WEEK FIVE

11^th Novermber

Castle Hill Village to Mt Barker

It was raining in the morning as we left and it rained most of the day.  We rode along the Arthurs Pass highway until we came to Lake Lyndon and then followed

 Lyndon road until the base of Mt Barker where we stopped for the night. Just before we got there we could see Lake Coleridge and it looked lovely.

We set up our tents and had a quick tea and then into our tents for the night as the rain had really set in again.

12 November

Mt Barker to GlenRock Station( 30.7 km)

We packed up our wet and soggy tents and carried on towards Lake Coleridge and took the power station road which went in through trees and came out at the Lake Coleridge power station.   This power station was interesting and reminded us of Monawai power station but on a larger scale.  

We had talked to a few people about crossing the Rakaia River and we crossed the tail race bridge and then out on the riverbed.  We crossed a few narrow braids and then a lot of scrub before coming to the main braids of the river.  We looked at these very closely and went up and down the river to decide where to cross and then carefully crossed the river, one braid at a time.  This was very swift and we made it safely to the other side.  Once we were over we carried on along the Double Hill Run Road and on to Glenrock Station where we stayed in a lovely cottage and the horses had a great paddock full of grass.

13thNovermber

Glenrock Station to Glenfallock Station (33.5km)

We reluctantly left our lovely cottage at Glenrock and headed on up, and we had lunch beside a stream, using a rock for a table and newspaper for table cloth and gourmet wraps.  

Cracka decided to have a play splashing in the stream.  We were going to stay at Charlies hut, but it was four kms away so we stayed amongst matagouri which sheltered us from the very strong winds. 

14^th November

Valley Stream to DOC Hakatere   34.5 kms

It was very windy overnight and all day, and we continued on down towards Lake Heron and could see Sugar Loaf loaming.  Lake Heron was very choppy. 

Some very kind people stopped to take photos, and offered us fresh bananas which were delicious.  We were going to stay at Clent Hills backpackers, but they weren’t far enough along the road so we carried on passed the Maori Lakes and camped on DOC land out of the wind not far along.

15th November

DOC Camping area to Mt Potts Station (25kms)

We woke to misty rain which turned into steady rain for most of the day.

We rode passed Camp Lake, and Lake Clearwater and there was lots of traffic on the road due to everyone leaving at the end of the weekend.

When we arrived at Mt Potts there was a lovely welcoming note on the door, and lovely room with a bath which was greatly appreciated.  The scenery was awesome and it was where Erodous from Lord of the Rings was filmed. 

16^th November

Then rest day for the horses.