Epic Road Trip - Northern End of the Nevis

Monday 20 April

Perched up on the hill at Scottland, we look north up Lake Dunstan and south into the Nevis Ranges… so with patches of blue sky & sunshine luring us in, we packed a picnic and set off along the Nevis Road on an adventure!

The Nevis is a 4wd, largely unsealed route from Cromwell in Otago through to Garston in Southland, up and down, across fords, through Ben Nevis Station, 77km from start to finish… and the scenery is EPIC!

Starting out on the Nevis Road - surprisingly good roads but lots of uphill climbing, and one section of the original road was closed so we followed a new route cut into the side of the mountain. At one point quite early on we had to pull over on a steep grassy verge to let the first of three large stock trucks thunder past - we were fascinated to know where they came from...

From our end we had about 12kms of climbing and zigzagging on well formed sand & gravel roads up to Duffers Saddle, New Zealand’s highest public road at 1300m above sea level. After the recent rain, the roads were less dusty and more gently muddy, making the drive quite easy at this point as we climbed ever higher up onto the range. It was quite bright to begin with, but as we got to our first proper stop , suddenly we were up in the clouds.

Luckily we had wrapped up warmly and brought layers as up at Duffers Saddle there was snow on the ground and we were really up in the clouds! It was our first encounter with snow this season (Treble Cone snowline was 30-50m above us) - and boy, was it chilly up here! We bumped into our neighbours - Kendal & Greg - from Scottland and convoyed with them for much of the rest of the trip.

Up by Duffers Saddle we noted a “shortcut” back to Scottland via the Carricktown track and thought briefly about going home along that route... Once again, here and on our way to our next stop, we had to pull over for a few Northern Southland stock trucks as they came whizzing through.

The Nevis Road zigzagged along the top of the range - through the golden grass, tussock grass and spear grass - and eventually dropped down into a valley with less cloud & clearer skies. The views here were absolutely stupendous and almost reminded me of Dartmoor holidays... though there was more granite & less schist, and definitely no spear grass in Devon!

Dropping down from the saddle we got a spot of sunshine, some drizzle, a sleet or snow shower, a dazzling rainbow and marginally warmer temperatures (still freezing!) and the views across the panoramic landscape were beyond spectacular. At one point the rainbow lay directly over the riverbed in the valley below - just magical!

The tussock & scrub grass covered mountains were studded with jagged rocky outcrops & tors and over to the west was the snowy backdrop of the Southern Alps. Wow!

As we descended further into the Nevis Valley the landscape became lusher and we spotted 5-6 choppers flying along in front of the mountains. We crossed the river at Bridge No. 6 and found out where they were headed...

Turned out the Ben Nevis Station is an exclusive tourism venue - offering farm experiences, hunting, 4WD tours and overnight in luxury accommodation. They even offer 4WD day with Hayden Paddon - 7 times NZ Rally Champion and 2011 World Rally Champion! We paused to admire the stunning place, Louis got greeted by one of the beautiful sheepdogs and then pushed on to visit the heritage cemetery and the Nevis Township - which comprised roughly 6 buildings! There were old pioneer graves in the cemetery, and some considerably newer - apparently you can still buy & reserve a plot in there.

The township was definitely more of a hamlet, two cute cottages on the way in, a small hut with a distant dunny and another couple of houses. I think we met Ken at the house with the apple trees and the parking meters (!) - he and his wife run a POP in the field over the road - I'm not sure we are courageous or fool hardy enough to tow Banjo in along these roads!!!

The shed was iconic - with a sign pointing left and right, and detailing the distance to the next pubs! It had fully made up bunk beds inside and is obviously still in use, part time at least. The dunny or longdrop out the back was brilliant - wired to the ground to prevent it blowing away, and with a visitors' book so you can record your visit!!

A pair of cyclists were pedalling up as we came up the first hills from Bannockburn - and after our various stops they caught up with us at Nevis Township so we welcomed them with a round of applause. They were heading all the way through to Southland in one day… yikes!

The last house on the left was loaded with exciting historical goodies and had a bunch of fun signs all over the place - but my favourite thing was this touchstone, created by local school children in Cromwell a couple of years ago - learning about their tūrangawaewae (place to stand)

We ate our picnic lunch at the township and used the best longdrop toilet ever before heading off into the Nevis Gorge. The autumnal colour down here was even more stunning than the trees we had passed on the way in.

Kendal and Greg checked out Robertson Road then turned back, but we pressed on, passing through two quite deep fords, climbing high above the river and upsetting some startled sheep as we moved into the Nevis Gorge! This section was part of the Remarkables Conservation area and the views were quite remarkable - especially the golden slopes punctuated by a glorious autumn tree looking like a big colourful hot air balloon.

Around halfway along the Nevis Road we turned back and retraced our steps back to Bannockburn.

The ford at Sproules Creek was nothing to write home about, but Stewart's Gully was a bit more of a challenge. Stewart’s Gully basically had three options for crossing it -

(1) narrow section for cars

(2) wider section for cars

(3) a wee dip for bikes

We went through the middle area, option (2), heading into the gorge but it was deeper than it looked and inspired a few expletives! Coming back we inspected both options and drove through (1) - see action shots below!

The views driving in the opposite direction were as stunning as those driving into the Nevis… and the weather had cleared a bit, giving panoramic vistas in all directions, and the snow on the Saddle had definitely melted a fair bit.

The view out over Bannockburn, Cromwell, Lowburn and Lake Dunstan as be descended from Duffers Saddle was very cool, with just a patch of sunlight on the Bendigo side. We finally made it to sealed roads and I walked back to Scottland while Louis went into town to top up the fuel tanks.

Downloaded almost 200 photos off my Canon, and started sifting the 300 or so on my phone… then dinner in Banjo and a well earned early night!