There are many reasons we own a 4wd.
Getting into places that others do not have the means or opportunity to is one of them. Last year we got the opportunity to go up to Leaning Rock, high above Cromwell and Lake Dunstan, with High Country Journeys as part of their Great Central Otago and Mackenzie Explorer Tour. John Mulholland led a group of trucks up this steep track which starts at a locked gate in Cromwell Gorge beside Lake Dunstan, about half way between Cromwell and Clyde.
The track initially came up through scrub but quickly that gave way to tussock. The inside edge of the track was a water channel, which had a few holes in places, so some care with wheel placement was required, but generally nothing too challenging. Amazing though were the steep zigzags, which meant you could see the trucks in front of you and above you. (See picture 1)
We halted on the track, which was steep and still climbing, for a photo op to get our first view of Lake Dunstan, now quite some distance below us. The Clyde Dam was visible at the far end of the lake. Here you could see below us some of the track which we came up, but it was hard to appreciate just how steep and how much vertical climb to get to this point.
However, there was still some distance to go to Leaning Rock. Most of it up. After several more steep zigzag climbs we came out on to a big plateau with Leaning Rock at the far end. By now on the BT-50’s outside gauge the temperature was showing as one degree, it was windy with several degrees of wind chill and mist was swirling across the tops around Leaning Rock. The tyre pressure monitoring system was showing 0 degrees in all four tyres!
After crossing the plateau, and passing through another locked gate, it was one last steep climb up to the base of Leaning Rock which at 1647m is one of the highest points in this area, affording spectacular views in all directions. We parked at the base and got out for a quick look.
To the south we could see right through to Alexandra, to the west was the Old Man Range and the Obelisk (1695m), to the north/west was the Pisa Range with Cromwell down in the valley.
From Leaning Rock we could see the rest of the trucks stopped at the far end of the plateau, so we waited here for the rest of the group to catch up. Coming up on to the plateau the guy in the Ford Everest realised he had a flat tyre so stopped to change it. Three other trucks stopped to help. Of course, the spare was underneath so one of the guys lay on his back to get it out whilst the others jacked the Everest up and took off the flat. Unfortunately, he was wearing shorts, it was 0-1 degrees, it was windy and there were several degrees of wind chill. He said it wasn’t just his fingers that lost feeling!
At Leaning Rock it was exposed, quite windy and very cold. John said that on a previous trip, he had made sure the Suzuki Jimny was parked close in between two bigger trucks to ensure it didn’t get blown over or away!
After a very quick look around (with some not even getting out of their trucks) it was back down the way we came up. Going down gave us better views of the lake and surrounds. We could see the new Clyde to Bannockburn cycle track wending its way around the far shore of Lake Dunstan.
Coming through the gate at the road, we turned south and continued around Lake Dunstan before turning into a picnic area just north of the Clyde Dam for morning tea by the lake. Here it was fine, sunny and 10 degrees. A big change from up at Leaning Rock.
On a previous trip along the transmission track from Clyde to Bannockburn, Raewyn and I had stopped at the lookout above the Clyde Dam and taken a photo of the dam looking north up Lake Dunstan. At the time we didn’t appreciate that the highest point on the far skyline was Leaning Rock so it was interesting now to pull out that photo and see just how high we went on this trip.
This was a great track to be able to drive. If you get the opportunity to try it, grab it.
