Ashburton Lakes

Catching up on a few blogs - this is from a couple of weeks ago.

I was looking forward to exploring the Ashburton Lakes. To get there, I drove to Mt Somers as this little village is the gateway to 'The Ashburton Lakes'.

Mt Somers is a small Canterbury town nestled at the foothills of the Southern Alps. The appealing general store sits beside the post office and further down the road is Mt Somer’s Domain and beside that the campground.

Heading inland away from Mt Somers, a sealed road takes you to Hakatere Corner. It was worth a stop. There’s a rustic stone cottage, built in 1862 that used to accommodate shepherds and shearers. Also, closeby is a longer building, which was the singleman’s or the shearer’s quarters.

At the Hakatere corner the road becomes unsealed and you have a choice to continue straight ahead which takes you to Lake Clearwater, Lake Camp, Mt Sunday and Erewhon Station. Or turning right will take you to Lake Heron.

 I chose straight ahead.

Driving through the 60,000 hectare Hakatere Conservation Park was amazing - the dramatic landscape offers such range of scenes … jagged mountain peaks, tussockland, beech forest, rivers, lakes, kettle holes and the diversity of plant life.

I stopped so many times to take photos – I was blown away by the terrain but I quickly realised if I kept it up I wouldn’t make it to the end of the road in daylight!

I spotted a sign ahead, ‘Lake Emma’, it was only 2kms off road, so I decided to check it out. The track was narrow and I later learned it was 4WD track. It did cross my mind that I might have to reverse out if it got too rough as it was too narrow to turn anywhere. But the road was dry and it didn’t seem too bad if I drove slowly.

Lake Emma is a shallow lake popular for fishing, it’s known for brown trout, rainbow trout and red fin perch. Across the lake is an historic hut that can be reached by walking around the lake. It has graffiti dating back to the 1880s.

  

Next up was Lake Camp and Lake Clearwater. Lake Camp is on the left, and it’s the lake where powerboats are allowed. I thought it was the nicer looking lake, it had trees sweeping into the water.

Lake Clearwater with a maximum depth of 19metres is popular for windsurfing, sailing, and rowing. It’s a wildlife refuge for the Great Crested Grebe.

A campground sits beside Lake Clearwater's edge.

It looks like a mini township, but on closer inspection it’s a small village of holiday homes.

It was clear that dogs weren’t welcome in the area – there was a large sign stating ‘No Dogs Permitted’.

I continued along Hakatere Potts Road – there was a 6WD tour vehicle ahead taking people to Mt Sunday. They stopped to take photos of the expansive views over the Rangitata River and surrounding mountains.

Mt Sunday is a low mountain that sits on a flat river plain towered by mountains. A large part of Lord Of The Rings was filmed on Mt Sunday. The entire town of Endoras was built and filmed here.

Although there are no buildings left now, it’s still a popular tourist destination. When I was there, I saw half a dozen cars and a 14metre tour bus (escorting Lord of the Ring fans) in the car park.

Mt Sunday claimed its name because boundary riders from high country stations would meet there each Sunday for a picnic.

I carried on down to the end of the road. To a high country station named ‘Erewhon’ – it’s a play on words – it’s almost Nowhere spelt backwards (with the letters ‘w’ and ‘h’ transposed).

It’s the home of the working horse and still uses Clydesdale horses for farm work. I was tempted to drive in to see these majestic horses but a sign clearly stated ‘private property’. In the distance I saw a couple of Clydesdales grazing in a paddock.

Heading back home I stopped to wait for a calf to finish her afternoon drink from its mum. They weren’t at all concerned about standing in the middle of the road.

Hakatere Conservation park is a stunning place to visit with its braided rivers, huge open spaces, majestic mountain backdrop and unique lakes. What an awesome day.