Rakaia Gorge

Not far outside of Christchurch, inland, is the Rakaia Gorge. We had not been in this area before, so decided to have a look before we headed on to Timaru.

The scenery was  again spectacular – alongside Mt Hutt. We had thought of driving up the slopes but found that it was again a metal road from quite a low level, so we abandoned that idea. Viewing Mt Hutt from a distance was quite special though. We could just imagine it covered in snow!

We headed on towards Mt Somers through the little town of Arundel. The signposts here indicated a track to to waterfalls, so we drove up a narrow road only to find that the track to the falls had been closed since 2016. None of the  signs indicated this, and the only reason we discovered it was because the road turned to a metal one and we googled to see how far we would have to go on a metal road! The shack on the corner of the road was really cute, but most of the houses up this road were fairly palatial. There was one multistorey one that looked quite unique and quite a contrast to the first house we saw.

The other thing that appealed to us in the little town of Arundel was this clipped hedge we came across. We did not understand the wording, but it appealed to us as a work of art!

Access to Mt Somers is by tramping track or 4 wheel drive only so we continued on to the Rakaia Gorge. The camping ground there had great reviews and it certainly lived up to its reputation. To get to it we had to cross quite a spectacular bridge.

Two different styles but crossing the same river. In the second photo you can see the foundations of the first bridge that was built in 1882 apparently. Before that however, the way to get across the river was via ferry. You had to stand on one side and shout until the ferryman heard you, and came to get you and your horse and carriage on his punt (ferry).

The area is also the site of old coal mines. The view from the camp was great,

and there was a track from the camp down to the river bed where the dogs were able to have a bit of an explore. The river was flowing quite swiftly, so not a swimming river. The cliffs alongside were sculpted by water into deep vertical channels, and there were piles of shingle at their base, so I guess erosion is a constant here.

The Rakaia Gorge itself is made of ancient lava flows from Mt Somers, from about 80 – 100 million years ago. Apparently there are a lot of fossils in the area, especially of moa, as we saw in the Canterbury Museum. The views of the river from the lookout were gorgeous.

We were due to be in Timaru the day in two days time, to visit our best man and his wife so we travelled on the next day to be a bit closer, but with a leisurely start. Our next stop was due to be an NZMCA Park in Eeling, on the banks of the Rangitata River.

What surprised us in this area were the acres and acres of water retention ponds.

A little more research revealed this to be the Rangitata irrigation scheme which cost $115 million to build and contruction started in 2011 (it was all funded by one man, businessman Gary Rooney). It covers 16,000 hectares of land and supplies more than 30 farms with their irrigation needs. It is designed to draw water from the Rangitata River when it is in flood, and store it in a series of 7 man made lakes for use in irrigation when needed over the summer months. There are more than 80kms of irrigation channels leading from the lakes to farms that subscribe to the scheme (information sources from Stuff).

The Eeling camp was easy to find, and quite a pleasant place, albeit noisy, place to stay. It was itself just over the road from another private water storage pond, and I believe the camp was once a church. One of the pulpits was used as a place for the sign in book. However, the bird scarers were loud, as were the trains, and the continual procession of dairy company tankers along the adjacent road. Not exactly a peaceful night!