|
Post by simon on Jan 28, 2016 7:28:54 GMT 12
Hi All, I'm new to this forum thus this is my first post. I've just read in the ODT this morning the Roaring Meg Track Pack is now closed from the east end (see link below for article). www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/371165/roaring-meg-track-closed-safetyThe track sounds like it is only closed over the Lowburn farm lease. Does anyone know the easiest way to see online their farm boundary? On wams.org.nz I think it shows boundaries but how to see whose is whose as often i think it shows blocks of land that make up the likes of one station. While the article doesn't give too much detail I presume it is still ok to walk up at least as far as the small lake feeding The Roaring Meg Powerhouse. A shame it has come to this but as the farmer says some people have no idea around a farm thus ruining it for all and everyone. I hope this doesn"t start to occur more around here as tourist numbers are increasing hugely but most so far don't venture to far into the unknown. The trouble with this access is it doesn't follow the paper. But what tracks ever do? The original planners seemed to simply throw a legal road down on a map without considering bluffs, swamps and all manner of terrain difficulties. A real shame this has happened but hopefully something is done and it reopens as a lot of history for Maori and miner around the track. Has anyone been up there walking? I wonder if any of the stream was ever dredged?
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jan 28, 2016 9:22:32 GMT 12
G'day Simon, The WAMS web site ( wams.org.nz/wams_desktop/index.aspx ) should let you "see whose is whose". When the web page comes up click the box that says LINZ legal Info, which is on the left side. Then when you zoom in on the area that is of interest to you, you will see property boundaries. Then click one of the four boxes at the top of the page that says info. And then use your mouse to put the pointer inside the land of interest. A box will then come up with the ownership info. The problem of access and paper roads is one that the government is attempting to solve by providing the WAMS web site. If there is any question of whether access is available or not, then, there is a provision on the web site to send an enquiry. Click on the box that says send enquiry to NZWAC. It looks to me as if this closure might be a negotiating tactic forced on the lease holders by the slow process of dealing with government. Its also significant that the lease holders are going through tenure review. There is usually a lot more behind these type of newspaper articles than would appear at first. The lease holders might be hoping that DOC will be flooded with enquiries about the closure which, the lease holders might hope, will force DOC to stop sitting on their hands. I've only been up there from the Roaring Meg end of the track. Its magnificent country to visit with a rich history of gold mining. Regards, Rob (RKC)
|
|
|
Post by mwyatt on Jan 28, 2016 12:23:38 GMT 12
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the info on using wam.org.nz, it's very helpful.
Cheers, Marcus
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jan 28, 2016 12:31:48 GMT 12
G'day mwyatt,
The WAMS web site is fantastic, and I use it regularly! Its my preferable web site for air photos of areas I'm interested in. Their air photos seem (at least for the West Coast) a lot clearer than other sites such as Google Earth. With the WAMS air photos I can seem to zoom in closer, with more clarity, than any other web site. It also has other handy features such as being able to draw lines which show the length of the line.
Regards, Rob (RKC)
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jan 28, 2016 13:29:14 GMT 12
|
|
|
Post by simon on Jan 29, 2016 7:37:46 GMT 12
Hi Rob, Thanks for the great info regarding theRoaring Meg. I think you're right regarding the tenure review for this area and the use of media for this. There are 2 more articles in the ODT today about the track closures and problems they've had with this. I understand it must be frustrating from a work point of view but surely this situation was known when the station was purchased in 2005. It would be ashamed if the track does get rerouted as that seems to defeat the point of using a historic track. The station itself is historic so i can understand the track users having a bit of a poke around the farm buildings etc. I found it strange the articles today mention the troubles they have had with their dogs attacking people. I have myself worked on a farm, obviously smaller than this one and i no case were dogs kept that would be of risk in attacking anyone, be it the shearers or anyone unknown entering the property to complete farm work or otherwise. Usually dogs were kept that were not of this nature as the last thing the farmer needs is a dog with a taste for blood that may injure kill livestock. Here are the 2 articles if anyone would like to read the farm leasee's comments regarding the track access: www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/371231/access-matter-tenure-reviewwww.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/371230/public-access-land-far-idealI note that the access has been closed since late last year which i think reinforces your point Rob that this is now with the media at this time as a part of the tenure review. What i don't agree with personally is the station lands belong to NZ yet lease holders have a right to renew the lease for all time. I get the idea that this is needed to some degree so lease holders will continue with improvements but it seems to create the notion that the lease holder owns this land when they do not. In recent times safety has again and again been used to exclude everyone, usually to keep the public away from the likes of modern day farm activities like luxury accommodation provision and exclusive fly fishing operations, private mountain bike routes and the like. So essentially the public is allowed back on some lands but at a cost when it comes to the private walks and bike rides. A nearby station here is crawling with the public compared to lowborn station. Ben lomond behind queenstown has quite a busy moonlight track from more lake to arthurs point. of course gates are locked to keep out trail bikes but the farmer has for years not had a problem with the public coming and going and his sheds are right on the track. instead he has a gold coin donation for his shearing shed for anyone curious on goings on. Miners also gain access, at a cost, which gets them a key to enter. there are quite a few right of ways on the property for the public to use but again the farm roads/historic tracks aren't built exactly on these. I can only imagine the uproar if a long term mining operation tried to do the same as some of these farmers in an area and told the public they could now not be within cooee of a dredge due to safety. I think the lease holders here know of the importance of this pack track and the tourism potential it offers. I'm not sure how long this route will be closed for but i can imagine quite some time.
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jan 29, 2016 11:09:08 GMT 12
G'day simon,
Yes "this situation was known when the station was purchased in 2005" I remember when I was living in Cromwell in the early 2000s that the issue was discussed in local newspapers. And I'm fairly sure that while I was living in Cromwell the track was first opened from the Lowburn end. I remember driving out to the start of the track where there was a DOC sign but I couldn't work out where the track went from there. So I didn't go up the track, and unfortunately never got around to trying again.
When Helen Clark was PM she attempted to make back country access through leasehold land easier for trampers. But it went nowhere except for the creation of the WAMS web site. Its just too complicated an issue to be resolved easily. I would guess that DOCs approach is to focus on using tenure review as the means to open up more country for trampers. And it suits the socialists hidden agenda of destroying the concept of private property when ever the opportunity presents itself.
My impression is that many of the Otago high country lease holders are delusional. They like to think of themselves as lords of the manor presiding over vast tracks of land that they think of as private property. But they are just lowly serfs who have permission to grow wool on government land with permission of the government. If there was not the anti-mining attitude among the majority of the population, leasehold land could be used to carry out mining. Miners could get permission from government to extract minerals in nearly the same way as farmers get permission to grow wool. And there is no reason why the two processes could not be carried out on the same land with no conflict at all.
There has been problems of access on the Moonlight track in the Shotover catchment for a long, long time. As far back as the 1980s, before the formal access we have now was resolved, the leaseholder would not allow most access. A guy I knew who fossicked in the Moonlight back then parked his truck at the end of the road one day and left it to fossick around the Moonlight riverbed. And when he got back to his truck late in the day he noticed someone under the truck trying to drain the oil from the engine. It was the leaseholder, and when he got out from under the truck the two realised they knew each other. The leaseholder then said that if he knew it was him he would not have tried to vandalize the truck. But the delusional farmer probably still went home thinking he was justified and that the only mistake he made was that it was a locals truck.
Regards, Rob (RKC)
|
|
|
Post by auseeker on Jan 31, 2016 20:12:21 GMT 12
You can still get to the roaring meg from the cardrona side,turn into the snowfarm access rd,turn right after the bridge. There's a DOC track up touhys gully.At the top of touhys gully the track splits into four,straight ahead to the meg but,left to the snowfarm or right to the top of the crown range. I've taken a quad down to the hut several times, good but but don't light the fire. The creek has beautiful reef for the next few ks downstream from the hut,the gold is sparce as it was well worked by Chinese,Hammy mentions lean pickings in his book. The small hut in the photo in Robs earlier post is a mustering hut,its about a three hour clamber/swim downstream from the meg hut, below this is a boulder choked gorge I haven't explored. There is a track on the opposite side of the creek to this hut,it runs up to touhys saddle and meets with that track,it's walking only though,hasn't seen a bulldozer for years. The creek itself is great sniping but you'll work for the gold.
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Sept 1, 2016 13:45:31 GMT 12
G'day, High country farmer sticks to his guns in hunting stoush with DOCA Central Otago high country farmer says he was concerned over safety when he took matters into his own hands by shutting out hunters.
Mt Pisa Station owner Murray Macmillan is in dispute with the Department of Conservation over hunting access to conservation land bordering his property.www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/high-country-farmer-sticks-his-guns-in-hunting-stoush-docRegards, Rob (RKC)
|
|