Dam fine spot

Visiting from Invercargill, Josh Haywood emerges from the “Grahame Sydney” toilet at the Heyward Hut at a part of the Poolburn Dam known locally as Drunken Woman’s Arm. The arm is actually a gully that was flooded when the Poolburn Dam was built in the 1930s. It got its name because there was an old stone hotel in the gully run by a woman called ‘‘Hobart Town Annie’’. Photos: Stephen Jaquiery

The Poolburn Reservoir attracts a range of people with a range of uses for its cool blue waters in the summertime.

Also known as the Poolburn Dam, the reservoir, in Central Otago, was built during the Great Depression for irrigation, but also as an employment initiative.

The water is used by farmers in the Ida Valley. Long Valley Creek feeds the reservoir, and the reservoir itself feeds the Pool Burn. The Pool Burn flows into the Ida Valley, combines with the Ida Burn, and breaks through the Raggedy Range at the Poolburn Gorge before flowing into the Manuherikia River.

Cromwell fisher Tony Conaboy casts an imitation blowfly to fish he can see feeding on the edge of the reservoir.

There is access to the Poolburn Reservoir from either Omakau in the Manuherikia Valley or Oturehua in the Ida Valley. There is also access from Paerau over the Rock and Pillar Range, but this is a dry-weather road only that must be negotiated by a four-wheel-drive.

The reservoir is located on the Old Dunstan Rd and the flooded area was once the site of five hotels.

The concrete-arch dam is about 30m high and 150m long at its crest. About 11,000cum of concrete was used to construct the dam. During construction, scaffolding collapsed, resulting in seven men suffering injuries, two of whom were initially in critical condition.

Alan Bell, of Alexandra, proudly displays a 2.84kg brown trout caught on a worm. Mr Bell keeps an area of his garden wet year round to attract the big juicy worms the fish love. As he has no refrigeration at his Poolburn hut, he will head home with his trout, which he will fillet and fry in butter and share a portion of with his mother.

In June 1931, one worker died from a fall at the site.

Today, the dam is administered by the Ida Valley Irrigation Company.

When full, the reservoir covers over 300ha.

Brown trout and rainbow trout were introduced into the reservoir, but only brown trout remain.

Natalie Loose (right), formerly of Alexandra, now of Woodend, is accompanied by Tricia Connolly (left) and Caitlin Loose, both of Woodend, as she returns from a swim across the reservoir.

The Poolburn Reservoir was used to depict the kingdom of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. There are multiple huts around the reservoir’s edge.

Otago Daily Times photographer Stephen Jaquiery visited to see what was happening on the dam.

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