Braemar Road: – by Jude
Getting my trusty map book out I browse for places to go, spot Braemar Road.. Tekapo to Pukaki which cuts behind Old Man Range and across barren country or where the military play games, open tussock country great for playing hide’n’seek! Lots of dire warnings do not enter as live munitions could be being fired, not that I would… we did see army vehicles in the far distance trundling into the rolling hills. The gravel road pops out two thirds the way up Lake Pukaki eastern shoreline, some well run stations enroute Tasman Downs and Braemar Station. We continue to drive up the valley to Mt Cook Station to where the road ends but the Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail continues another 10 km up the Tasman River Valley. Mt Cook station is in the process of felling hundreds of hectares wildling pines, it’s in a rather run down state but with the work going on at present I’m sure it will get back to being a productive station.
The Tasman River being a braided River is home to the Black Stilt, Black fronted Terns, banded doterills and wrybills. Watched in awe with the flying agility of the black fronted tern feeding on the wing, very impressive. Another back road ticked off. On returning to Tekapo we decide the hot pools would be just the ticket, enjoy a lovely hot soak in 39 degree water very relaxing and invigorating once you step out into the cool air!
Lake Tekapo – by Shane
Well well what a difference a day makes in the life of a Moho’er. One day it’s sunny, hot and exercise enticing… “Nek Minit” you wake up and snow everywhere. So what do you do… you take advantage of photo shoots around the place. Of course contrary to what most Kiwis believe about the South being cover in snow with penguins roaming freely along the main streets of every deep south town, we rarely see that much snow through the winter… ok except the ski resort areas. It still is a novelty to see snow falling and above all settling, so first thing this morning it was out for the photo shoot. Surprising enough it wasn’t that cold however it was still wiser to keep safe and not get to cold as it always makes it harder to warm up. First photos done and it’s time for a hot porridge breakfast. One of the best things we did with our Moho was install a 4kw Webasto Diesel heater which maintains a comfortable temperature of 17 – 18 Celsius overnight on its lowest setting which uses 1.4 litres of diesel over 10hrs of continuous use… cost efficient indeed. Breakfast over and done with and after the man-bitch has done the dishes it is off in our Jimny to Patterson Ponds to get some winter photos and also to compare them against the Autumn photos we took earlier this year. Jude has become quite the photographer and is really capturing some great photos as you will see below this post.
