Rambling around Kopuwai brochure - Department of Conservation

Access
The use of 4WD vehicles and trail bikes within Kopuwai is
limited to the formed tracks marked on the map. Vehicles
have already done considerable damage to fragile areas.
This leads to severe erosion, washouts, and a scarred,
landscape. Recovery can take many years – if ever!
Kopuwai has several entry points, the Prospect Hill,
Omeo Gully Tracks and Symes Road are good examples.
Access to the conservation area is on dry-weather, largely
un-maintained legal roads. In winter, because of snow
and ground conditions they become impassable and are
closed.
Vehicle access along the top of the Old Man Range as far
as Hyde Rock to the south and, the TV tower by Kopuwai/
The Obelisk to the north, is from Symes Road, straight up
the hill from Fruitlands.
The Duffers Saddle entrance is reached via Bannockburn
and the road to the Nevis Valley. Just over the brow, the
Old Woman Track goes off to the left and climbs to the
Kopuwai entrance about four kilometres away. The Old
Woman Hut is just inside Kopuwai’s boundary and vehicles
can continue to Boundary Gate – 4WD access beyond this
requires landowner permission. Walking, biking and horse
access is on a marked track, by courtesy of the landowner.
Heading south in the conservation area a well-defined
walking, biking and horse track leads to Hyde Rock on top
of the range. The other 4WD access point is from Shingle
Creek, via the Waikaia Bush Road.
Several access routes cross private land on easements
for walkers and mountain bikers only – vehicles need
landowner permission. Please respect livestock and
property and follow the instructions on DOC signs. Leave
gates as you find them and use stiles where they’re
provided.
This area is subject to weather extremes at any time of
year and roads can become very wet and swampy. DOC’s
Central Otago Area Office in Alexandra can advise on
current conditions.
General
In winter the ranges are blanketed in snow. In summer,
warm, pleasant conditions can reverse within minutes
with freezing temperatures, high winds and severe,
disorientating white-outs. Sensible clothing and footwear
is essential.
Backcountry Huts
• The 6-bunk Old Woman Hut, 4 kilometres south of
Duffers Saddle
• The 3-bunk Boundary and 5-bunk Nicholsons Huts in the
Upper Fraser Basin
• The 6-bunk Junction Hut,at the junction of the Pomahaka
and Little Pomahaka Rivers.
Note: Junction Hut is jointly owned by DOC and the
Gunn family and is closed for the autumn muster, 1 April
to the second week of May.
The Old Woman and Junction Huts are standard huts,
adults $5 a night. Both huts have an honesty box, and
hut tickets can be bought from DOC offices nationwide.
Boundary and Nicholson Huts are basic huts and free of charge.
Further Information
For further information and current conditions on Kopuwai,
contact DOC’s Central Otago Area Office or Central Otago
information centres.
Cover photo – Kopuwai/Obelisk
(John Robinson)
Published by Department of Conservation
PO Box 5244, Moray Place
Dunedin 9016.
June 2008. © Crown Copyright.
Rambling
around
Kopuwai
Kopuwai Conservation Area

Kopuwai Conservation Area
The Kopuwai Conservation Area covers the uplands and
some of the flanks of the Old Man/Kopuwai and Old
Woman Ranges that form an imposing backdrop to the
Clutha/Mata-Au Valley. They run from north-west to southeast,
creating a rain shadow that blocks and absorbs
southerly fronts, making Central Otago New Zealand’s
driest area.
Kopuwai’s 16,780 hectares became conservation land
from tenure review outcomes and land purchase. It runs
from 800 metres above sea level to 1,696 metres at the
Obelisk/Kopuwai on the Old Man Range. The long summit
crest is exposed and has an average annual temperature
close to zero degrees C. As a result the ranges are dotted
with distinctive schist rock tors and bisected by fields of
freeze-thaw hummocks and mounds, creating a wave-like
effect across the slopes and basins.
History
The Old Man Range’s European history revolves around
gold mining and farming. Extensive gold deposits were
found in Potters No 2, Fraser Basin and Omeo Gully.
They were challenging places with harsh winters that
A rapuwai pakiwaitara or story, recalls a time when hunting parties from
coastal settlements venturing into the interior often disappeared without
trace. This was because of a giant called Kopuwai who lived near the
Clutha/Mata-Au River and preyed on humans with a pack of ferocious twoheaded
dogs. The pakiwaitara recalls when Kopuwai found a party from
the Kaitangata area and killed all of them, except for a young woman called
Kaiamio. He took her as his slave.
Fearsome as he was, Kopuwai had one weakness; warm, nor-west winds
made him sleepy. He was aware of this and knew that when he nodded off,
Kaiamio would attempt to escape. Whenever he felt drowsy, Kopuwai tied a
taura/flax rope to her arm; if either of them moved, he’d know that she was
still there. Despite that, Kaiamio was able to outwit him and escape. She
undid the taura on her arm and tied it to a nearby rush/wïwï, so that when
the giant stirred, he felt the rope give and take, as if his slave was tethered
to him.
When Kopuwai woke and saw that Kaiamo was gone, he was enraged. In
searching for her, he picked up her scent in the wind along the Mata-Au.
This was when Kopuwai lived up to the meaning of his name – waterswallower
– as in trying to recapture her he swallowed so much of the river
that its bed was dry for some time.
killed many miners. From the late 1800’s most of the
upland provided summer grazing for sheep and cattle from
Earnscleugh Station and neighbouring pastoral leases. This
continues today on parts of the conservation area.
Recreation
Within Kopuwai Conservation Area you can roam at will
on foot. The hummock fields, tops, and valleys provide
a wide range of recreation and wilderness experiences:
mountain biking, horse riding, 4WD access on formed
tracks, discovering gold diggings, cross-country skiing and
sightseeing.
Nestled in the ranges are the headwaters and alpine basins
of Campbell Creek and the Pomahaka and Fraser Rivers.
The ranges are also bisected by steep gullies that add to
the area’s remarkable diversity. Hyde Rock, for example,
has spectacular views of typical Kopuwai landscapes.
This involves a short walk outside the conservation area,
signposted over a stile.
Hunting
Recreational deer hunting is encouraged in the conservation
area – permits from DOC’s Alexandra office, along with
access and hunting area information.
In the meantime Kaiamo had escaped to her home on the coast.
Intent on seeking her revenge from Kopuwai, she returned with
a party of warriors and they waited for a nor-west wind to put the
giant to sleep. When the wind arrived, the warriors blocked the
front of the giant’s cave with dry bracken and ferns and lit them.
The smoke finally woke Kopuwai and he tried to escape through
a portal in the cave’s roof. As he emerged, Kaiamo’s war party
grabbed him and beat him to death.
Killing Kopuwai was possible because his ferocious, two-headed
dogs were away hunting. When they returned and found their
master gone they searched, but in vain. In time, the dogs also
died and became transformed into what are now rocky outcrops
on hilltops between the Old Man Range/Kopuwai and South
Canterbury.
Today Kopuwai lives on at the heart of the conservation area in his
physical manifestation, the 26-metre rock, Kopuwai, also known
as the Obelisk or Old Man Rock. The area around the rock is the
Kopuwai Historic Reserve; a Ngäi Tahu Claim settlement outcome
it is a wähi taoka, a special place.
Flora and Fauna
The ground cover is dwarf, tundra-like vegetation of windblasted
cushion plants. A low growing dracophyllum
dominates these areas, along with several mountain daisies.
Blue tussock is prevalent, with other small native grasses
and occasional patches of taller, slim snow tussock. Lower
down, narrow-leafed snow tussock is dominant.
Snow can linger for several months a year; wet snow banks
host small cushion-forming herbs. There are larger wetlands
of bogs, seepages and tarns in the headwaters of the
Fraser River and Campbell Creek.
The lower altitude scrubland hosts the grey warbler/riorio,
silvereye/tauhou, Californian quail and other introduced
birds. In open tussock: pipit/pïhoihoi, South Island pied
oystercatcher/törea, banded dotterel/tüturiwhatu, skylark,
redpoll and yellowhammer. The Australasian harrier/kähu is
common and the rare New Zealand falcon/kärearea both
nests here and soars overhead.
The Old Man Range is a sub-alpine island for lizards and
invertebrates: beetles, grasshoppers, weta, spiders and
moths, many found nowhere else in the world. Individually
and collectively they help maintain the natural balance of
this unique landscape.

Obelisk Loop Track
This three-hour return walk from Kopuwai/The
Obelisk joins the Omeo Gully and Prospect
Hill Tracks. The track traverses the rolling and
rocky Old Man Range, with great views.
Prospect Hill Track
A favourite mountain biking trip is
going up this track, then crossing
over and going down the Omeo
Gully Track. On top of the range, the
rolling patterns of spur and gully,
tussock and herbfield, are part of an
extraordinary landscape. The view
includes the Manuherikia Basin and
the Old Woman, Cairnmuir, Dunstan
and Raggedy Ranges. From the Fraser
Dam Road to the Kopuwai boundary is
a six-hour return walk.
In winter the Prospect Hill Track
provides access to the Sisters/Rough
Ridge covenant for backcountry Skiing.
Closed between 15 October and 15
November for lambing.
Omeo Gully Track
One of Otago’s most isolated, highest, least-known gold
fields; the six-hour return walk is signposted from the carpark
on Omeo Gully Road, a kilometre up Fraser Dam Road.
Omeo’s gold workings are interesting and distinctive: high
sluice faces, deep revetted tail races, tall stacked tailings and
dwelling remains. Mountain bikers will enjoy the wild downhill
run, after the uphill grind! An alternative trip is a 90-minute
return walk to a good lunch spot by the second ford over
Omeo Creek.
Closed between 15 October and 15 November for lambing.
Shek Harn Historic Reserve
The road to Shek Harn, off the Fraser Dam Road, is dry weather only. The return
walk from Fraser Dam to the reserve takes about an hour, with good views of
the Fraser River cascading through a deep gorge. Shek Harn is Cantonese for
big stone ditch, and the historic reserve has many remnants of early alluvial
gold workings and mainly Chinese dwellings. The most impressive is the Long
House, about two kilometres above Fraser Dam.

Kopuwai/Obelisk
This distinctive rock tor is the conservation area’s highest point (1695m), with a
commanding 360° view. From Rakiura/Stewart Island in the south, east to the Rock
and Pillars, north to Aoraki/Mount Cook, then Mounts Aspiring/Tititea and Earnslaw/
Pikirakatahi in the west. Atop an exposed, tree-less range, be prepared for sudden
changes in temperature.
In summer, drive up Symes Road from the Fruitlands turnoff and along the ridgeline
track on the Old Man Range for about two kilometres to the Obelisk viewpoint. The
last section of the road is steep and rough; you may prefer to do the journey on
foot. 2WD vehicles can reach the transmitter site for about six months of the year,
though it’s better suited for 4WDs, they can usually get here for eight months a year.
In winter the area is blanketed in snow for at least three months.
Do not park near the transmitter building as vehicle electronics can be frozen by the
waves it emits.
Alpine Battery
This historic site dates back to 1882 when a ten-stamp battery and water wheel
were erected here. The battery remains can be reached from the 4WD road on
top of the range. Though there isn’t a defined track the descent on foot takes
around 30 minutes.
Potters Number Two
Potters Number Two is in the Campbell Creek catchment – Potters Number One is 35
kilometres away in the Carrick Range. A number of alluvial gold diggings were worked
here between the 1860s and 1900s and interesting relics remain. Not on conservation
land, Potters is a protected historic site, reached off the Waikaia Bush Road connecting
Shingle Creek with Piano Flat in Southland. It has always been difficult to get to. In 1863
there was a poled track over the Old Man Range and in that year’s ‘great snow’, 30 men
died of exposure, attempting to cross the range to safety.
All the material on and around old gold diggings are protected by law.
The removal of any object is illegal. Offenders will be prosecuted.
Artefacts on these sites have been security marked,though this is not
visible to the naked eye.
Walking track
Tramping track
Route
Mountain bike
Vehicle
4 wheel drive
Protect plants and
animals
Remove rubbish
Bury toilet waste
Keep streams and lakes
clean
Take care with fires
Camp carefully
Keep to the track
Consider others
Respect our cultural
heritage
Enjoy your visit
Toitu te whenua (leave
the land undisturbed)