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Lake Onslow (4WD)
| If you have ever wondered why Otago's colours are
blue and gold, dusk at Lake Onslow will tell you. As the sun slips in the
sky, the whole landscape becomes three bands of two colours-blue sky,
golden hills, blue lake. Don't be so distracted by the fat trout feeding
on grasshoppers and cicadas that you miss the moment.
Lake Onslow lies in a basin south of the Knobby
Range and to the north of the Lammerlaw and Lammermoor ranges. It was
created by the damming for irrigation of the Teviot River, and the lake is
so well stocked with trout that it is one of only a few South Island
waters for which there is no daily bag limit or minimum size. Many people
remember it as the place they caught their first trout.
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From the valley of the upper Taieri River, the road
to Lake Onslow heads west through a landscape of big sky and seemingly
endless high tussock plains. In winter this can be a bitterly cold,
uninviting area. After rain the mostly clay middle section can be
slippery, but in midsummer the ruts are more likely to be set like
concrete.
The road approaches the lake from the north and then
skirts its western edge, so you will see it out to your left for some time
before coming across the track to the lakeside huts. There is room for
camping here, and the public long-drop has a proverbial million-dollar
view.
From the lake the road climbs to a saddle near Mt
Teviot (977m). The view from here is of Old Man Range, the Clutha Valley
and Roxburgh. |
HOW
TO GET THERE
From
Paerau travel south, turn into Loganburn Ford Road and drive to the
intersection with Linnburn Runs Road.
MAPS:
G43
(Roxburgh), G44 (Beaumont), H43 (Middlemarch)
N
> S. Start at H42 628267
DISTANCE:
56.4km
TRACK
CONDITIONS
Gravel
road to 14.4km and then clay and gravel surface until 31.3km, where gravel
starts again. The road may be closed by snow and ice in the winter and can
be slippery when wet.
For
further information see 4WD South Island Volume 1 (Ken Sibly & Mark
Wilson) |
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