Walk Details
NZ Walking Routes > Otago > Alexandra > Old Man Range
Old Man Range
- Location
Symes Road, Fruitlands or Waikaia Bush Road, Shingle Creek. Symes Road gives access to the TV transmitter and the Fraser Basin at the northern end of the range. The Waikaia Bush Road leads to the Potters/Campbells Gully goldfield at the south end of the range.
Both roads are single lane, lightly metalled and steep. Beyond the second gate on the Waikaia Bush Road and the third gate on Symes Road, the surface is clay only. Use of these roads by ordinary cars is subject to the weather at all times. Both roads are normally negotiable between mid December and late March, but in some years snow drifts across the roads may not clear until late summer and the surface may never dry out enough for 2WD cars. If due caution is exercised, both roads should be negotiable on a fine summer day. It is not possible to take cars right through to Piano Flat on the Waikaia Bush Road
- Description
The Old Man Range forms the south western boundary of the Manuherikia Basin. Named after the Old Man, a prominent skyline schist tor at 1,695m, the range extends 50km from the Fraser River in the north to the Umbrella Mountains in the south. Characterised by a smooth, tor-studded plateau-like crest, sub-arctic landforms, and distinctive high-altitude plants and insects (including miniature shrubs, flowering plants and giant wetas which freeze solid in the winter and thaw in the spring), the range is well worth a visit. Commercial tour operators run conducted trips onto the range. Private vehicle access is possible, but tracks are rugged and require some driving skill. Walking is recommended.
Visit www.nzsouth.co.nz for full details.
- Level
- Hard
- Amenities
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- Historical
- Huts
- Lookouts
- Tramping
- Source
- www.nzsouth.co.nz
- Discussion
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