After 13 days of extraordinary weather inland from Kaikoura, while parts of the country to the north were being inundated, I hoped a similar summery experience could be replicated in an area I’d missed in all of my previous South Island backcountry wanderings.
After the Clarence River area, I’d prefer to escape wild roses and matagouri that had been encountered on a regular basis, and an occasional bush lawyer entanglement.
Maybe I could experience an entire summer of escaping trees.
First up, was a look at the Rock and Pillar Range near Middlemarch, before I progressed up the Strath Taieri valley to the extensive Oteake Conservation Park near Naseby.
I was keen on a complete circuit of the park.
