Day 14: Naseby to Dansey Pass Camp 52km (774km)
Today was going to be a fifty k belter on gravel under a relentless sun. So again, I broke camp to the sparrows morning chorus. To start with it was a mercilessly steep grind just to escape out of Naseby’s town centre, however, after that the first ten kilometres or so was pretty flat farmland. The geomorphologist in me appreciated the towering badass-gully erosion of the Kyeburn valley loess and till as I rolled by and conversed with the passing sheep. The gentle incline ended at Kyeburn Diggings where a lodge was just starting to open for the day, and on this particular day it had a broken coffee machine – damn it!!
After Kyeburn Diggings the uphill slog to Dansey’s Pass began. The single lane gravel road followed the Kye Burn and a pylon line. It was well maintained, so other than a few corrugations it was easy to navigate. But it was hot sweaty work. I took to counting to 100 over and over again to stop myself remunerating of the difficulties of what I was doing. I stopped often to catch my breath and photograph the valley and surrounding hills. The landscape of course was stunning with the softly rounded golden tussock tops that is so very typical of central Otago.
At the top I took a moment to appreciate the view and congratulate myself on my accent of the pass. However with the day’s temperature still climbing and with no shade to speak of I was keen to keep moving.
After the arduous climb I enjoyed the speedy decent and the dramatic change of scenery. I was suddenly in deep green valleys surrounded by towering faces of schist – Jurassic in age – I felt like I was inside the protruding bones of the earth; fractured, broken and falling apart in the sun.
The road continued to follow the increasingly deep gorge that contained the head waters of the Maerewhenua River until I finally arrived at a Lavender Farm at Loch Lomond. Here I took a well deserved break in the shady picturesque farmlet where I made a couple of doggie friends and bought myself some lavender soap – I will need that later – and some lavender and honey ice cream – DELICIOUS!
I had one more torturous climb over the foot hills of Maerewhenua Spur before the final run to Dansey Pass Motorcamp. One of the many things I appreciate about cycle touring is the surprising camping grounds you find, that you would have never found otherwise. They are so often wonderful little gems in amazing locations, sometimes having used old forgotten buildings in creative ways – for example, there were toilets in old concrete water tanks at Curio Bay camp, the kitchen and recreation room at Riverton’s camp was in an old community hall, and the cabins at Waipara where in 80 year old train carriages.
Dansey Pass motorcamp was no exception. Located on the bend of a pool and riffle sequence of the Maerewhanau River you could tyre-tube down the river ending in a spectacular swimming hole surrounded by large water-smoothed schist blocks. Or, like my camp neighbour, you could fly fish or pan for gold just meters from your cabin. Difficult times indeed!
Mooching It with Juliet Jones 