4th Post of Tour

One of the main parts of my tour was to go through the Central Otago  and Waitaki District.
I had seen various books and adverts for this area and was determined to go...

Duntroon on the end of the Dansey Pass was an interesting place with its old jail and forge and the Vanished World Centre of fossils.

From here I was into the lakes area ..... Lake Waitaki, Lake Aviemore,and Lake Benmore

Lake Waitaki is the smallest, oldest and farthest downstream of the three man-made lakes the Waitaki Hydroelectric Power project in NZ. It lies below lakes Aviemore and Benmore Waitaka River, close to the town of Kurow.
The lake is created by Waitaki Dam, a 36m high spill weir dam built between 1928 and 1934.  Waitaki was the last dam built in New Zealand with excavation done with pick and shovel, not heavy machinery The power station is to be upgraded by Meridian Energy between 2011 and 2016 at a projected cost of $NZ 60 - 80 million.  So there you go that is where your power bills $'s will go.

More pictures of the lakes such beautiful scenery....

Lake Benmore

Lake Aviemore

Twizel is  in the  Mackenzie District of the Canterbury  region of  NZ. Its residential population is just over 1000 but in summer the population more than triples. The present town was built in 1968 as a green-fields project to service the Upper  Waitaki Hydroelectricity Scheme, and at the height of the project in the 1970s, had a population of around 6,000.

The town was laid out in a 'Scandinavian' fashion, featuring looping roads and pedestrian ways, making it usually far more direct to walk than use a car. Shops, school, and recreational parkland formed a hub in the centre of the town, around which the residential area were built.  Accommodation was highly segregated: in addition to single-men's quarters in the middle of town, there was a series of different houses available, with the smallest for workers,  teachers and professionals, and the largest for engineers and other high-status residents.
As the intention was for the town to be reverted to farmland, there were many 'temporary' features. For example, instead of putting in kerbing, channels, and footpaths at the edge of the road,  Most houses were prefabricated, and intended to be portable. Some were brought from Otematata, and some were later moved to Clyde for the next hydroelectricity project. However in 1983, as the hydroelectric project was winding up, residents successfully fought to save the town itself.

Pictures of a couple of the original workers houses

Twizel was where I met and stayed with Shiree and Tim  ... here is Shiree in here Patchwork and Quilting shop attached to her house...

From here I carried on up to Aoraki / Mt. Cook but this is another posting.