Mesopotamia

We recently had an awesome weekend at Mesopotamia Station with the Timaru photographic club. I had never been there before even though it is only a little over 100 km from home. Another tick off the "bucket list".

It was a great chance to get the camera out and try new angles and gadgets. I took around 900 photos in 3 days with a large majority of these destined for the waste bin. However there are a few shots which I will use here to give you an idea of the high country of New Zealand.

The road to Mesopotamia, on the south side of the Rangitata River, passes through Peel Forest before rising steadily to reach a small summit before dropping down again.



The top of the hill looking back to the Canterbury Plains



This part of the road skirts around the Rangitata Gorge where exhilarating rafting and kayaking are features of the great outdoors.

Letter box on the way down the other side, heading west.

Dropping down a few hundred metres in altitude we caught our first sight of the river above the gorge and hints of a building nor'wester.

First sight of the upper Rangitata River

River flats open out the valley with nor'west clouds coming around the corner.

About 100m down the road  a small herd of deer were very protective of the first fawn of the season.

New season arrival

Beef cattle, deer and merino sheep are the main animals farmed in the high country. A forestry block on Forest Creek Station, next to Mesopotamia has around 4.5 million trees.

Further up the road, nor'west rain can be seen in the next photo. The river rose over the weekend although was not in high flood.

The valley opening out into wide flats

Mesopotamia Station entrance.





By the time we got to Mesopotamia, a real high country nor'wester was to batter us on Friday night and most of Saturday. Fortunately our accommodation was well sheltered by many large trees although the sound of the wind was like an approaching express train that seemed to keep on coming!

Showing the effects of the nor'west gale

The view from our accommodation

The old stables

The stables in the early evening

Being one of New Zealand's historic sheep stations, there are plenty of old buildings to explore. The old stables above has a new roof but the walls are still clad with flattened 44 gallon drums. This turned out to be a treasure trove of old saddles, harnesses etc when horses were used extensively.

Mespotamia ("between the two rivers", originally the Tigris and the Euphrates) lies between Forest Creek and the Rangitata River and back to the Main Divide was first settled by Samuel Butler in 1860.

Horses of course played a major role in allowing the such stations to operate prior to the arrival of motor vehicles. The stables above still have plenty of relics from the days when horses were a vital part of rural life.

Pack saddle

Mustering - rounding up the sheep from the hills and bringing them down to safety before the winter snows arrived - involved a large team of men and dogs walking days on end and staying in back country huts. Horses were used to pack in supplies for the musterers who came from far and wide. Gradually the thousands of sheep made their way down to the rivers flats for the winter.

Helicopters have replace the teams of musterers now and only a few shepherds needed. On most stations they fly out each day and go home again at night.

Bit and stirrups

Collars - probably used for pulling wagons

Wheel hub of the old gig

Dusty old saddle

Feed box. It's been some time since there was any chaff in here

Modern gear at the ready

The station has around 30 horses nearby. I'm not sure what breed they are but they are strong, heavy horses that are in the peak of condition judging by their shiny coats.

In the days before motorised trucks, horse drawn wagons were used to haul everything to and from the station.

Wagon wheel

During our weekend trip we did not get close to any farm animals as it was in the middle of the lambing and calving season. Between 7000 and 8000 are shorn annually. See the buildings link below to see the woolshed.

Finally, a piece of equipment which I did not have for the weekend at Mesopotamia is  neutral density graduated filter.

As you can see an ND grad is particularly useful in bringing out detail of the sky in difficult lighting conditions. This filter is hand held in front of the lens to show its effect. Some of the above photos would have been much better if I had some NDgrads.

The land does slope down to the left as we were on a giant shingle fan and the camera was mounted level on a tripod.

A set of ND grads and other filters are shortly to be added to my camera gear after seeing what they do.

More photos of the buildings, landscape, machinery and miscellaneous items can be found using these links. There are plenty here for your enjoyment.