Giveaways
ON New Zealand’s Southern Scenic Route, heading south from Manapōuri, you eventually come to a T-junction that points you to Lake Monowai, and a place called the Borland Lodge, via Lake Monowai Road.
There is a café at the T-junction, in case you need a cuppa by then.
Just south of the intersection, on the main road, there is a shelter with lots of information panels about the region between Lake Monowai and Lake Manapōuri, a region that’s generally known as the Borland Country.
This area has a strong connection with New Zealand’s hydroelectric development, as well as earlier sheepfarming at Blackmount Station. The first hydro development in the area was the Monowai Power Station, opened 100 years ago this May, in 1925.
The water for the Monowai Power Station is conveyed from Lake Monowai, first of all in the Monowai River and then in 100-year-old riveted pipes, to an embankment above the Art Deco power station building, which sits down below on the banks of the Waiau River.
Here's a video I made at the Monowai Power Station:
There’s a little village close to the power station, with the Mountain’s Edge Cabins, where tour groups often stay.
And a heritage orchard, one of more than a dozen planted by the Riverton-based South Coast Environment Society.
A little way past Turbine Drive — the side road that leads to Monowai Village — the tarseal peters out and you are on a gravel road, where you soon get to an intersection with the start of Borland Road.
From the Borland Road intersection, Lake Monowai Road heads to Lake Monowai, where there is a camping spot and some hiking trails, as well as a surprisingly low and modest dam, only about two metres high.
Borland Road, which was built for the far more ambitious Manapōuri hydro scheme, terminates at the South Arm of Lake Manapōuri, where there is a campsite these days, the South Arm Campsite.
The South Arm Campsite is quite possibly the most isolated campsite in New Zealand, and I must go there at some time (with a few paperbacks!)
Borland Road runs through the heart of the Borland Country, where much of the terrain was formed by what’s perhaps the biggest onshore landslide in recent geological times, 27 cubic kilometres from the Hunter Mountains some 13,000 years ago by way of what is known as the Green Lake Landslide.
Here are some scenes filmed on Borland Road (also known as the Borland Road), between the Borland Lodge, of which more below, and the Borland Saddle, the highest point on Borland Road.
At the Borland Saddle, there is an information panel on the slide.
Here’s a photo of my friend Grant and myself, looking westward from the Borland Saddle over a zigzag section of Borland Road that descends from the Saddle in the direction of the South Arm of Lake Manapōuri, though there is still a long way to go.
Here’s a video pan at the Borland Saddle. The two people in the middle of the video are myself and my father Brian.
There are lots of interesting walks and tramps in the Borland Country, And the road itself is incredibly scenic, apart from the fact that you are accompanied by high-voltage power lines nearly all the way!
A short way along the Borland Road from the junction with Lake Monowai Road, before the climb to the Borland Saddle, you get to the aforementioned Borland Lodge. This is a highly affordable lodge with accommodation for over a hundred, originally built for the staff who were constructing the Borland Road and its pylons back in the 1960s. These days, it mostly caters for local school parties experiencing the outdoors and other local holidaymakers: it is a bit too far off the beaten track, and too far up a gravel road, for the mainstream tourist trade.
Past the Borland Lodge, the Borland Road gets quite gnarly, with several warning signs posted.
There is a DOC page on the Borland Country, which includes advice about the Borland Road, including updates on its periodic closures for slips, bad weather, and regular maintenance.
The page says that Borland Road is “usually fine for walking, mountain biking, 4WD vehicles and some other vehicles depending on conditions” but that the road “is not suitable for campervans, caravans or trailers.” The page adds that “There are no fuel, communication (including cell phone coverage) or emergency services along its length, therefore only those properly equipped should attempt to negotiate the road.”
On our most recent trip this February (i.e. late summer), we twice made it to the Borland Saddle and, on our second drive a few days later, down the zigzag to the west of the Borland Saddle to the Borland Bivouac, also known as the Borland Biv, in a small Japanese 4WD SUV. You can see our car by the Borland Biv in the next photo.
From the Borland Lodge, you can do the nearby Borland Nature Walk.
And the South Borland Track and the more adventurous-looking North Branch Borland River Track to the North Borland Hut.
And, either by way of Lake Monowai Road or by way of a drive up the Borland Road and over the Borland Saddle, the Green Lake Track, which we did in part, starting from the Borland Biv and returning to it.
It took about five hours to get to Green Lake from the Borland Biv, and a lot of it was quite uphill, and harder than it looks in the photos below. The area was also very boggy, with lots of moss.
One thing that was really amazing were the great lumps of marble, called marble rocks, lying around all over the place: a feature of the local geology.
Finally, we made it to Green Lake. I really enjoyed the lake and the birdlife!
Here is a video of Green Lake and the Green Lake Hut.
From the Green Lake Track, you can also hike to the six-bunk Rodger Inlet Hut and the historic two-bunk Rodger Inlet Hut on Lake Monowai and, separately, via the Borland Road to Monowai Hut Track, to the 12-bunk Monowai Hut at the head of Lake Monowai, as well.
But each of these is a side trip and they do not link up. Also, the Rodger Inlet Track is quite hard.
You can get to the Rodger Inlet Huts and Monowai Hut by boat if you have one on a trailer, as there is a boat ramp at the end of Lake Monowai Road.
There is also the historic Clark Hut and the more modern (A-frame) Clark Hut, just off the track to Monowai Hut.
To do the Green Lake Track in its totality, from the Borland Biv to Lake Monowai Road, you would normally want to have two cars or a designated driver.
In our case, we just had one car, the SUV parked by the Borland Biv, which is why we did a shorter trip.
A German guy also told us that the section of track eastward from Green Lake to Lake Monowai Road was very poorly marked in any case.
There’s more about this part of the country in one of my books, The Sensational South Island, on sale on my website a-maverick.com.
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