Lumsden - Day 3

Driving to Walter Peak, things go a little wrong

My last day in Lumsden, I decide to go check out Mavora Lakes, well just the first (Southern) one, then see how it looks to go on to Walter Peak. This means heading back up the Te Anau road, about a dozen k past Mossburn. I stop there to see what’s going on - a couple of cafés, petrol, not much else. Even if it weren’t Sunday, there wouldn’t be much more.

The road in to Mavora is metal but well maintained, then becomes a tree-lined track as it approaches and passes the lake. The lake is actually quite hard to see from the track, even though it is behind just a thin line of trees.

To see it properly, I need to take a short walk to a clear space.

From Mavora, it is a 57 km drive to Mt Nicholas Station. For the most part, it runs through a steep-sided valley.

I don't take many photos - it’s a pretty good road, and I think I’ll get more on the way back. There are a couple of shallow fords and one short gorge, but this road really doesn’t have many challenges - I’m told that until recently, bus tours used to run through here to Walter Peak, and the tour company contributed towards the upkeep of the road. It’s not that long before I’m at Mt Nicholas (one of very few family owned stations in the area), and turn right to drive the final 12 k to Walter Peak. This road runs alongside Lake Wakatipu, opposite and north of Queenstown.

I go through a couple of gates, and my vehicle is making a strange noise: a puncture, the first I have had in this vehicle. There’s a nice flat bit I drive onto to change the tyre - it provides quite a nice view.

Here’s where things go a bit wrong. I remember that, several months ago, a friend had asked for assistance with a puncture. I assembled all the wheel braces I could find, the jack etc and put them in a bag to take to her place. Then I put them in the corner of my lounge, where they remain. Hmmm. I do have a jack in the vehicle which might work - it’s for the caravan - but I have no way to undo the wheel nuts. I’m about 100 km up gravel roads from Mossburn, where I’m not even sure there’s anyone to help. I’m across the lake from Queenstown. Hmmm. There’s no traffic on this road. Hmmm.

Surprisingly, I actually have reception on my phone, but I can’t find any phone number for Walter Peak. The best I can do is ring Real Journeys, who run the place, and see if they can round someone up to come out to me. This takes an age, nearly an hour, while they contact various people - making me anxious that either my battery or Skype credit will run out. Eventually I am told Sonya will come out, but she can’t come out until after the dinner rush.

Then I see a ute coming down the road, from Mt Nicholas Station. Sam is taking his girlfriend to catch the boat across to Queenstown, but is coming back in 10 minutes and will help, if I’m still here. Even though he takes much more than 10 minutes, I am. In the meantime, I open the gate for a couple of cars, thinking help is on the way. Eventually Sam does come back, and gets his shiny jack and tools out to help me. Ah! His wheel brace doesn’t fit my wheel nuts. No worries, he rings a mate, who comes with a full socket set, six dogs and another, very bearded, mate. These fellows are from the Walter Peak Station, not the Walter Peak tourism site (which is run out of the former station HQ). Then one of the vehicles I let through the gate comes back, stops: they apologise for not helping me earlier.

With the socket set and three fit young men, it’s no time before my tyre is replaced, and blown up to the correct pressure and I can be on my way. No sign of Sonya but I message to say I’m all sorted - she is actually on her way, but has been stopped by the guys from the station.

But the kindness from strangers is not yet finished. The older couple who had stopped to apologise come back, tell me that because I have no spare (or tools), they will follow me out to the main road - remember, this is 100 km - to make sure I have no problems. I stop every so often to make sure they are still behind me, but it means there’s no real time for photos, except for these ones.

I stop them at the main road to thank them, they speed off home to Gore. I feel that maybe a beer would be a good idea after the travails of the day, and learn that the Railway Hotel is on a back street in Mossburn.

The beer is very cheap although, as I explain to the owner, it’s a bit broken, because it ran out very quickly. He tells me he’s had a few complaints about holey glasses, so that must be it. Dinner here looks very good, but I have quite a bit of food in the caravan I need to either cook or throw away, so I might have had another beer and headed back to cook.

After a few phone calls in the morning, I find the closest place with decent tyres in stock at an acceptable price is Invercargill. In a nice coincidence, it just around the corner from The Batch - one of the best cafés around.

Cheers!