Exploring Up & Down Lake Ohau

Tuesday 9 December

Maybe not as sunny as the day we arrived, but despite the wind across Lake Ōhau, it was a fabulous day. Day dawned grey and a little chilly but hints of blue sky boded well. My mate Shane from Montreal had packed up his tent and we had a quick chat before he hit the road - wishing him safe travels and no more spills!

We downloaded the bikes and set off down the lake to check out the other camping options we had passed on our way in - spoiler alert, there were some cool places but none as nice as where we ended up! There was 2km of gravel road before we hit the tar seal near a freedom camping spot and the Lodge; the views up the lake as we headed south were so epic and we stopped a few times to take in the vistas. Looking right you could see the zigzag road heading up the mountains to the Ōhau Ski Fields - closed at this time of year - and it looked pretty gnarly!

We checked out the other Lake Ōhau DOC camp, Lake Middlemore, but were not very excited by it - tucked in around a small low lake across the road from the big lake, it was fine, but lacked the views. We cycled up to Ōhau Village to have a look around - a big bush fire ripped through here a few years back, taking out many of the houses so it was interesting seeing how people had rebuilt - there were a couple of giant log houses, lots of Coloursteel DOC hut chic buildings, some schist and wood properties and some classic kiwi brick'n'tiles. Had a lovely chat with a woman attending her garden and fabulous peonies - she confirmed our suspicions that this was mostly a holiday village with maybe 10-20% permanent residents.

Cycling back to Banjo, we dropped into Lake Ōhau Lodge which is a stop on the A2O cycle trail and Louis got a coffee. The old lodge is quite traditional with lots of tartan, mounted deer heads, giant pine cones and vintage furnishings but it looks like a lovely place to stay. There are heaps of cabins all over the grounds and attached to the lodge - I guess it gets super busy in ski season and when the A2O cycle trail is in full flow over midsummer/early autumn.

Back at camp we had lunch by the lake, fending off bothersome sandflies then had a wee snooze before heading off up the Lake and the Hopkins River towards Mount Glenmary & Mount Ward.

It was a fabulous drive on a fairly decent gravel road, crossing a couple of fords and a dozen cattle grids before dropping onto an “unmaintained road” which soon put a stop to our adventures when we came to a treacherous rocky patch we were unwilling to risk taking the Pajero over! It looks quite innocuous in the photo above, but there was a ford/stream with a huge drop in and climb out, plus enormous rocks to negotiate across the stream bed!

On our way up we had crossed the paddock at Lake Ōhau Station with ease as all the sheep & lambs were penned in to one side; on the way back, the same paddock which we had crossed earlier was now teaming with sheep & lambs as most of the lambs had now been docked and the boys had all been de-bollocked and the farmers were just getting on with the last few. I jumped out to tell them about a lamb we had spotted along the roadside a km or two further up the track, and let Louis and the Pajero in and out of the gates through the paddock - doing my best to herd the curious and rather bloody bottomed lambs out of the way! It was a hoot trying to get through with baaing & bleating creatures every which way who seemed to have no fear of the Pajero!

We stopped at Temple Valley for a short walk - but didn’t last long as it was pretty gnarly, much further than we thought, it was later than we thought and my knees said just no - as did the several fallen trees across the track. Did spend some time admiring the vibrant red beech mistletoe though - so stunning and the bees love it.

Back past the avalanche zone, across the not so lumpy ford and the CattleStop # 4 we returned to Round Bush DOC camp where we BBQed a flat chook and attempted to have dinner by the lakeside but the sandflies won out and drove us inside!

The golden sunlight on the mountain tops as the sun set was gorgeous. Fell into bed exhausted and replete from such a lovely day.