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Picked up a rental car, which cost us twice what we would have normally paid in New Zealand, and at 8.15 we set off up the road. There was the alternative of the bus but two fares would have been even more than the rental and wouldn't have allowed enough time to do all we wanted to.
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The morning was clear with a few thin clouds in the sky as we drove around the west side of Lake Wanaka. Until we reached the turn off to the Treble Cone Ski Area the road was sealed. From then on we were on gravel, smooth to start with but deteriorating as we went along and ending up with river fords by the time we reached Raspberry Creek car park after an hour. On the way we came across what at a glance looked like a hare but could have been a large rabbit, we also got a good look at a falcon which was feeding on a road kill. The valley along which we drove was flat from the moraine that had been scoured from the mountains all around us, even in mid summer they were capped with snow.
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Set of from the Raspberry Creek car park at 9.25 and climbed gradually with the Matukituki River on our right. The undulating track alternated between a grass path and a worn farm track.
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After 15 minutes we reached a swing bridge that we would later be crossing to walk up to the Rob Roy Glacier. A short time later we would see the glacier up through a narrow valley.
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As we walked through the clover pastures being grazed by both sheep and cows hardly a breeze was blowing.
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Matukituki Valley
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After an hour we reached a bluff which we had to climb up and over, the only steep section of the morning, but it didn't last long. Further on was the small Cascade Hut, and at 11.15 we reached Aspiring Hut hidden back behind trees, a well constructed structure built from stone and with excellent facilities. Sat around for a while chatting with the warden and a couple of other trampers who were on their way out after a long tramp that started with the Greenstone on to the Routeburn, then the Dart and over the Cascade saddle to Aspiring Hut. At 11.30 we made our way back down the track. The thin cloud had started to thicken up obscuring the sun. Stopped on top of the bluff for 10 minutes whilst we ate our sandwiches before continuing on to the swing bridge for Rob Roy Glacier.
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Rob Roy Valley
Welcome to the Rob Roy Valley walking track. From here the track climbs steadily through a forested gorge of the Rob Roy Stream to reach a subalpine basin above the tree line - a walk of about one and a half hours one way.
The treeline is about 700m (2300 feet) above sea level - 300m (980 feet) above this point.
Rob Roy Valley, on the edge of Mount Aspiring National Park, offers glimpses of the park's alpine nature - high peaks, snowfields and, perched above towering rock walls, the Rob Roy Glacier.
The swing bridge was built in 1987 as a National Parks Centennial project to give access to a spectacular part of the park. The upgraded track is now one of the most popular in the Wanaka region.
A short distance above the treeline you will find information panels describing the natural history of the valley - the forest and subalpine vegetation, glaciation processes, and an account of the birds and insects of the valley.
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At 1.25 we crossed the bridge and made our way round to the left, part following a narrow ledge across a land slip. Turned up into the Rob Roy Valley and started to climb steeply through beech trees on a rough path the river from the ice melt tumbling away on our left. After a 1 hour 15min slog over rocks and roots across dry streams and mud slides we were at the end of the normal path with Rob Roy Glacier glistening above us on the opposite valley wall. Every now and again we would hear a rumble as part of the glacier broke away but only once were we able to spot the ice breaking up and falling.
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Rob Roy Glacier
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Rob Roy Glacier
A glacier once filled this valley. At the peak of glaciation about 20,000 years ago, it flowed into the great Matukituki Glacier, which combined with the Wanaka Glacier to extend a river of ice down the Clutha Valley almost as far as Cromwell. Rob Roy Glacier is but a remnant of the ice age, having retreated to a bench above the sheer valley sides. It follows the curve of the valley headwalls for about 5km.
Mount Aspiring National Park still has about 100 glaciers, the largest of which flank Mount Aspiring, 10km due north of here.
New Zealand glaciers have been retreating steadily this century in response to a warmer climate, although some glaciers have advanced periodically, fed by a build-up of snow in the surrounding mountains during especially cold winters.
Glacial Features
Glaciation has had a strong impact on the shape and lie of the land in this region - its topography.
Glaciers produce features such as cirques (scooped-out basins at the head of valleys), hanging valleys, stepped lakes, moraine deposits and rounded, glacier-worn hills called roches moutonnies (sheep like rocks).
Glaciers are fed by the snow that accumulates in basins above them. It takes about a year for loose, powdery snow to become hard glacier ice through the process of compaction.
Blocks of ice may regularly fall from a glacier's terminal face. The effect is spectacular on a hanging glacier like Rob Roy when blocks crack off from the ice cliffs and crash to the valley floor.
Melting ice contributes to the waterfalls that spill over the valley walls.
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The Story of Schist
These mountains are built of schist, the predominant rock type of the Mount Aspiring National Park region.
Schist is formed mainly from layers of sand and mud that were deposited on the floor of an ancient sea some 200 million years ago, and transformed subsequently by intense heat and pressure.
Now uplifted far above sea level, it is subject not only to tectonic movement (uplift) but also to weathering - the impact of rain, wind, snow, ice and freeze-thaw cycles. It is prone to splitting and crumbling, hence the scree slopes, piles of rubble and teetering towers.
The uplift continues and parts of the Southern Alps are rising at the rate of 10 to 20 mm per year, which is meteoric in geological terms. Erosion is keeping the height of the mountains more or less constant.
Peaks not topped by glacier ice are sharp-edged and jagged. In contrast, landforms that have been submerged under the grinding, scraping impact of a glacier tend to be smoother.
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Di chatting to kea
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To entertain us a troop of kea flew and bobbed about, more inquisitive than mischievous. After 40 minutes of relaxing and reading the interpretation boards we left to make our way back down the leg tiring path back to the swing bridge and hence to the car park, reaching it at 4.45. The drive back over the gravel road seemed longer and rougher than when we came up. At one point we had the delight of a falcon flying along the road just in front of us for 200m.
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But soon we were back on the sealed road and quickly round the lake into Wanaka.
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