The gang have been doing an annual pilgrimage to Blue Lake for a while now. This is the second time I’ve got to join them.
We did a day at Charlotte Pass where I gave skiing a go for the second time and had fun rumbling down green runs.
The following day we headed up to Guthaga, where it was like an random uni reunion for Kylie and her former class mates as well as a Blue mountains adventure crew hang out. Lots of coincidental trips with like minded people over the weekend.
We said our g’days and yakked then went our separate way and shoed out to little twynam.
Well, Sonya, Kylie and I shoed Kris and Hywaida decided it was icy enough to. Just use crampons. This proved a wise choice and one we’d all adopt for the rest of the weekend.
Blue bird days
We dig the tents in and settle in for the night.
I say “we” but Kylie pretty much set up ours on her own. I was in a mind daze and struggling physically. Belatedly I realised I hadn’t had any thing to drink all day. Rooky mistake
A shot of Thorzt in my water bottle and I came good and set about building a rough kitchen
Next day we were up early to make the most of the good weather to play around on the ice walls.
Atmospheric Kris setting up a T anchor for us.
Back at camp
When your mate is the author of the best wilderness cook book on the market, Xtreme Gourmet. Sonya showing us how easy great food can be.
It’s not much but it surprising at how much more comfortable a simple bench and table make the experience.
Access: Easy access to the start of the trail. Dirt roads but well maintained at time of writing
Navigation: Navigation is fairly straight forward. Signposted tourist trails
Map: Lithgow
Time: There’s various options but give yourself a couple of hours
The name is inspired by the resemblance of the spectacular towering pagodas to some fabled lost city, The lost city has been a well known favourite to 4WDers, rock climbers and avid bushwalkers for years but recent works by NPWS has improve accessibility and the area now has a family friendly loop.
While not as shady or rainforesty as the Grand Canyon loop at Blackheath it more than make up for it with towering cliffscapes and industrial heritage
Getting there:
There are a couple of options of where to start, The Northern Lookout (Traditionally more well known) and the Southern Lookout (up until recently more of a local secret.)
Drive out of Lithgow via Atkinson Street and continue up State Mine Gully Road.
(Halfway up the steep hill (Dobbs Drift) there is a parking area on the left and it’s worth a stopping for a quick side trip to have a look here.)
Drive to the top of the hill. The first turn on the left as it flattens out will take you to the southern car park.
Alternatively continue along and onto Glowworm tunnel road. Take the left fork at the Bungleboori Picnic ground, then left again. this will take you to the Northern car park.
Suggested Walks.
Easy 1: Start at the Southern Lookout and enjoy the expansive views over toward the lost city. Follow the main trail down to Marrangaroo creek then return the way you came.
Easy 2: Start at the Northern Lookout and enjoy wandering through the amazing pagodas. Follow the trail down Marrangaroo Creek then return the same way.
Through Walk: Do a car shuffle and walk between the 2 lookouts. I’d suggest starting at the Northern Lookout and walk to the southern lookout via the main trail.
Southern Loop: If you don’t want to do a car shuffle but want a loop rather than an out and back I’d suggest starting at the Southern Lookout. Descend via the miners track then come up the main trail. This provides views over some old mining heritage and takes in a nice waterfall (best after a bit of rain) then a more gentle climb out along the gorgeous Marrangaroo Creek.
The Full Box and dice: If you want to take it all in I’d suggest parking at the Northern Lookout. Walk down and up to the Southern lookout via the main trail then descend the miners track back to Marrangaroo creek and hence back to the Northern Lookout not the main trail.
Of course if you don’t wish to tackle the stairs it’s worth just visiting the lookouts.
Despite just getting back from Blue Lake hot on the heals of New Zealand we were feeling like we hadn’t been too active this winter. I hadn’t really been riding and Kylie was missing regular trips to the climbing gym and we were both missing canyoning.
We briefly considered a simple Empress run then I thought to myself, I haven’t done Hat Hill in like forever.
Hey Kylie, says I, I haven’t done Hat Hill in like forever.
Me neither, says Kylie.
So we put a last minute call out and H joins us.
Driving into Blackheath, Um, Does anyone know where we are going? say I
A quick check on Ozultimates to confirm the car park and we are off.
We had considered abseiling in via one of the side canyons but there had been a crap load of ran through the week and since we hadn’t done it in like forever we decided to stick with the standard trip as a reccie for later adventures.
We are expecting the water levels to be up and were prepared to abort the trip if it was too high.
The walk in is short and easy we get to the start of the first section now dramas
The water was a bit pushy, making the down climb a bit tricky
The first section is a nice little teaser, the walls close in then pretty much open out.
But it’s pretty creek walking in between the canyon sections
We take the time to explore up the side canyon on the right making plans for future trips before heading down stream
The high water made some features a bit harder to negotiate than usual.
We scope out the entry to the middle section and carefully consider it before committing.
A still from Kylie’s Video. Might not look like much but personally I would be reluctant to try it any higher. If you needed to reverse out for any reason it would be problematic
There is a lot of tree fall which would also create dangerous hazards in high water. the calmer bits between, though were noice.
The lower section was as pretty as ever with multiple side waterfalls
the infamous double arch waterfall in a side canyon
Making our way back up to the exit through the lower section was surprisingly hard work. The extra water flow and deep sand working like resistance training on every step.
And back at the exit there was nothing left but to have lunch then haul out.
Doesn’t really need words but we road tripped out of Melbourne and made our first stop in The Great Otways NP for waterfalls and old growth Gondwana forests.
Glowworms. Always chasing glowworms
And then we cruise on down the road turning left at every opportunity to look at big rocks sticking out of the southern ocean.
We spend the night at Warrnambool and then make our way back on the slightly less travel inland route to check out the amzing geology of Victorias extinct volcanos and salt lakes
There’s one more geological marvel we want to see.
But before we get there we stop at a PDS to empty the grey water out of van and top up fresh water.
While there and another van pulls up and out jumps Debby Downer wanting a chat.
Moeraki Boulders? Says him after asking where we are heading. That’s a big lot of disappointment. nothing there, just rocks on a beach…
And he proceeds to launch into a general whinge about the world, life, and modern times intermingled with a racist rant or two. I curse at how slow the grey water tank drains and opt to just pretend it’s finished so I can move on quicker…
So what are the Moeraki Boulders?
Well old racist Karen was sort of right, they are rocks on a beach.
But not just any rocks, they are concretions, Septarian Concretions to be exact. Similar to the ones we saw in the cave tour only bigger. Much bigger.
What the hell are Septarian Concretions?
I’m glad you ask.
They are nodules of rock, typically spherical, usually formed in cabanate rich mudstone. They often “grow” around something, a crab claw or dinosaur bone for example, so often contain fossils in their centre.
So basically as dumbed down as I needed it explained to me, a bit of organic matter is engulfed in mud and a rock “crystal” grows around it before the mud/sand is rockyfied itself.
Time move son and the softer mudstone or sandstone is eroded from around the harder nodule leaving behind big marbles.
And if that’s not impressive enough to make you want to check them out. Well they are on a spectacular stretch of beach.
And, well
Just look at them!
There are other, similar concretions 20km south at Shag Point (Teheheh, Shag!) that contain plesiosaur fossils but we are heading north…
And that end’s our New Zealand adventure, for this time. The following day is spent making our way back up to Christchurch, we’ve a plane to catch.
All in all we had a great trip. To recap here’s a list of links to all the awesome stuff we got to see and do.
From Lake Pukaki we back-track and little and head east. There is something we want to check out on the East Coast. On the way we spot tourist signs and make the occasional diversion to check them out.
One of the more interesting ones was Elephant Rocks near Duntroon.
Once again these are just in old mates paddock and it’s a honour system donation to enter.
What are they?
Well they are big rocks sticking out of the grass.
More specifically they are the disected remnants of the Otekaike Limestone formation sitting over Oligocene Koloamu Greensand.
That is. Big limestone rocks sticking out of the grass.
The site was used as a filming location for the film version of that famous fantasy book that was filmed in New Zealand.
No, not that one! The Chronicles of Narnia.
The rocks look nothing like Elephants, nor witches, lions or wardrobes.
But they are pretty cool.
From here the plan is to push through to the east coast
From Aoraki we head down the valley to Lake Pukaki.
One of the larger freedom camps we’ve come across to date, we set the van up with tremendous views across the expansive lake.
The reflections off the snow capped mountains made great photos with a grand view of the sun set.
This also gives me an idea. I do a few calculations and check a few things and work out that in the wee hours of the morning the Milkyway should be splayed out horizontally above the mountains.
Now I just need to decide if I really want to interrupt my sleep to crawl out of a nice warm bed and stand in the cold….
Milky over the lake with a truck passing over the spillway.
Another hour and it might have presented as more of an arch over the mountains but it was 2:30am and -6ºC. I wasn’t hanging around.
Lake Pukaki was just one of the amazing lakes we drove past / stopped at / were amazed by.
This might sound naive but the size and amount of lakes caught me by surprise. I mean, I knew the rivers and creek systems were a lot higher flow but kinda just assumed they tumbled off the mountains and flowed into the ocean. Coming from the driest habitable continent on earth the shear amount of lakes contained by our little cousin across the ditch, and their size, blew me away.
Below is a random collection of photos of just some of the ones we stopped at for photos.
Anyhoo after the epic nightscape shoot we sleep in a little then head to Elephant Rocks.
From the Clay Cliffs we make our way up to White Horse Hill campground which is nestled below the towering peak of Aorali/Mount Cook.
White Horse Hill is a paid ground. During the winter the main toilet/shower blocks are closed off as the frequent negative temperatures lead to burst pipes and what not. What you are left with is two of the smelliest drop toilets I’ve ever encountered, And I’ve done long weekends at Newnes Camp ground in it’s heyday.
Take the biggest breath you can here and hold it as long as you can, a young whipper snapper was heard giving advice to her younger brother…..
Don’t let that put you off though, the scenery is well worth a skinny loo or two.
We roll in late afternoon and set the camp up. The temperature is already -2ºC and falling. The little diesel heater fitted in the van is amazing.
As night settles in and the temp plummets to -8º we decide to brave it for the sake of the most amazingly clear night sky.
Clicky Clicky to see full photo
The next day we head out on the Hooker Valley Trail.
Normally this gives the closest access to the base Aoraki the general public will get and also views over the proglacial Hooker Lake, complete with icebergs, however only a short section of the trail was open at the time of our visit due to track work and a bridge being washed out.
the short open section did, however provide great views over the Mueller Glacier and it’s lake.
Next we return to the van and duck over to the village for a coffee. While there we dropped in to the Department of Conservation information centre.
Wow!!!
What an amazing free resource. If you were in the area and the weather was bad you could easily spend a whole day in here. There are displays and videos and more lots more.
But today was a blue bird day so we have a quick look and then head over towards the Tasman Glacier.
Here you can take helicopter tour or a boat tour on the lake. We opt to just do the tourist walks.
Sitting between NZ’s two tallest peaks the Tasman is New Zealand’s largest glacier, being up to 4km wide and 600m thick in places. It had remained a fairy constant 28km long through out its recorded history up until it starting to retreat in the 1990s. It’s currently 23km long and retreating on average 180m/year.
Looking up the lake from the tourist lookout the glacier is’t much to look at. Compared to the white snow and crystal blue ice on the Franz Josef, the Tasman crunches up and contains a lot more rock and minerals (Glacier flour), giving it a dark, almost dirty appearance. Without the information sign at the I doubt most people, me included, would pick it out in the distance.
The lake, however is stunning.
The Blue Pools. When named they were connected to the glacier and very blue. Now they are cut off they are more a stagnant green.
Back at the van we start heading back down the valley.
On the way in I’d caught a glimpse of Wakefield Falls. It caught my eye on the way back out.
Is that waterfall frozen?
Looks like it.
It’s difficult to come to terms with scale here. That waterfall tumbles 230 vertical meters.
We pull over for a better look.
Na, it’s flowing. Looks like a cracker of a slot it’s tumbling into.
Should we go for a look.
hell yeah.
I grab the camera and off we go.
There is what appears to be a former tourist trail that comes and goes through the scrub and scree.
Did I mention it is hard to come to terms with scale here? It becomes apparent it’s further than it first looked.
Belatedly I realise in my excitement to get going I failed to grab my puffer jacket and beanie. This is how silly tourist get themselves on the news kids. Luckily not today though
Halfway up we meet to Russian(?) guys coming back down.
Did you get to the waterfall? ask we
Yes yes. Beautiful. Very careful. Very careful.
We push on. We reach the end of the flatter basin and the terrain gets steeper and looser. We had been yeeting up but slow here. A rolled ankle, rock fall or dislodging the scree here would be bad indeed.
There is still a fair way to go. Says Kylie. We should set a hard stop point.
Good idea.
It had been about 2:15pm when we left the van. We decide at 3:15 we need to turn around to get back prior to loosing the light.
I think we gained about 200m of elevation from the road. A bit after 3pm we get to a point where we had a a reasonable view into the slot where 3 streams of the falls converge.
We are so close. Another 10-15min and we’d be at the base of the falls. but hard stops are hard stops and but I know by the time I get the camera set up and get some shot we’d be close to time so thats what we do.
I’d guesstimate the bottom tier you can see here is about 50m tall
We get the shots and video in and scoot back down.
Part way down we come across this old information sign. Weird spot but I guess the old tourist track came up to this vantage point.
Explaining how the moraines pushed up by the glaciers formed dams in the rivers as the glacier retreated. or sumfink
Back at the van we chug down the road making for a freedom camp at lake Pukaki
From Wanaka at the end of the Haast Pass we head up to Omarama for another geological wonder, the Clay Cliffs.
We miss timed it a bit and got there pretty much at noon which meant the contrasting light made photography difficult but hopefully the epicness of the landscape still came through.
The Omarama Clay Cliffs are on private land and there’s a honesty system donation to enter.
Formed from millions of years of sediment deposit at the bottom of a lake then uplifted and tilted, the Clay Cliffs are a classic example of what is termed “Badlands erosion”
They really are spectacular.
Kylie has a much better and more scientific explanation of these formations.
Here’s what she said
“I still remember the first time our lecturer brought us here and told us to “run wild and free” as he explained to us this magnificent example of tectonics in action. The Clay Cliffs are sedimentary deposits that were once the base of river bed. Due to the position of the Ostler Fault line under the South Island of New Zealand the river bed has been uplifted overtime and then eroded to form these strikingly alien planet like features.
New Zealand is an amazing country to see Earth in motion, similar to Iceland where tectonic forces are still very much at play building the landscape as we speak. Unlike Australia that is so ancient it only erodes now.
Anyway the Clay Cliffs are totally cool, I’m still finding new parts of it to explore every time I come back.”
Click to make the photo go biggish
it was still a little chillyIce
After spending most of the afternoon here we jump in the van and make tracks up to Aoraki aka Mount Cook.
sleepwhenwearedead 