When I was looking to escape the rat race of running IT services in government departments in Wellington I looked briefly at the “Grand Designs” notion of buying and restoring the old Cape Broom Hotel in Fruitlands, Alexandra (built 1873, burnt down in 1910, now a derelict stone walled grain store – Google it).
Fortunately, common sense told me my little sack of gold coins would not cover a fraction of the costs involved so we looked elsewhere, moving to Geraldine instead. We did have a long weekend staying in the Fruitlands Hotel just up the road from Cape Broom Hotel though to check out the area. Both of these look back up the hill to Mitchells Cottage (1876) and further up to the top of the Old Man Range and the Obelisk (1695m). We went for a drive up Symes Road, stopping at Mitchells Cottage before going further up. We got about half way up to the Obelisk before turning back as a storm front swept through the tops, discretion being the better part of valour and we were on our own with no other trucks.
Last year I got the opportunity to go up there with High Country Journeys, John Mulholland leading us up to the Obelisk then along the tops to Waikaia Bush Road, down Whitecoomb Road and out to Waikaia. This trip has been on my bucket list since reading about it in Mark Wilson’s 4WD South book which describes Waikaia Bush Road, Whitecoomb Road and Old Man Range tracks as generally rough, boggy, with deep waterholes and says, particularly on Whitecoomb Road, that getting stuck is inevitable. It was therefore with some trepidation and excitement that I saw that this tour with High Country Journeys would be taking us through these tracks – weather permitting.
It was beautifully fine but cold (10 degrees) when we turned into Symes Road and headed up past Mitchells Cottage to climb up to the top of the range. The road was dry, dusty and a little rutted but generally in good condition. At the top we turned right and followed the track north to the Obelisk with great views out over the range and down to Alexandra. It was two degrees here but with several degrees of windchill so we did not linger. Back to the Symes Road intersection, we went straight ahead to follow the track south along the Old Man Range.
The track was dry, rutted in places but not enough to cause problems for our convoy of trucks. What intrigued us was the lack of vegetation. It was a flat barren landscape along the tops with the track in reasonable condition – dry and minimal ruts. By now it was down to zero degrees with several degrees of windchill despite being sunny. Past Hyde Rock (1672m) though, it was very rutted on the run down to the Waikaia Bush Road / Whitecoomb Road intersection. Fortunately, it was still dry with very few mud holes. There were many wheel tracks in this section so it was a question of which ones to follow.
From this intersection it was ‘get in the wheel ruts and stay in them’ down the hill to AA Hut where we stopped for lunch. The sign at the hut said it was 12km and 3 hours back to Symes Road but it didn’t take us that long – that was walking times, I think. The track directly from Waikaia Bush Road to AA Hut comes in here. This is a better track so it could be that you follow Waikaia Bush Road round the triangle rather than get in the ruts down the hill from the top intersection.
John then led us down Whitecoomb Road – well not really a road, more of a rutted track. One section of this is the so-called 39 steps section. Here it is big slabs of rock which you have to carefully negotiate. There is no option to go around as the sides are tussock then peat. Fortunately, it was dry through here with just a few mud patches – none deep though. Once off the rock steps we stayed in the clear path along the top of this tussock covered area with the track still mostly dry and easily passable. It was clay based so would be very slippery when wet. In the distance, down in the valley, we could see where the beech forest at Piano Flat met the cleared farmland. The last section was fairly steep down through the scrub and bush to the council gate at Whitecoomb Road/Canton Road intersection. This gate gets locked from early May to mid-October to stop you going through in winter conditions, as it can get very cold very quickly. Even colder than the 0-2 degrees we experienced in early March!
From here it was a quick run on a good gravel road out to Piano Flat with its toilets and camping ground. By now it was raining so we only just got off the hills in time. It would be a whole different ball park with wet slippery clay-based tracks. We travelled from here out to Waikaia for a quick smoko break then on to our overnight accommodation at Leithen Valley Lodge.
This was a great day’s driving. We were so fortunate with the weather and with the track conditions. Another track ticked off my bucket list.
If you pick your weather conditions for the day and it has been relatively fine in the lead up to the day, I would say that this is an easily achievable trip for two or more vehicles. Most of the vehicles on our trip were unmodified but with good all terrain tyres. It is mostly downhill from the Obelisk to Piano Flat so a better way to go through. The scenery is great – big country and big skies. Respect the conditions as they can change very quickly and can get very cold even on a sunny day. A group of people got caught up here a few years ago in a snow storm and had to be rescued, abandoning their trucks to be recovered several weeks later.
