Lake Middleton, there used to be a nice forest here but they’ve cut it down to build batches for rich folk

Ben Ohau Range

Rachel overlooking Lake Ohau

The road going up to the Ohau skifield

Me

Lake Ruataniwha

This too

Lots of activity here

Pipes filled with water going to

the Ohau A Power Station

All this water flows into (becomes) Lake Ruataniwha which in turn flows into Lake Benmore and beyond

I wish I could have a look inside one of these power stations

Another nice day for gliding too

Bird

The mighty Jimny

Lake Cameron

Lake Poaka, it’s warm and we feel like a swim

So we have one

This very cute bird kept following us, is it a Starling?

The lavender farm, I was here before with Jasper, back then it was free but now of course you have to pay to watch the lavender from up close

Rachel enjoying a lavender honey ice cream, I have to admit they are good

Today’s camping spot at Lake Pukaki, me cooking dinner

Rachel enjoying that dinner

What a view, and it’s free!

This time it’s the Waipara River Bed where Jimny can play

It’s an interesting area

Reminds me of the Clay Cliffs again

It’s cool that this river bed is so accessible

The bridge over the river has some nice art on it

Right?

I mean, that’s a cool cephalopod

Afterwards we went to Amberley Beach

I don’t think I had been there before

But it’s pleasant enough for a bit of a walk

In the far far distance lies Chile

There’s some lagoon loop here as well

The Hurunui River

A few years ago I crossed the river right at the bottom left in the photo with my X-Trail, that was not a big success, I’m not even going to try it with the Jimny, the rocks are too big, maybe next time

Looking south roughly in the direction of Esk Head

Continuing west

Lake Taylor with its DOC campsite

What has happened here!? See the video at the bottom of this post to find out why my Jimny’s floor is completely filled with muddy water!

Whatever happened, it had to happen someday

Luckily there were people around to help, good thing I had bought the rope a while ago and installed recovery points

Thanks for your help strangers!

Yay, we made it to Loch Katrine

This really is the furthest west one can go, from here it’s only by foot if you want to continue (we don’t)

Looking back towards Mt Longfellow and Mt Emerson, I regularly fly there

Glynn Wye Range

The eastern side of Lake Taylor, The Sisters in the background, DOC campsite is the grassy area

The DOC campsite again

Once more the Hurunui River

We all met in Springfield and the vague plan is to drive towards the Lake Lyndon area and have some fun somewhere, because Porter’s Pass was closed we went via Glentunnel and Windwhistle

Some people have funny registrations on their car (IDKLOL)

I’m thoroughly enjoying the beautiful scenery, it’s been a while since I saw this area fully covered with snow

Adam’s Jimny, he runs the jimny.co.nz website and organised today

Normally I fly over these mountains

But it’s so awesome to be driving my Jimny here now

We’re having a little break

Mt Cotton

After our break we continue towards Lake Lyndon

Mt Hutt and Palmer Range in the distance

Adam returning from what turned out to be a dead-end

And off we go again

Someone didn’t take the corner the correct way and is now stuck

Adam with the help of the winch on his Jimny pulled the Jimny that was stuck out of the sludge

Off to the westernmost point of Lake Lyndon

What a day!

Torlesse Range in the distance

Foggy Peak and Castle Hill Peak on the Torlesse Range, Lake Lyndon in the foreground

Looking back

We’re at Lake Lyndon, Porter’s Pass is open now so there’s heaps of people visiting this winter wonderland

A few more group photos with all the participating Jimnys

Looking at Mt Hutt again, it was an interesting day, just way too short

We took the West Manuherikia Track on our way down here, today we takee the East Manuherikia Track back towards Omarama, this is pretty much at the start of the track

Closer to the ridge, looking back at where we just came from

It’s a lot steeper than it looks and difficult to drive (mostly in first gear)

Some flower

We’ve made it to the other side of the mountains: the Mackenzie Basin

What a beautiful sight

The St Bathans Range

Almost back in Omarama

We’re having a little break at a campsite just south of the the Benmore Powerstation

Lots of people practicing for some competition

Photo taken from the Benmore Dam

The Great Little Jimny on Benmore Dam

We though about camping here, just off the Te Akatarawa Rd, but in in the end decided to move on

And so we ended up at this awesome spot at Lake Aviemore that was only reachable by 4WD, thanks Jimny!

Our camping spot

The Clutha River with Rachel still preparing breakfast

The Clutha River

Looking downstream

Lots of sprinklers on Raes Junction Road

A friendly cow

The bridge over the Clutha River in Millers Flat

Near Mt Teviot on the Lake Onslow Road, halfway between Millers Flat and Lake Onslow

Lake Onslow

Lake Onslow turned out to not really be a place to camp but it was defnitely worth a visit

With some beautiful views

Like this one

There are but a few batches here

I wonder what the people who own the batches would actually do here, fishing? Enjoying the solitude?

Rachel enjoying the water

This is the start of the Teviot River, on the western most part of Lake Onslow, the dam doesn’t seem to be used for the generation of power

One more look at Lake Onslow before we continue the road to the north-east

Loganburn Ford Road

The Taieri River

A stunning view

Convergence clouds

Near Styx Creek we noticed these old buildings and decided to check them out

The building is actually occupied, someone is living there, nice place!

We’re now on the road south towards the Loganburn Reservoir, this is the view north

On the Old Dunstan Rd, looking west

We have made it to the Logan Burn Reservoir, there is absolutely nobody else around for many many miles, it’s beautiful here!

Some aerial views

That’s us there

Beats any Top 10 Holiday Park!

We take a little walk and visit the actual Monkey Island

The view from Monkey Island

Fiordland in the distance across the Te Waewae Bay

Me, descending from Monkey Island

It turned out we could access the beach by car as well, so we did!

It’s a beautiful beach

And one of the very few beaches in NZ with car access

After that we had a long drive to the Clutha River, Birch Island to be precise

Time to get the comfy chair out and relax a bit

We are doing the Green Lake Track today, towards Green Lake Hut, which is basically a track through this valley and then left over the mountain

A map of the track, it’s the dashed line starting near Borland Bivouac, going south first and then east towards Green Lake Hut

The tracks starts with a lovely walk through a forest

Me and my heavy backpack

And then opens up to this view, we need to cross this boggy terrain

It’s slow going in this terrain

Lots of boggy ground, holes in the ground and then all the grasses

And when you’ve done the first stretch of this terrain there’s a next one after that

This is the turn to the left, through the forest and over the mountain from here on

But first we take a rest and are greeted by this friendly robin who took a keen interest in the hair on my legs, my shoes and my socks

Such a cute bird

Island Lake

Glad I brought my tripod

Hoping you don’t fall when crossing streams

Looking in the direction of Mt Burns, we are getting closer to the lake now

And there is is! Green Lake. Silly name. It looks blue to me

Green Lake Hut

Sun is getting low, we arrived just in time

A last photo before sunset

The view towards the Hunter Mountains

We noticed there was a track going up the hill to the south-east of us and we decided to walk up there and see what is was like, Mt Burns on the left

Good decision, the views are great, looking west here

The view north

We met some hikers that were going over these mountains and then down on the other side towards Green Lake (Hut)

We have a break and just enjoy the view, after that we started to head back to the car

Me taking some photos

Surprised to see these little ponds here

But they look cool

The road just north of Mt Burns, that’s where we came from

Part of our little hike takes us through a lovely little forest

We followed the Borland Road all the way to South Arm Lake Manapouri Campsite

There is nobody here but us

And Jimny!

This is how life is supposed to be

If you need fresh water you just filter water from the lake

I soooo prefer these magical desolate places over some fancy 5 star hotel

The view west, it’s not long before sunset

Our trusty Freedom Camping Tempa tent

It’s so cold that it’s time for some yummie toasties first

And then back to enjoying the view

This is the valley through which the Eyre Creek runs, it pretty much splits the Eyre Mountains in half, this is the view to the north-west

And the view south-east, where we came from yesterday and are heading back to today

The Shepherd Creek Hut

On our way back towards Athol

I love being able to explore valleys I would never be able to without a proper 4WD, so beautiful here

Me

Rams

Bye bye valley, we’ll be back some other time

We drove to Lake Monowai and discover there’s actually not much to do here, except a small walk, the Monowai Lookout Track

It’s about half an hour from the car park to the end of the track, it leads us through a forest with lots of fungi on the trees

And at the end this view of Lake Monowai

We are at the southern tip of McBrides Peninsula here

Our campsite for the night