A short day walk with river and historic hut to keep me entertained ;)
Along the Cobb Reservoir… it is the highest hydro storage lake in New Zealand. The dam that forms the reservoir was built from 1949 to 1954, replacing a smaller structure built about ten years earlier. It is an earth dam 32 metres high by 221 metres long and did therefore not fit on the photo.After the lake ends, we gravel slowly through open grass plains.Given that Riwaka, behind the ridge to our left, ist just a few km away we had to travel a long way to get to this place :DThe sun is still grilling us, but the weather forecast was for wet weather that day.On today’s plate: Following the valley track 5.4 km until we reach the first shelter – and return. The weka shows us where to go!Trilobite Hut at the entry to the track. What a shoey aroma in there yet cozy ;) Unfortunately no map of the region and our phone reception has already opted out.The green road.So we concentrate on walking. First through forest and bushy terrain with ferns and riddled with little mushrooms.Like this cute little purple pouch fungus.Or this beautiful fly agaric.Enchanted spots here and there.Up and down but generally just flat with a few bumps.A broader view of the valley as it winds back into the mountains.Endemic gentian (Gentianella patula), lives in montane oekosystems.The rain has arrived! Everything went dark quickly with a mean drizzle hurling down on us.Here the rain is already fanning through the valley in the distance.But in time we made it to Chaffey’s Shelter. This gem was first built 1953 and renovated just 10 years ago with the help of volunteers who put in 1,500 hours of labour and $12,000.Life saver ;) Had lunch there and after sitting down for 10 minutes, rain and all was gone.Leaving the hut to a clear sky.The rustic wood storage. Such an authentic place! Next time we’ll stay over night ;)
