Trip to Godley and Macauley river valleys

Last weekend I managed to get up the Godley and Macauley rivers on an overnight trip. The weather was perfect and the rivers were nice and low. We were in dad's 2012 Defender 110 and my 1994 200tdi Discovery 1. Both cars were essentially stock with the defender having a snorkel but as it isn't sealed it is more of a raised air intake and doesn't really help in river crossings.

The first crossing was pretty deep with the bonnet dipping under on entry (see photo). I was a bit worried in the Discovery but it made it across fine. We walked all major fords before crossing which you should always do as water always looks shallower than it is. The first crossing was probably about 600-700mm deep which was way above my 500mm recommended maximum! After crossing the river we made our way up the Godley River valley which has some absolutely stunning scenery. Mt D'archaic (2875m) stands at the top of the valley and as the photos show, it makes a spectacular road into the wilderness. We reached Red Stag Hut around 2:00 and chatted to a group of hunters who advised us not to try to reach the glacier lake as the terrain became harder the further up you got.

We then headed back down the valley to Lilybank Station but headed up the Macauley Valley to our overnight stay of Macauley hut. We drove about 1 1/2 hours up the valley and met another group of hunters who said that the hut was already full and was another hours drive up the valley. We therefore elected to camp in a sheltered spot on the  edge of the valley, well away from the river.

The next morning we drove out and crossed the Macauley River at a much better ford that was only up to the sills. Then it was a 3 hour drive back to Christchurch.

It must be noted that we did this in a bone stock Discovery 1 with road biased tyres, no snorkel and no lift kits. The only problem was the low-slung tow hitch that bottomed out frequently coming out of fords. That may soon be coming off in favour of something more suitable (stay tuned). It goes to show that almost anyone with at high ground clearance 4wd can come out here and experience some of the best scenery in the world. Any Land Rover model could make it up here, even a Freelander (with some careful selection of river crossings). All up it cost me about 57 litres of diesel ($65) and a couple of hundred diesel miles which made it under $100 per vehicle. If you live in the Canterbury area I strongly suggest that you give this trip a go.