Backcountry For Beginners

The Oteake Conservation Park lies just north of the Otago Central Rail Trail and can be easily accessed from trail towns like Oturehua, Wedderburn, Ranfurly or Naseby. Oteake comprises 67,000ha of mountainous high country, tussock plateaus, scree slopes, shrubland and wetlands. The park offers spectacular backcountry mountain biking opportunities as well as 4WD’ing, tramping, fishing, horse riding and backcountry skiing in the winter.

Rule number one when riding in the backcountry is to be prepared and expect the unexpected. The weather can change quickly in the Otago high country, and you need to be fully self-sufficient with all the clothing, food, water, and tools you might need for a day in the hills.

Case in point – when we arrived in Naseby one day at the end of November to stay the night before riding in the Oteake, it snowed. Heavily. When we woke up early the next morning there was an inch of frost on the car roof and the doors were frozen shut.

The Mount Ida Water Race Track is well-formed with a gentle gradient which makes it ideal for beginners and is also suitable for e-bikes as well as hiking. The circuit described below is 32km with a total of only 175m vertical ascent. In other words, this is a pretty flat route. What’s more, the landscape and views along the trail are some of the most spectacular in Central Otago with the track meandering along the lower slopes of the imposing Hawkdun Range.

Whilst you can cycle out to the Mount Ida Water Race Track via a network of different gravel roads linked to the Rail Trail, for beginner’s driving a car out to Pierces Gorge is the simplest option and makes for a superb half day ride. Biking to the water race from the Rail Trail at Oturehua via Hills Creek Road and Home Hills Runs Road is very achievable but adds another 30km (return) to your ride – albeit on flat or gently undulating gravel roads.

(Note: access to the Mt Ida Water Race via Home Hills Runs Road is on an unsealed road with one creek to ford, which can be impassible after heavy rain. In summer and autumn, the road is generally suitable for 2WD vehicles).

Beginning at a small car park with a Department of Conservation sign at Pierces Gorge you can ride the described loop in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. The prevailing wind direction on the day will probably dictate which way you decide to ride, although heading in a clockwise direction (towards Falls Dam) does begin with a short, sharp climb.

This description follows an anti-clockwise direction which begins with the gentle 1km ride up Pierces Gorge 4WD track to meet the start of the Mt Ida Water Race Track.

Once connected to the water race, follow the track northwards for 18km to Shepherd’s Hut Creek Track. The track is well formed and is an easy (flat) gradient but it’s mostly on a grass surface which can make for slightly heavy going. The track follows the contours of the lower Hawkdun Range and the views of the Hawkduns and across the Manuherikia River valley to the St Bathans Range are sublime.

At Shepherd’s Hut Creek Track ride down the hill in a westerly direction towards the Manuherikia River and connect back on to Home Hills Runs Road. Follow the road downstream in a southerly direction to circulate back to the car park at Pierces Gorge. A short detour (look for the DOC sign) to Falls Dam is a worthy side trip.

Gold mining was the driver for the construction of Central Otago’s first water races. As the more easily found alluvial gold was won, mining quickly evolved beyond panning to new hydraulic sluicing and quartz gold mining techniques, but these required masses of water. This demand for water triggered the frenzied construction of water races that tapped, re-routed and dammed countless creeks and streams.

As gold mining in Naseby expanded it became increasingly difficult to dispose of the tailings, because of the lack of flushing water and the flat land running out from the mining area to the Maniototo plain. Significantly more water was required to flush the accumulated and future tailings down the sludge channel. It was deemed that the Manuherikia River would provide the most reliable supply, although this was a very expensive option and the Mt Ida Water Race cost in excess of $20,000 to build.

The 108km Mount Ida Water Race began construction in 1873 to supply water to the Naseby gold mining area, and still supplies water to Naseby township and farmers in the area today.

The water race sidles the Hawkdun Range from the tributaries of the Manuherikia River for 108km to Naseby. It starts at an altitude of 850m and delivers water at 634m in Naseby. The race collects water from numerous small mountain catchments along the Hawkdun and Ida Ranges.

By 1920 the returns from gold mining had dropped off, and the upper part of the Mt Ida race was abandoned. However, with low rainfall and little stream flow in this part of Central Otago many farms were without adequate water for stock. With a growing demand for water for both stock and irrigation, and the relatively small supply of water available in summer, the Mt Ida Water Race was repurposed for the irrigation of pasture and horticulture.