“On a Mish” #359 Permission Granted (Part Two). Otematata Area (Chimney Creek Hut). Northern Otago. 25.11.2022. Not many people would jump a fence and go play in a stranger’s backyard, however many seem to think it is ok to go into private farmland. It is such a shame that many farms around the country have issues with trespassers who might have been allowed to go where they went if they had just asked. Seeking permission is very important, and many don’t bother. Trespassing is a big no-no for the Jimny Club, so before we tackled the challenge of the Otematata River we seeked and permission was granted…
After a brief encounter with some of the station staff we continued on our way, beginning our foray into the massive area and the weather couldn’t have been any better.
We climbed up and over a small saddle which took us into the deep ravine of the Otematata River and we immediately got the familiar feeling of remoteness that we seek every time we go out.
We followed the track alongside the river until we reached a group of huts where we stopped for lunch. This was the first station hut we had come across and we could just picture the hut buzzing with activity during the station’s annual muster. As we still had some distance to cover, we didn’t hang out at the hut for too long.
“Do we take the low road or the high road?”. We had a couple of options to get to the hut we wanted to stay at that night, and due to the perfect weather of course we began to climb up into the Round Hills Range.
The elevation gain gave us views, excitement and some very epic photos. This is what my cousin and I crave on our outings and it was awesome to have others enjoying the stunning scenery.
After looking at the map we realised we could slowly make our way over the tops and then drop down into Chimney Creek and finish at the hut we were heading to anyway. Tracks were easy to follow and it gave us a taste of the dramatic highland above the Otematata River. We got to a point where we could look down at the hut and after a big day we were all ready to park up for the night…
