Coffee-coloured hills dominate the landscape. Apart from the road, not a man-made thing in sight as far as the eye can see. Kilometre after kilometre of these impressively dusty brown hills form the southern central high country of NZ.
High country hills, covered in golden tussocky tufts. Rocky outcrops interrupt otherwise endless stretches of mocha-coloured landscape. Imagine riding horseback into these remote scenes back in the rugged 1850's, mustering your sheep spread across these vast distances. No soft merino under-layers, no waterproofing outer layers, no easy connection with darlings or children or policemen or doctors. It's the definition of rugged. After a dawn till dusk day of riding your horse, battling the wind and elements, what a feeling of relief it must have been to see a musterers hut.
Of Burke's Pass an early musterer wrote "We had ridden since sunrise nearly sixty miles; and the country being rough and broken, we had been much delayed, and the last five or six miles were made after sundown. These five miles lay through a long, narrow pass blocked in on both sides by steep, black hills, and down through which there ran a rapid river, low then, but at times impassable from flood... To say "journey's end," however, may sound grander perhaps that the reality justifies: - only two sheep dogs tethered under a sheep-skin break wind, and a low hut, with a small hole covered with calico, for a window, and a rather battered tarpaulin for a roof, - showed that any human beings had broken into the savage solitude of the place. The dogs broke into a burst of barking to which the hills sent back a hollow echo, but not a soul was to be seen at the hut or within range. We silently unsaddled, and let our tired and steaming horses loose, made a fire in the hut (from a heap of evidently precious fire-wood outside), and finding only bread in a box which served as a larder, we hung on the everlasting tea-kettle..." (excerpt from Crust by L J Konnaway).
These days as you drive up through Burke's Pass (heading south into the Mckenzie Basin) it is a much more comfortable affair. A cute cafe welcomes you, with amazingly crafted outdoor furniture for sale, and across the road you'll find the informative replica musterers hut (pictured above). There's also a 1950's gas station scene, a little out of place, but highly adorable!
At Dog Kennel Corner, a memorial stone and plaque marks the importance of sheep dogs in days gone by. Sites like this were where sheep dogs were kennelled at the edge of the station, to prevent sheep from wandering off.
Burke's Pass is an alternative to McKenzie's Pass, named after one of New Zealand's most notorious outlaws, James Mckenzie (also known as John or Jock!). McKenzie is one of this country's enduring folk heroes, the Houdini of the South if you like. McKenzie was a suspected sheep rustler.
In 1855, the Scotsman was caught stealing 1 000 sheep from Levels Station, near Timaru. McKenzie escaped and walked 160kms to Lyttelton, where he was recaptured and sentenced to serve five years of hard labour. He escaped at least twice more, before a magistrate investigated McKenzie's case, and found the police had mishandled the case. McKenzie had spent only nine months in prison, but was unconditionally pardoned.
He nipped off to Australia soon after, and lived the rest of his life under the radar (probably with a new name!)
The story of this legendary guy lives on in the area where he potentially herded his stolen sheep, through the uninhabited high hill country called the McKenzie Basin. The McKenzie country is a massive basin, 100ish kms from north to south, and half as wide. Flanked to the west by the Southern Alps, the basin includes the stunning Lake Tekapo and Pukaki. It's definately a harsh terrain, especially if you were on foot, with a herd of stolen bleating sheep in front of you, and some hardy sherrifs hard on ya tail.
Our notorious mate and a wee sheep dog are immortalised in a bronze statue in the town of Fairlie.
We drove on to Tekapo, possibly the home of New Zealand's most photographed church, the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Half of China were also there, taking photos and generally being awed at how pretty nature can be when you choose to treasure it over making money. It was time to head home!
We spied this thick looking rainbow en route, and stopped to admire the view while we still have eyes that work.
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