With my parents visiting we planned a trip down to Central Otago, and rather than the usual route, we decided to take a route through the Waitaki Valley to explore a few sites along the way.
The first stop was at Elephant Rocks, a collection of limestone boulders, it took some imagination to see how these boulders got their name, but as the lighting shifted and we walked around the giant rocks, we could start to pick out some shapes.
The entire area was part of a warm, wide shallow sea that covered the region around 25 million years ago. In the neighbouring Anatini Valley, it we saw a few fossils, including that of an ancient baleen whale.
Today the Anatini Valey is perhaps better know as Aslan’s Camp in the Narnia film ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. After a picnic lunch overlooking the Elephant Rocks, we made a quick stop in Kurow for a rather delicious ginger slice and coffee to fuel us up for the next leg our our road trip.
Our next stop was at the Waitaki Dam, part of a huge hydroelectric power scheme that consists of eight power stations and a series of lakes. The entire system was part of a 1930’s ‘Make Work’ project, but today produces enough electricity for about 832,000 homes.
We stopped off at Lake Benmore, higher up the valley and did a short walk around the peninsula that divides the two main arms of the lake. Despite the water in the lake below, the hillsides were pretty barren which made for a warm hike in the afternoon sun.
We continued on to the town of Alexandra, our base for the next few days. One of the first stops, was to take a look at the Clutha River, to marvel at how calm it looked compared to our previous visit when it had been in flood.