Molesworth - DoC at Cob Cottage...

 The famous Cob Cottage... After driving 100km to the

front gate, there is a lovely DoC area at Cob Cottage.

The morning was a damp misty start to the day so I

pottered round ...

 The cottage roof is very low, I had to duck to get in the door.

Cob buildings, with a 'Good Hat' and 'Dry Feet'  are one of
 the defining features of Molesworth.
The ingredients, clay, tussock and manure were 

cheap and available on site. A trench was dug and filled with stones to

prevent rising damp - hence 'dry feet', while the rafters were made

from beech trees and thatched over to give a 'good hat'.

 

 I stood and thought of the early musterers and rabbiters...

Principal cooking was a 16 inch cast iron camp oven...

The diet was dreadful... Stewed mutton was the staple with

onions and bread... Sometimes rice pudding or chocolate brownie

pudding made with seagulls eggs!

 Eaten here...

 Then to bed!

 The little Molesworth Stream...

 "An open drain from the stream ran from the creek round behind the

cookhouse and all the water was drawn from this. Whenever a

mob of sheep crossed the drain, the water naturally became

dirty, and of course dogs drank from it and lay in it on a hot day...

When one wanted a wash one just straddled the drain and washed

in running water' (Taken from the book 'Molesworth' Stories from New

Zealand's largest high-country station).

 I wandered up the road to the northern boundary gate...

 And looked back to the cob cottage and my bus...

 And to the west Mt Chisholm that I climbed yesterday.

 Another walk had been planned, this time part of the East West

Route that starts a little north of Cob Cottage and goes

round the back of Mt Chisholm till it meets the Molesworth

Road just north of Wards Pass... On this map the dotted red line

from 'You are here' round Mt Chisholm to the yellow line which

is the Molesworth Road... About 12km...

 So off we went, Nola the DoC Ranger's wife and I, more
prepared this time with lunch, water and rain coats...
Which we needed. These are just a few 

photos of the many that I took to give you some idea of the

 awesome vastness,  open spaces and more mountains...

Everywhere you look in every direction.

 The mountains and colours were amazing...

 And the track/road wound on...

 And on...

By the time we got this far it was definitely raining.

Half an hour earlier we had sat in the sun enjoying lunch...

The weather was very changable.

 The Acheron River...

And the rain getting very serious. We got picked up at this

point so avoided getting totally soaked...