LAKE OHAU — GLENTANNER MT COOK, 17th March, 2021

Woke up this morning at 4 degrees staying between two big mountain ranges. But it did warm up during the day. We were heading for Glentanner Holiday Park Mt Cook. Left the lodge about 9.30am by the time we said a few goodbyes to people that we met yesterday. Arriving at Glentanner about 2.00pm. As usual lots of stops on the way another interesting day.  Just after we left we stopped off for another drive through the Lake Ohau Village and then realised how badly they were hit by the October fires. Twelve people lived there permanently and the rest are holiday homes mainly for the ski season as the are very close to the snow fields. The fires swept through the area by the high winds. Very sad to see the damage done. Many homes, we don’t know how many, were burnt to the ground. It was so instant that the people couldn’t save anything. Just a matter of getting out of there homes. All the burnt homes have been cleared away and just a clear section remains. There is a lot of re building going on in the village.

Moving on we went past the Lake Benmore Hydro Dam. Spent quite awhile around there and driving down to the top of Lake Benmore. Later we drove through  the township of Twizel to pick up a couple of supplies. Then up to Glentanner Mt Cook. Another magic day perfect all day. We are having two nights at this Holiday Park and will do our exploring another 23km further up the road to the Hermatage Hotel, Mt Cook tomorrow. So here’s hoping for another day like this.  We couldn’t go up there this afternoon as we had more important things to do like get down to the lounge and get control of the TV. for the America’s cup. Front row...our luck we have a school camp here and they all rushed in but they soon got bored because of the delayed start. Hope they don’t come back! Some have stayed. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Last photo of Lake Ohau as we were leaving this morning. Forgot to mention that the peak  

In the middle distance is Mt Cook.

As I said we went back to the village where the fire swept through. A lot of burnt trees. The pile of burnt wood has all been tidied up into heaps waiting to be cleared away.

So many tree stumps left standing like this. 

The hills up the back of the village. Heaps of burnt wood everywhere and we were told by a tradesman that a large quantity of the pine forests had been completely burnt out. 

Looking over the roof of a house that  survived the fires. This shows the beautiful positions of their sections. Stunning.

A section where the house burnt to the ground. No sign of any remains. They have all been cleared like this.

Along the edge of the lake side stumps like this are everywhere.

Now leaving lake Oahu area back to the main road. Wouldn’t have missed this area for anything. Just great.

We have now arrived at Lake Ruataniwha at the top of the the Benmore Hydro Station.

Great reflections. 

Also on this lake they have the secondary school rowing champs. All the  rowing lanes are still in place.

Just about 5km south of Twizel.

On the other side of the lake is the Benmore Dam.

Water flows down through the big pipes below.

Which go through the turbines.

And pours out the other side.

Huge swirling of water and undertow. Wouldn’t want to fall into there.

Then water flows down these man made canals to the next dam. On the edge of the other side  are some of the salmon farms they have in this area. So there not only producing power but using the waterways for Salmon farming.

PT standing on top of the next dam chattering to a guy fishing. A few men around but they weren’t catching anything.

Standing on the dam looking over the water to our van. And even that is reflecting. 

On the other side of this dam the big pipes continue flowing the water down to the next canal. Which then flows down into the top of Lake Benmore.

Now you should all be up to how electricity is made.

Looking over the canal to Mt Cook, biggest peak.

Now we have drives down to where the canal flows out into Lake Benmore. Cook in the distance.

Looking over Lake Benmore.

Driving back up from the lake these lovely contrasting  colours.

Stopped at Twizel Shopping Mall to get a couple of supplies.

We have now left Twizel to continue up towards Mt Cook.

First glimps of Lake Pukaki running up towards Mt Cook.

There she is getting closer all the time

We have now arrived at Glentanner Holiday Park.

And this is the view from the lounge

This was taken at 3.00pm

And this was taken at 6.00pm see the difference of snow cover. Then it was -8 degrees.

Still standing in the same place these are the hills across the lake.

Looking up into the area where the campers go. Lovely spot. It’s now 8.00pm as I am writing and we have the heater going. PT had just got an extra blanket out  for tonight.

Well we made it, retained the old mug. Well done ETNZ. After all the stress we went through it was more relaxing today. We can now get on with our lives