Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Distance: 4.8 km
Start: Kura Tawhiti/Castle Hill Reserve car park, State Highway 73
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 8th December 2023
According to The Rise and Fall of the Southern Alps by Glen Coates (a favourite book of mine), about 30 million years ago, New Zealand/Aotearoa was largely submerged in a shallow ocean. Since that time, tectonic plate movement has uplifted the land. The accumulated Tertiary ocean sediments, hardened to limestone, have been largely eroded away. But in the South Island/Te Wai Pounamu, a basin of grasslands dotted with clusters of wibbly wobbly rocky outcrops has persisted - protected from erosion by the surrounding ranges - Torlesse and Craigiburn. This is Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti.
According to the Ngāi Tahu Treaty settlement, Kura Tawhiti means "treasure from a distant land", a reference to the kumara that were once cultivated here. Tawhitinui was also the name of a Ngāi Tūāhuriri tupuna (ancestor). Tawhitinui voyaged across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa in the waka Ārai Te Uru. There were many other people in the waka with him including Waimakariri and Tawera. They travelled down the east coast of Te Wai Pounamu until the waka capsized near Moeraki. As they swam to shore they transformed: Waimakariri became the river, Tawera became Mt. Torlesse and Tawhitinui became Kura Tawhiti. The fishing net and water gourd in the waka became the Moeraki Boulders.
We parked the car, and dilly dallied at the new signage, reading the pūrākau (creation narrative) and checking out the three pou (posts). The pou signify Ngāi Tūāhuriri rangatiratanga (chieftanship) and tōpuni (cloak of protection) of this area.
We set off on the main gravel path which has appeared in recent years to accomodate gazillions of tourists. About 100 meters along the track, we stepped southwards, in an off-piste fashion, onto a small unmarked side trail and made our way up to the top of the hill. The last part was slightly scrambly, but once on top we were greeted with a Sound of Music landscape - alpine daisies and distant mountains. The hills are alive.
The vague plan was to follow the fenceline, traversing the tops, and then descend to the main track. Various rough trails running hither and thither made this task easy, cleverly avoiding the edge and the steep drop-offs. We circled down towards, but avoiding, the main gravel path and then up to the central area, weaving in and out of the rocky blobs. We crossed over to the easternmost edge and stopped for paramanawa. Nearby was an interesting rock with an imprinted fossil - a remnant of the Teriary ocean sediments. A mānuka beetle (a.k.a kerewai, scarab beetle, Pyronata festiva), sunning itself on a rock, was ripe for photography. Apparently they can reduce fever and stomachache. I had images of grinding beetles to a metallic green dust with a mortar and pestle.
We criss-crossed the tops, admiring the breathtaking views, before descending towards the long drop, carefully avoiding the western cliffs. A fourwheel drive track of sorts skirts the nor-western bottom edge. A rare and endangered New Zealand falcon/kārearea soared above us. The Kura Tawhiti DOC website currently has an alert "Alert: Falcon/Kārearea are currently nesting at Kura Tawhiti". Apparently they can swoop on people when they have their chicks nearby.
Like Thompson's gazelles, we leapt over the obscured creek and entered the deer-fenced northern rocky region via the predator free gate. An elaborate setup, designed to keep out creatures that munch on buttercups (see below).
Once through the gate we headed north and up the hill to the sign saying "Lance McCaskill Nature Reserve - entry by permit only". Half of us were tempted to clamber over and find a short-cut back to the main tracks - but it wasn't remotely clear if we would ever get out over the high fences in the distance. Across the way, a group of students had set up what looked like a transect. An archealogical dig?
In hindsight, I am glad we didn't vault the barbed wire fence and go crashing through that reserve because I think those students were busy trying to save the critically endangered Castle Hill Buttercup. Only 68 plants remain in the whole world. All of them in the reserve. Gosh. We had been picking the daisies and so I am glad it wasn't those.
We retraced our steps to the predator free gate and crossed back to the main reserve and the gravel path - now inundated with gazillions of tourists. We were soon back at the car and driving towards Ōtautahi. It was only 36 minutes to Darfield. We were feeling pretty peckish by this stage, having resisted the "Sheffeld pie" temptation. So we checked out the "new" Grain and Grape Restaurant and Bar. Fish sliders, chicken subs and mocktails did the trick.
