windy in the wee hours though, and despite turning the truck around so it faced into the wind, to get a good sleep I drove a few km and parked up in a gully out of it, and woke to heavy rain.

Another evening camp out – this time at old gold diggings on the Hawkdun Range, Oteake Conservation Area.

I’d climbed up to here in very cold winds to get some photos, and then descended in the dark back to my welcome little mountain hut on wheels, aka Cafe Toyota.

Mt Aspiring in the background

Lower Rock and Pillar Range – Butterfly country once experienced and now imagined

awning on Land Cruiser. camper — My new awning on the camper – should have made one years ago for the simple reason that in rain the end of the bed would get wet.

Note no poles and my 100 year old industrial sewing machine got an airing

Sunset from the Hawkduns.

Just myself, my three legged tripod and some nearby cattle to enjoy a perfect evening while on my way to Dunedin

The now empty Cadburys chocolate factory in Dunedin.

Site of a new hospital coming up.

Classic car in Wanaka — During the year I finished off a new tire related web site in Wanaka, and so was delighted one day to spot this beauty outside the new building

Frog at Glendhu Bay, Wanaka — Best image from a sunset photoshoot at Glendhu Bay, Wanaka

University of Otago clock tower — University of Otago where my son has studied for several years. A truly beautiful campus

Christchurch cathedral statue — I had to visit Christchurch a few times during the year and since I’d never seen the city post earthquake I predictably ended up visiting the Cathedral ruins in the Square

Christchurch public toilets near the Square at night

Christchurch Art Gallery — *Christchurch* Public Art Gallery

Historic gold reserve cottage at Macraes Otago — Historic gold reserve at Macraes Otago

Luna Light Festival fairies - midwinter, Queenstown — Luna Light Festival fairies – midwinter, Queenstown

The smog of winter in the Manuherikia River Valley, Central Otago

Mt Tutoko, Fiordland National Park – photo from the jet service into Queenstown from CHC

Wintery tarn and Hawkdun Mountains, Oteake Conservation Park, on the edge of the *Maniototo*

World Loppet Merino Muster race 2019 — The front runners at the annual World Loppet Merino Muster race, the Snow Farm, Cardrona Valley, Wanaka.

These world class athletes on cross country skis are well into their 42 km race, and typically average speeds of up to 22kph over that distance

During the year I was appointed onto the Otago Conservation Board where we represent the public and advise the Dept of Conservation on select matters and strategic decision making.

As such I get to do field trips, and here is a native kaka at Orokonui Sanctuary near Dunedin.

Young lovers in the sunset, near the mouth of the Catlins River, Coastal Otago — My son and girlfriend near the mouth of the Catlins River, Coastal Otago.

I had a large print done for him of this image as a Christmas present, and it was well received.

Nevis Valley gold dredge pond tree — Yet another visit to a certain tree in the Nevis Valley – it’s my photo nemesis I think: satisfaction eludes me capturing the cold emotion of this old historic gold dredging pond, but I’m getting closer.

This visit represented the coldest I’d been in 2019.

Nevis Valley gold miners cottage — *Nevis Valley* gold miners cottage

Lake Hawea from a day trip up Isthmus Peak

Otago Conservation Board field trip Matukituki Valley 2019 — Otago Conservation Board field trip Matukituki Valley – me on the right

Proposed conservation land on Glenaray Station Otago/Southland. An inspection visit by helicopter pre submission.

One huge area – one hour flying only covered a fifth of the farm.

Lake Wanaka flood Dec 2019.

Last event 1999, and thankfully this one stopped short of the shops, just!

Glendhu Bay autumn ripples — My favourite capture for the year – there I was all set up at Glendhu Bay for a more sedate shot and a jet ski came by causing some ripples I did not think I’d benefit from, however they made for something much better.

Dunedin Gardens rose — Wishing you all the very best for you and yours for 2020 – may you always have time to smell the roses

In the Beginning

There were gold miners, and before that a few explorers and opportunistic land grabbers, and before that Maori travelled inland each autumn to harvest birds, and very probably floated down the mighty Clutha river back to the the east coast.

The road from Omakau to the Ida Valley in Central Otago passes by this cottage reminiscent of a by-gone era. It’s not hard to photograph it, but it is seldom seen in a hoar frost setting.

Exploring the Rock and Pillar Range in Central Otago

I’ve often wondered how this area got it’s name because to me it’s all about wind up on the tops, but then again I’ve not yet seen it’s full extent, especially the northern end around the historic [skiing] Big Hut area.

Recently though I’ve been poking my nose into the southern end, and it’s been enjoyable, despite being chased away by wind recently at about 3am – even after being parked into the gale the noise and rocking made sleep impossible, but that’s another story.

The ascent up from Styx Creek – I call this beautiful place Butterfly Rock…

This is another much larger tor higher up – a bit too high for butterflies

The view to the south…

The view to the north…

I used my 4wd Land Cruiser camper to get up aways to these high spots [google satellite map link], but on encountering a boggy patch and being alone I parked up and climbed on foot up to the left of this very large outcrop, then circled it and came down on the right. It was pretty chilly, so I “called it a day”, and descended, then spent sometime looking for a flat camping spot near where I’d parked, but everything was too steep, so I drove down to my favourite place…

A well earned cold beer and a sunset…

This used to be the Great Moss Swamp, but it was dammed for irrigation in the early 1980’s. Quite a tragedy by today’s reckoning, as it was the largest alpine wetland in the southern hemisphere. Now it’s called the Loganburn Reservoir…

My favourite camping spot at 1006 m above worry level – I call this spot yogi butterfly rock. But don’t be fooled – this is where the wind can be wild and free…

Dawn…

I “found” this a bit by accident while exploring the reservoir’s dam – they’re very private and even sheltered, but you’d best hurry if it’s raining! The crib, or bach as they’re known here is for those prone to fishing for introduced brown trout. The question is posed though: Ladies, gents and ? …

The rocks in the area were used as fence posts in the early days…

This photo was made on my last trip 2-3 weeks ago. The evening started out quite nice, but the ominous clouds heralded some very strong winds, and arrived at 3am, forcing me to move to a more sheltered location 7 km away…

Again from 2-3 weeks ago – the road heading north.. Many of the black and white photos above were made on the high point in the distance…

Some alternative views of historic Old Cromwell Town, Central Otago

There are countless references all over the Internet to this old area of Cromwell, Central Otago, so I won’t duplicate describing what it is all about, except to say that most of the old buildings, and sites of, were submerged when Lake Dunstan was filled. The buildings below, above the lake water level, then became the basis of an historic precinct, much visited by tourists and also host to a regular Sunday Market.

This cafe was closed when the photo was made, but they do make a great coffee, and give great service. To the right is the ever popular art cooperative, Hullabaloo Art Space. To the left is an ally way leading to the Marie Velenski’s little craft and art shop, which is the focus of the next few photos below…

The ally way...

Marie Velenski’s craft shop…

Marie, with some of her art work…

A colourful quince tree that Marie takes care of…

The view in the other direction from Marie’s doorway. On the taking of this image by-the-way, I did not see the slight female figure in the doorway. It is probably not a ghost, but I find it disconcerting that it showed up, for me at image processing time…

Nearby there is a blacksmith building that has been recreated…

Lastly, a nice wall I discovered nearby, quite close to a derelict building which is the subject of the featured image above…

The Nevis Valley, a vast area in Central Otago with a rich gold mining history

The Nevis is one of my favourite haunts, close to Wanaka, that never fails to surprise with it’s variety and deep sense of history.

If you’ve lots of time too and a 4wd, it is a great way to get to-and-fro from Southland to Central Otago…

Older images of the valley in various seasons >>

The Young Australian Waterwheel

When gold was discovered in Bannockburn near Cromwell in 1862 it was not soon before enterprising miners climbed higher up the Carrick Range behind the alluvial workings, to look for the quartz reefs that fed the terraces below, that are now sluiced away.

By 1876, based on good returns and the knowledge that more water would soon be available to drive the stampers by waterwheel, there were soon five batteries in these higher areas. However the reef then petered out gradually and mining had ceased by 1898.

The restored wheel, the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere apparently [the largest being the Old Mill Wheel in Oamaru], now stands alone, as the stamper battery it was driving was moved across the valley, where it still sits today reasonably well preserved, and relatively difficult of access.

Clever use by the miners of long ago of an existing rock…

Lake Dunstan and Cromwell from the saddle above the gully where the waterwheel sits...

Looking back at the crest of the Carrick Range. A 4wd road from Duffers Saddle on the left, can just be seen…

The water race that turned the waterwheel is still in use today for irrigation. The damaged fluming in this photo once directed water from it down the steep Adams Gully to the right where there are remains of the 5 stamper battery as mentioned above…

The Adams Gully stamper and gold processing plant remains. Note the fluming as mentioned above, up the gully…

To access the waterwheel: there are quite a few web sites hosted by various organisations that list directions – just Google “Carrick Range waterwheel”. Most of them list two ways: climb up from Bannockburn on foot, bike or 4wd, or drive to the top of nearby Duffers Saddle and then walk, bike or 4wd along and down to the site. The former I’d not recommend, and it’s certainly not a track for a soft 4wd such as a Subaru or Rav

The largest waterwheel in the Southern Hemisphere, the Old Mill Wheel in Oamaru under restoration as of Oct. 2017. This wheel weighs in at 50 ton, which would probably make the Young Australian about 35…

What is a stamper battery >>

The Nevis Valley in various seasons

Duffers Saddle in the snow - Central Otago — At least I have accomodation with me

Mts Castor and Pollux from near the top of Isthmus Peak

What is a stamper battery?

A stamper battery [a row of rock crushing stampers] represents one of many techniques to separate gold from earth and rock. The ratio of gold to dirt/rock is what determines the financial viability of a gold mining operation. Machinery is inevitably employed and has a capital cost as well as a very high maintenance cost: water is usually involved too and steel machinery is not best lubricated by water especially as it has rock particles in suspension in a gold mining operation [I’ll leave it to the reader’s imagination to ponder the downstream effects on water and river quality!].

There are many areas or land in my homeland of Central Otago where what is called the peneplain is exposed by weathering, maybe aided by glaciers having stripped away substantial debris earlier, and also faulting crinkling the surface of the earth thus exposing edges where weathering can occur faster. Anyway you don’t have to rush off to the link below – just to know that rocks in keeping with a high percentage of gold are on the surface or can be mined/transported easily to a battery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peneplain

These rocks will typically be much heavier than our greywacke and shists, and they’ve once been part of layers of sediment cooked with pressure under extreme weight and silica has been forced all about. Quartz is also evident, along with “petrified wood”.

Stampers have to be constructed out of material tougher than silica impregnated rocks and crush same, then water is used to transport the crushings through a complicated refining process that leads to a water, gold and rock crushings mix [slurry].

Water was often also brought to the battery to power it, via races and fluming constructed with great effort out of creeks and around hill sides slowly loosing height to the site of the battery. The levels were calculated by using old gin bottles almost full of water [hence the phrase “spirit levels” perhaps].

When at the battery the water flowed onto a wheel thus suppling motion to a shaft on which a number of cams [all offset to ensure balance] would lift and then drop [stamp] very heavy cylinders of steel onto the rocks. The noise is awesome [some enthusiasts have restored one on the West Coast and I’ve been fortunate to see it running briefly]

This photo shows the curved cams that raise and drop the shafts that have the huge weights at the bottom…
Stamper Battery, Central Otago

This photo shows the wheels and gears that turn the shaft…
Stamper Battery, Central Otago

Here is a further explanation from DOC interpretation boards…
YStamper Battery, Central Otago

Stamper Battery, Central Otago

For me two factors in these operations astound me: how did they get the components on-site? And how did they live [or not live] in the winters!? Keep in mind that it is springtime when water is most abundant – this must surely mean working hard and long hours to have the material ready. Especially in some situations where, the water being temporarily frozen would aid the mining!