Duffers Saddle to the Old Woman Range, Central Otago NZ
Easy access to an arid alpine plateau on the Old Woman Range in Central Otago, with many tors & views of nearby mountains.
I realised the other day that I hadn’t posted all of my NZ walks to date. This is the walk I missed: A longish but mostly flat walk to the tops of the Old Woman Range, an arid alpine plateau near Cromwell in Central Otago. There were many tors along the way, and views of nearby mountains. Track notes at the end.
Duffers Saddle to the Old Woman Range: The Scenery
I was obviously interested by spear grass (Spaniards) at this early stage in my New Zealand Hiking. Not entirely sure, but these might be the Hector Mountains. A bit of snow left in mid summer, and we weren’t that high up (maybe 1400-1500m?). There were trail bikers, but we didn’t see any other walkers. I remember that Sophia had bought her first woollen Icebreaker jumper and was wearing it for the first time here. One of the big tors in the background.
You can see the many tors on top of the Old Woman Range. I suspect we were walking back here, although I’m really not sure about the order of my photos.
Track Notes
On a 4WD road and then continues onto the tops on a vehicle track.
We did this on our second trip to New Zealand in 2012, which was the beginning of a more concerted effort to hike more. On this walk you drive to one of the highest points on a through road in New Zealand: Duffers Saddle on the Nevis Road, at about 1275m of elevation. From there you walk south-ish through farmland as I remember, then onto the plateau where the walking is mostly flat. You can continue for as long as you like, but I think we turned back at a boundary fence.Â