Molesworth Station

Molesworth covers about 180,000 hectares of inland Marlborough - larger than several national parks - and runs the biggest cattle herd in the country across tussock basins between the Inland Kaikoura and St James ranges. It is a working station managed by DOC, and the reason it matters to a traveller is the Acheron Road, an unsealed public route of about sixty kilometres that crosses it between Hanmer Springs and the Awatere valley. The road opens only for the summer months, roughly late December to early April, and closes for winter, fire risk and stock work; dates shift each year and it can shut at short notice. Along it are the Acheron Accommodation House of 1863, one of the oldest cob buildings in the South Island, the Molesworth Cob Cottage campsite, and a landscape of dry tussock and braided riverbeds with almost nothing in it. There is no fuel, no shop and little phone coverage.

What you actually see

• The tussock basins - open high country on a scale that is hard to photograph.
• The Acheron road - sixty unsealed kilometres across the station.
• Acheron Accommodation House - an 1863 cob building on the route.
• The cattle - the largest herd in the country, at work.

When to go

Late December to early April only - check the current opening before setting out, since dates change annually and closures happen at short notice. Camping needs booking.

Honest expectations

The road is unsealed, dusty and slow, and rental agreements sometimes exclude it - check yours. No fuel, no shop, patchy coverage. It is a working farm: gates, stock on the road and no off-road wandering.

Nearby

Hanmer Springs is south; Blenheim and the Awatere valley are north-east.