Clutha Gold Trail and other adventures – Part 3

Here is Part 3 of our recent trip to the South Island. There were two reasons for the trip: one was to attend a three-day Scottish Country Dance school during the Easter weekend in Owaka, in the Catlins; the other was to bike the Clutha Gold Trail, from Lawrence to Roxburgh. We also did a bit of cycling around Owaka, and some touristy drives around the Catlins. On the way down we biked in Christchurch, and on the way back we biked in Dunedin.

We were away for 13 days, so I have written up this story in four parts. Here are the links to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4.

Wednesday 24 April – Clutha Gold Trail: Millers Flat to Lawrence

Today we were biking part of the Clutha Gold Trail. The full trail goes from the Roxburgh Dam, via Millers Flat and Beaumont to Lawrence. It is a total distance of 73 km, and could be done in one day, as the track is easy and mostly flat, but the recommended time is two days. 

We wanted to stay in Lawrence, and not have to organise accommodation half-way, so we arranged for a shuttle to take us to Millers Flat, from where we would ride 45 km back to Lawrence. Then the next day we would drive to Roxburgh and do an out-and-back ride for the rest of the track.

Well before the trip, I had contacted Lawrence Bike Transfers, and arranged for the shuttle to pick us up from our cottage at 9am. 

The bikes are ready, waiting for the shuttle to pick us up (photo by John)

Jude Gamble duly came to collect us in her van. She wisely had thought that the folding bikes would not fit on the trailer (because of the wheel size). And since there were no other passengers, we managed to put the bikes in the van without having to fold them.

We drove to Beaumont, where Jude had to pick up her partner, Mouse, from a house they are building as tourist accommodation. Jude told us they used to own a shearing business, employing 50 people, but they sold out of that and are now into the accommodation and shuttling business.

They dropped us at Millers Flat, outside Faigan’s, the local café, where we had been told the coffee and scones were excellent. And they were. While we were there a whole lot of people arrived − the local community get-together, we suspect. We managed to get there just in time, before them.

Jude and Mouse dropped us in Millers Flat (photo by John)

The coffee and scones were excellent (photo by John)

We started biking the Trail. The first section from Millers Flat to Beaumont was absolutely stunning – it follows the Clutha River, on the left bank (when facing down stream). It is a very fast flowing river, quite wide, and the water is a beautiful turquoise colour – amazing. The track was undulating – sometimes, we were high above the river, and other times we were almost at river level – but it was never steep.

Sometimes we were high above the river … (photo by John)

… other times we were quite close to it (photo by John)

Everywhere beautiful trees in autumn colours, the poplars in glorious gold, the willows with their smaller leaves looking more green and gold, sycamores in gold and brown, and then there were the berries. I love the fragrance of the poplar leaves – earthy and kind of sweet.

Glorious golden poplars (photo by John)

The green and yellow of the willows (photo by John)

I was very taken with trees that look an all over reddish colour from a distance, but when you get close up, you see that the colour is actually millions of deep red berries. I’m not sure what these berries are − I think they may be elderberries. [PS - I have since found out that they are hawthorn berries]. I found it surprising that the birds, of which there seemed to be plenty around, appeared not to be interested in the berries.

There were lots of hawthorn trees laden with millions of berries (photo by John)

We stopped often to take photos. Here is a selection – it was really hard to choose from the dozens of photos we took. John had no fewer than three cameras with him, plus his phone, all of which he used. He was really glad that he took his big Pentax K-5 this time.

Rocky outcrops

There were a lot of information boards along the track, detailing historical features, or plant and bird life (photo by John)

No further explanation needed (photo by John)

A disused shed on farmland … (photo by John)

… and a disused old car nearby (photo by John)

The Tallaburn bridge (photo by John)

Beautiful rocks (photo by John)

The landscape away from the river (photo by John)

Is John photographing a dead elephant? …

… no, he was photographing this gorgeous rock (photo by John)

At about halfway, we met a young Frenchman who was biking alone, all loaded down with front and back panniers and a tent on top. He had spent nearly a year in NZ, working in Auckland for six months and biking when he could. His name was Gaël, and he had biked from Balclutha that day. He seemed to have covered every interesting bike trail in NZ, though he missed out on the West Coast Wilderness Trail, as he was there after the heavy rains that caused the track to be closed. He even got across the Waiho River (near Franz Josef) on the back of a truck (because the bridge was damaged by floods).  He started his journey in Paris nearly two years ago, biked through Asia to NZ, and had biked nearly 20,000 km. Impressive!

We met a young Frenchman, Gaël, who was touring NZ by bike (photo by John)

Just there, where we stood and talked, there was a picnic area with a couple of tables, so that is where we stopped to eat the picnic lunch that we had brought along.

We ate our picnic lunch here

A beautiful spot for a picnic (photo by John)

We pedalled into Beaumont soon after, and we crossed the bridge to have coffee at the pub. I must say the coffee was terrible, but at least we were able to use the loo.

The Beaumont pub (photo by John)

The track from Beaumont back to Lawrence was quite different from the earlier section. It veered away from the river, and ran mostly through farmland, alongside the main road, which it crossed several times.

The trail now ran mostly through farmland (photo by John)

One of the slightly steeper bits of track alongside SH8 (photo by John)

Across a paddock, I was struck by the colours of the trees – yellow in the front row, red in the middle row and dark green of the pine forest beyond. The red trees were not autumn leaves – they were red berries.

Contrasting colours (photo by John)

We stopped to talk to a couple of people on SmartMotion bikes (full size). They were interested in my blog, and wanted to know if we had ever taken the bikes overseas, and how to deal with the batteries (which can’t be taken on the plane) as they were going to bike in Europe. No, we hadn’t taken the bikes overseas, we are happy to stay in NZ and explore as much of it as we can from the bike trail.

Kindred spirits on SmartMotion bikes (photo by John)

Along the way, there is a tunnel, but it couldn’t be used, because of a slip just outside of it on the Lawrence side. So there was a diversion, where we had to ride on the road. The tunnel went through the hill, but we had to get up and over it, of course. Luckily the steep uphill bit of road had a slow-vehicle lane, that was all ours, and there wasn’t much traffic anyway.

Climbing up to the road, because we couldn’t use the tunnel, I was glad of the “walk-assist” on my bike (photo by John)

Hereford cattle near the track (photo by John)

It was just on 4pm when we arrived back in Lawrence, having biked 48 km all up. We treated ourselves to an ice cream at the corner dairy, and enjoyed it at a convenient picnic table by the side of the road.

Arriving back in Lawrence

Thursday 25 April – Clutha Gold Trail: Roxburgh Dam to Millers Flat

Having biked the Millers Flat to Lawrence “half” of the trail, today we set out to see how much of the other half we could do as an out-and-back ride. This section was in two parts – Roxburgh Dam to Roxburgh, and Roxburgh to Millers Flat.

So off we went to Roxburgh. We pulled into Millers Flat first to see if that nice café was open, but it wasn’t. It was Anzac Day and nothing opened till midday. So on we went to Roxburgh. The closer we got, the more glorious the colours on the trees – lots of fabulous golden poplar trees, and after Ettrick (a place neither of us had ever heard of), lots of orchards with leaves turning orange and red. Fabulous. This is orchard country, growing stonefruit – cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums – and apples.

We had decided to bike from Roxburgh back to Miller’s Flat and back (19.4 km each way), but we wanted to have a look at the Roxburgh Dam first. It is quite impressive. We drove across the dam, and saw where the Clutha Gold Trail starts, but we were not starting there. So we drove back, stopped in the middle of the dam to take photos. The wind had got up, it was quite strong coming down the gorge. And it became more cloudy, so we thought we’d better get on with it.

The Roxburgh Dam, seen from downstream (photo by John)

The dam works, seen from the hill above (photo by John)

We stopped at a café in Roxburgh to have lunch, then off, across the bridge to get to the cycle trail. There was only a small carpark, and there were two other cars there.

The Roxburgh Bridge (photo by John)

John heaves the bikes out of the car

The first bit of the trail went alongside the road, but soon there was a series of quite steep switchbacks to get down closer to river level.

A great spot for a picnic table on a huge slab of rock (photo by John)

Heading down to the switchbacks (… photo by John)

… to get down to river level (photo by John)

The track was very good, quite wide in most places, though there was a narrower trail through the middle through the fallen leaves where people had biked. The views over the Clutha River were spectacular, with golden poplars on the other side in rows or clumps.

The track was wide, and covered in fallen leaves (photo by John)

What a spectacular view! (photo by John)

Sometimes the track went through stands of poplars and sycamores, the smell of the fallen leaves so distinctive. I biked through taking big sniffs of fragrant air. Other times the area was quite open, without trees but great views on the river.

Stands of sycamores (photo by John)

It wasn’t all golden poplars and sycamores: we went through patches of kānuka,  a NZ native similar to, but different from, mānuka. An information board explains that it was once the dominant native tree in this shrubland. Māori consider kānuka as “nursery trees”, as they protect the young of larger trees because they cope with wind, drought, frost and flood.

A stand of kānuka (photo by John)

I loved the hawthorn trees laden with fruit

After 5.4 km, we came to a place called Pinder’s Pond. We didn’t stop on the way out, but kept going. The full length of the section from Roxburgh to Millers Flat was 19.4 km, but we had decided we would do 15 km out and then turn back. But at about 13 km, the track crossed the road, so we thought we might as well turn around right there.

Heading back upstream

This time, we did stop at Pinder’s Pond. It is a lovely small lake, with trees all around – in various stages of colouring – half a dozen camper vans parked. Some kids were playing on a swinging rope to land in the water, and with a kayak pushed off the steep bank to land in the water with a big splash.

Pinder’s Pond (photo by John)

The trees glow in the sunlight (photo by John)

We munched some of the biscuits we had brought and enjoyed the moment. Then on we went.

Sun shining through the sycamore leaves (photo by John)

There weren’t many orchards close by the track, but this was one of them, showing off all its gorgeous autumn colours (photo by John)

There was a strange phenomenon – on the way out, I remember quite a few downhill undulations, but when we turned back, none of those downhills seemed to have become noticeable uphills. I had been dreading the steep uphill switchbacks to get back to the carpark, but they didn’t turn out to be very bad at all. They had seemed so steep when we went down them − very deceptive …

When we got back to the car, having done 26 km, I suggested we keep going in the direction of the Dam, just a little way, to see what it was like. It was lovely, along the Teviot River − a side river to the Clutha – for a short distance, before returning to the Clutha.

Fabulous golden poplars

I had said to John that anytime he wanted to turn back, that would be fine, but we ended up going all the way to the dam. The wind had got stronger as we went along, and I was thinking that at least we would have a tailwind going back.

Heading upstream, towards the Dam (photo by John)

The Roxburgh Dam, seen from below (photo by John)

When we got to the carpark at the start of the trail, at Commissioner’s Flat, John suggested exactly what I had been thinking – that we should go back across the dam and ride back to Roxburgh (where our car was parked) on the road, rather than turning around on the trail, as it was getting late, 4:30.

Biking from the Commissioner’s Flat carpark, on the road, up the hill to the dam was the hardest part of the ride ­– it was just a short distance, but it was quite steep, and by now there was a fierce headwind. I had to use all the assistance my bike would give me (lowest gear, level 5 assist, plus throttle!).

After taking more pictures of the dam, we beetled down the main road (SH8) towards Roxburgh (about 9 km). Luckily there was not much traffic, but for a couple of stretches, we crossed the road to bike on a bike track. However, some of it was not very good – a bit too gravelly – so we crossed back. I would have liked to get some apples from one of the orchard stalls, but it was getting too late.

When we finally got back to the car, I suggested we go to Alexandra (another 40 km up the road) for dinner, but John was not keen. We tried a place on the corner near the bridge in Roxburgh, but all we could have got there was a “bacon buttie”, which didn’t appeal, so we headed back to Lawrence. John was keen to drive this road in daylight rather than in the dark. We got to Lawrence just on dusk, and had dinner at the Lawrence Pub, which was very nice. We even treated ourselves to a glass of Riesling − we felt we had deserved that.

We’d had a great day, biking 47 km all up, and apart from the 6 km that we didn’t do before Millers Flat, we had done almost all of the Clutha Gold Trail, and some of it in both directions.

Clutha Gold Trail and other adventures – Part 2

Here is Part 2 of our recent trip to the South Island. There were two reasons for the trip: one was to attend a three-day Scottish Country Dance school during the Easter weekend in Owaka, in the Catlins; the other was to bike the Clutha Gold Trail, from Lawrence to Roxburgh. We also did a bit of cycling around Owaka, and some touristy drives around the Catlins. On the way down we biked in Christchurch, and on the way back we biked in Dunedin.

We were away for 13 days, so I have written up this story in four parts. Here are the links to Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4.

Friday 19 April – Christchurch to Owaka

As we were driving from Christchurch to Owaka on Good Friday, a day on which all (most) businesses are closed, I had taken the precaution of booking lunch at The Riverstone Kitchen, on SH1, just south of the Waitaki River (about 20 minutes north of Oamaru). This excellent restaurant was recommended to us by our daughter, after she and her husband visited Dot’s Castle during a NZ Home and Garden tour in February.

“Dot’s Castle” is the dream castle of Dot Smith, which she achieved after many years of dreaming, planning and hard work. We saw a TV programme about this amazing and highly original woman some time back, and we were intrigued. The restaurant, Riverstone Kitchen, is on the same property, and is run by chef Bevan Smith, who is Dot’s son.

We had a delicious lunch (photo by John)

Dot’s Castle – there is no moat, but there is a lake … (photo by John)

After the best meal we’d had since I don’t know when, we took a wander around the impressive potager (fresh vegetables for the restaurant) and flower gardens. Also on the site was a series of little shops selling all manner of “designer” bric-à brac, crockery, dried flowers, artificial flowers, gardening paraphernalia, and masses of “wacky” stuff. I had a lovely browse, while John cooled his heels and took photos.

A row of little shops (photo by John)

I don’t think it’s viable, but it looks good in the garden … (photo by John)

The fancy cottage behind John is the chook house

After this pleasant interlude, we made our uneventful way to Owaka, a small township 35 km south of Balclutha, on the Southern Scenic Route. We were going there for a Scottish Country dancing weekend school, which started with a dance social on the Friday night.

We were staying in a motel in an even smaller settlement called Pounawea, on the edge of the estuary of the Catlins and Owaka Rivers.

Saturday 20 April – Owaka and Pounawea

On Saturday morning we attended the SCD class, and in the afternoon we went for a bike ride. Unfortunately it had rained in the night, and the road we wanted to ride on, to Surat Bay, on the other side of the inlet and estuary, was a muddy gravel road and looked very slippery. We didn’t want to tempt fate this early in our holiday by going for a spill, so we biked on the sealed road from Pounawea to Owaka instead.

We rode alongside a tidal inlet – the tide was in, and it was very still, so there were some lovely reflections.

Beautiful reflections on the tidal inlet (photo by John)

John liked the precision with which these bales of silage had been laid out (photo by John)

We rode around Owaka – it really is quite small, with just a handful of streets and only about 300 residents. But it does have a very nice small museum with some interesting displays. Outside the museum is a sculpture of a stylised Māori canoe, as the township Owaka, “Place of the Canoe”, is named after the traditional Māori canoes which were built on the banks of the Owaka and Catlins Rivers.

A stylised Māori canoe – a sculpture by Russell Beck (photo by John)

Information board about the sculpture (photo by John)

Sunday 21 April – Surat Bay and Jack’s Bay

On Easter Sunday, the SCD class was in the afternoon, so during the morning we first took a walk to the end of the road near our motel, and found a holiday park and camping ground. Being the school holidays, there were lots of families in residence, and lots of kids running around and cycling around the settlement. There was a nice little bushwalk as part of the park too.

Bushwalk in Pounawea (photo by John)

Our next destination, Surat Bay, is a beautiful wide beach (while the tide was out), on which there is reputed to be a large colony of sealions at certain times. We went for a short walk on a track through the sand dunes, which ended on the beach. We walked for quite a distance along the beach, out around a point where the beach was very wide. I think John was hoping to see some sealions, but we were out of luck.

The beach on the estuary of the Catlins River at Surat Bay at low tide (photo by John)

The beach is very wide, and a popular place to walk, judging from all the footprints

After our afternoon SCD class, we diverted off the Pounawea Road to go to Jack’s Bay. It took us over a bridge across the Catlins River. Upstream from the bridge was the Catlins Lake, and downstream the Catlins River (this, according to the names on the map). Upstream, the water in the lake seemed very tranquil, but below the bridge it was making wonderful patterns as it flowed around the bridge piers.

The bridge across the Catlins River, looking upstream (photo by John)

Interesting patterns in the water flowing around the piers (photo by John)

Moving water (photo by John)

Jack’s Bay is lovely beach with holiday cribs (baches) along the foreshore. It is also the starting point of an hour-long walk to Jack’s Blowhole, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to do that, as we had to go back for the SCD formal dinner.

Jack’s Bay (photo by John)

There was a lot of kelp on the beach (photo by John)

Monday 22 April – Owaka and Nugget Point

The first couple of days in Owaka had been either rainy or overcast, so we were delighted to see blue sky and bright sunshine when we emerged from our final SCD class. Time to become tourists!

First we stopped at Owaka’s own “Teapotland” – a small garden on the main road, absolutely packed with ... yes, teapots! All shapes and sizes – ordinary, extraordinary, pretty, silly and beautiful. Arranged on small terraces, or on posts, and in a display window.

All manner of teapots – on terraces … (photo by John)

… on posts …

… and in a window

Next, we headed out towards one of the most beautiful sites of the Catlins – Nugget Point.

As you get to the coast, the road splits: to the left it goes to Kaka Point and Port Molyneux; to the right it goes to Nugget Point. We first went left, drove through Kaka Point to Port Molyneux, which was once a thriving port at the mouth of the Clutha River, but after the Clutha changed its course following severe flooding, the settlement died and there is little left of it apart from a few houses and a beautiful beach. 

The beach at Port Molyneux (photo by John)

Back to Kaka Point, where there was yet another beautiful beach, and we stopped for an icecream, which we enjoyed while looking out at the beach.

Kaka Point Beach (photo by John)

From here the road climbed to a high promontory where there was a substantial carpark. There were more tourists here than we’d seen all weekend. From the carpark there was a 10-minute walk to the Nugget Point lighthouse.

The track to the lighthouse (photo by John)

Along the way one can look down onto a small cove with a narrow pebbly beach. I stood there for a while, watching the waves come in, hit the sheer rock wall, and wash out again. The retreating water made the pebbles rattle and swish. There was no wind, and the rushing and rattling of the pebbles was the only sound to be heard. It was quite mesmerizing.

The sound of the waves on the rattling pebbles was mesmerising (photo by John)

Below the lighthouse was a platform from where one could view the small rocky islands below (the Nuggets) which are home to a colony of seals. We could hear them, but it was too far down to actually be able to see them, even with binoculars.

The lighthouse, seen from the platform

The Nuggets - the seal colony was on the rocks in the shaded foreground of this photo (photo by John)

Looking north-east towards Kaka Point in the distance (photo by John)

On the way back to our motel, through lovely countryside, John’s attention was caught by the patterns on the hill – presumably made during grass harvesting for hay or silage.

A pretty rural image (photo by John)

Tuesday 23 April – Purakanui Falls and Lawrence

Before we left Pounawea, John took a photo of the estuary just across the road from our motel. The tide was almost in, but you can still see patches of barely covered mudflats beyond the jetty.

The estuary at Pounawea at nearly high tide (photo by John)

Today we were travelling to Lawrence, but first we drove to the Purakanui Falls, just a 15-minute drive from Owaka.

From the carpark it was a 10-minute walk on a well-defined bush track to get to the first viewing platform, from where we could see the top of the falls. A further walk down the hill got us to the base of them. The falls have three levels and when in full flood must be quite a sight. However there had not been much rain in the area in recent months, so while still very pretty, they were not as impressive as they might have been.

The bush track to the falls (photo by John)

The three-tiered Purakanui Falls (photo by John)

A quick stop back in Owaka for a coffee, and we were on our way to Lawrence, our base from where we were going to ride the Clutha Gold Trail. It wasn’t very far to travel, and as we weren’t expected at our accommodation until 2pm, we had a wander around the town’s main street. We saw a couple of “interesting” but not very functional bikes. Signs that Lawrence is making the most of the tourism a cycling trail brings, perhaps.

Enough to drive you up the wall ... (photo by John)

An interesting way to mow one’s lawns – if only the pedals worked! (photo by John)

One of Lawrence’s claims to fame is that in 1893, a young blacksmith, Patrick O’Leary built the first bicycle from scratch in NZ (presumably other bikes would have been imported from the “old country”). Not only did he build the bike, but he had to make the tools first!

Lawrence is also the birthplace of the music of NZ’s national anthem, which was composed by local school teacher John Woods in 1879.

We stopped at Lindy Chinnery’s weaving studio. As a former weaver, that was of interest to me, of course. We were there for quite a while talking about weaving and weavers and looms. She had two large looms, one of them the same as one that I once used to have - a Mecchia Dobby. She had belonged to the Professional Weavers group for a few years, and knew a lot of the people I knew too. I enjoyed browsing her shelves of yarns and her completed work. Her colour preferences are the same as mine - vibrant blues, greens, purples, pinks and reds ... Yum!

Lindy and her dobby loom – the same type of loom I once used to own (photo by John)

We called into the Lawrence Museum and Information Office, where we paid our ‘donation’ for the upkeep of the Clutha Gold Trail. A nice little museum to spend some time in. Lots of gold digging implements and photos of the gold rush. Because of course, this is where Gabriel Read discovered gold in 1861 in the gully, just up the road, that now bears his name – Gabriel’s Gully – giving rise to the Otago Gold Rush. Within six months after reports of his discovery, there were 14,000 hopeful gold diggers in the gully. 

After some lunch we headed to our accommodation – Jail Break Cottage. It was the former town jail – our bedroom was the old prison cell, and the kitchen/lounge must have been the local constable’s office. It was much more comfortable than it would have been back in the day.

Jail Break Cottage (photo by John)

After putting our bags inside, we unloaded our bikes and went off to ride to Gabriel’s Gully. A short distance out of town was Gabriel Read's Memorial, which featured a pick and shovel – necessary implements for a goldminer.

Gabriel Read’s Memorial was erected in 1961, at the centenary of his discovery of gold (photo by John)

A gentle 4 km ride took us to Gabriel’s Gully. All that is left now of the gold diggings are the hillocks which were once tailings resulting from the search for gold. 

Gabriel’s Gully Reserve (photo by John)

We followed the road in the reserve, and found a pretty pond, and picnic area – Greys Dam. In another area there were three huts that we couldn’t determine the use of. They looked like ‘historic’ huts, with a basic bunk and fireplace, and one looked to be in use, perhaps by people looking after the reserve. The doors were open so we could look in.

The pond at the end of Gabriel’s Gully Reserve (photo by John)

We couldn’t decide what these little huts were used for (photo by John)

The road back into Lawrence (photo by John)

When John stopped to take a photo of the gorgeous autumn leaves, I was struck by the silence – the only thing I could hear was a tui, chortling in the distance. It was so quiet that you could actually hear the occasional autumn leaf as it landed on the road!

Autumn leaves - green turning to gold (photo by John)