I have been curious about the Rainbow Road for some time now and decided that it would be the perfect way to break up the long drive to Paturau. Fortuitously, this was the last weekend of the year the road would be open before it closed for 9 months. The Rainbow Road is a 112km long high clearance 4WD gravel road connecting Hamner Springs to St Arnaud via the large and remote Rainbow and Molesworth Stations. The road has many unbridged stream crossings and occasional washouts, both requiring delicate maneuvering in my modestly-clearanced car. The road traverses the Clarence and Upper Wairau River valleys and gains a windswept height of 1347m at the Island Saddle. Spectacular views of the tussocky high country and melting greywacke mountains of scree are only marred slightly by the ever-present power pylons. Despite the constant evidence of man's ambition (roads, bridges, fences, power lines), there is a quiet loneliness to the road that is effective in resonating its isolation. Even for a holiday weekend, we passed very few people. I enjoyed a cozy night by the stove in the 4-bunk Island Gully Hut. The longdrop had a particularly nice view. The following day we continued north where several washouts and streams had me wondering whether my car would make it through. I took my time when an obstacle presented itself and heard surprisingly few scratching noises from the bottom of my car. The Keen Machine faired well and we continued on our way to Golden Bay and Paturau.
The lonely boulder
Melting mountains of scree
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