Licorice Allsorts: Molesworth Station... The Acheron Road... Part 1...

I woke to an extra chill in the air and looking out the window

couldn't quite decide whether there was a frost or not...

So I threw on some layers of warm clothes and my thickest

socks and raced outside as the sun was venturing over

the hill tops. Definitely a hard frost, my socks stuck to

the brittle crunchy grass... I hadn't bothered about shoes!

It was back into my bus to light the fire, have breakfast and

pack up ready to move on... And find out just exactly what

this famous Molesworth Road is all about...

In the DoC brochure "The road is unsealed and suitable for

two wheel drive cars. Vehicles towing trailers, caravans, buses

or vehicles over 7 meters long are not permitted except under

exceptional circumstances and with special permission".

I had measured my bus... 7 meters exactly not counting the

bits on the front and the big box on the back and I do have

a tow bar which is what would hit the ground first in any deep fords.

The Acheron Road is open 7am - 7pm Labour Weekend Saturday

to Easter Monday or the second Sunday in April (whichever is

the later date)... This summer it had been closed because of the

high fire risk, but a couple of days of rain and it opened again

for a short time... The window of opportunity I had been waiting

for... Here's the gate... 59km to the south boundary at the

Acheron Accommodation House and the next DoC Camp.

These speed signs amused me... How fast was it anticipated

vehicles were going to travel? The road is not exactly State
Highway 1. More information in the DoC brochure suggested the
59km journey would take a minimum of two hours driving...

So... What's that saying... 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'..

Off I went... Across the flats looking south to the triangular

shaped Dillon Cone (2174m) and straight ahead to Barefell

Pass, recorded by Frederick Weld in 1850 and still used

for moving stock from the Awatere to the Acheron catchment.

The road was a bit of a farm track in places... But then

that's exactly what it is...

The first ford... Deeper than it looks but easily do-able and after the

drought most of the summer it's amazing there is any water at all.

Wards Pass was a steady climb up to 1145m... Closed by winter

snowfalls for long periods, but a magnificent view this day.

And down the other side... The only part of the road I

used 1st gear... Partly so I could enjoy the view (no traffic

to hold up behind me!) and partly because my brakes

overheat very easily and cut out!

And here's one of the reasons, no vehicles longer than 7 meters.

This was a real hair pin bend... The road doubled back on itself.

The first bridge I came to over the Acheron River...

No weight restrictions on this one.

No sides either!

The Acheron River... A portrait of colours and contrasts...

A huge changing light show depending on time and season.

At the bottom of the pass, the road crosses a section of

Muller Station, courtesy of the runholders, then...

Driving on through the beginning of the 250 hectare expanse

of Isolated Flat... The road seemed to stretch forever.

The electricity wires looping across the flats... And through
the whole station.

Isolated Flat is described as an outwash plain, bordered by

more magnificent mountains and the Awatere Fault.

In 1850, the explorers Mitchell and Dashwood wrote of Isolated

Flat: 'The soil and the grass here were much improved and good

cattle stations might be farmed but I fear the immense quantity

of speargrass and other prickles would prove an

obstacle for sheep'. How true that proved to be.

Between 1850 and 1938 there were multiple private owners of
Molesworth, I counted 12, as I read the history. Some of them put in
managers but overall most owners never had enough money
to fund the property in lean years.
Some of these various owners were experienced and respected sheep
farmers so sheep were favoured with one owner introducing some cattle.
I the late 1860's there were 25,000 sheep and 600 head of cattle.
In the 1870's merino's were introduced. In the early 1990's a decision was
made to move out of cattle completely. Nobody knows why this was but it
would eventually have disastrous consequences.
The two biggest contenders for the Molesworth land were the weather
and the rabbits... Severe snows and rain storm 1911-13 killed 39,000
sheep. In 1914, Rutherford, the then owner claimed to have broken the
back of the rabbit problem... In 1990 there were over 40,000 sheep and
10,000 lambs. In 1936 the final shearing tally was just 22,000 ewes.
The bills mounted along with the rabbits and in 1938 all the freehold and
leasehold interests of Molesworth, Tarndale and Rainbow stations were
purchased by the crown for 5250 pounds. Originally there was
Molesworth Station, Tarndale and Rainbow which were managed together,
St Helens and Dillon Run which were mainly managed as one unit.
In 1938 the Rainbow was auctioned separately and has never been part
of Molesworth but Tarndale and the original Molesworth were
amalgamated. In 1949 St Helens and Dillon were also amalgamated.
What were 4 separate stations or runs then made up the 180,470
hectares of Molesworth.