Quartz Reef & Bendigo Historic Goldfields- Part 2

Catch-up

Continued on from Part 1

Further north along the range from the Quartz Reef Point tailings are the Bendigo Goldfields. The Bendigo Historic Reserve is a very large area and was made up of several small towns that sprung up on the lower slopes of the range as gold was discovered in the mid 1860s.

An old horse cart & Logantown ruins

We visited the very north end of the reserve when we drove through the Dunstan Mountains on the Thomson Gorge 4WD Track back in 2015, exploring the remains of the Rise & Shine and Come in Time Reefs and the restored ten stamp battery that is there. It was late in the afternoon when we exited the Thomson Gorge Track at Tarras so we decided we'd explore the rest of the Bendigo diggings another time. It's taken awhile but finally we're checking them out.

The road up to the top of the Bendigo Reserve is short and quite steep in places, it passes by the old Bendigo School site and finishes at a carpark in an area that was once known as Welshtown. During the 1860s Welshtown was a residential town which was supported by businesses in nearby Logantown at the bottom of the range.

Looking towards Wanaka, through that gap in the mountains at the back.

The views out over the Upper Clutha valley are wide & far reaching; vineyards and farmland fill the valley from the Pisa Range on the left to Lindis Pass and the Hawkduns at the far right and out of shot. I zoomed in on the interesting shaped effluent/irrigation pond on this dairy farm, not only an interesting shape, but it's huge!

There are quite a number of stone ruins left in Welshtown including a cottage whose walls are relatively intact. Many of the houses here were made of corrugated iron, these are long gone and they weren't necessarily left to deteriorate either. They were easy to dismantle and cart off to the next gold rush.

The size of the cottages is amazing though, some only had enough room for a bed & the fire and that's about it. I guess the men were working the gold fields most of the time and only needed a place to rest their heads overnight.

Families would have lived in some of the larger cottages including this house that belonged to the Pengellys, a prominent mining family in the district.  Can you see the remains of the house in the photo above? (click to enlarge) A close up is in the the photo below, top left. 

There are several walks of varying lengths that leave from the Welshtown carpark in all directions. I take the 1km Welshtown Matilda Battery track through the kanuka scrub heading downhill past grated mine shafts and the remains of several stone buildings including the Blacksmiths store (above, bottom right). 

Matilda battery

The twenty stamp Matilda Battery site opens up at the bottom of the track with a mine shaft and numerous stone foundations including a chimney still standing. In front of the battery are the remains of the mine office and further up the slope are the ruins of several small stone huts where miners working on the battery lived. There's also a collection on the office window sill of broken glass and metal bits & bobs that people have found while fossicking around the site.

It was getting late in the afternoon when I got back to the carpark and I really wanted to walk the 4km Aurora Creek Track but decided I'd come back later in the week to do it, then I wouldn't have to rush and David wouldn't have to wait around for me. But in the end he did come back with me- as my chauffeur- I left him in the Welshtown carpark and headed off across the gully...

The carpark, Welshtown ruins and a snow capped Pisa Range behind.

...around a ridge, through a large open area with masses of vegetable sheep...

...before entering the kanuka scrub and heading downhill. Once again the views out over the valley are magnificent.

It's not long before I reach Aurora Creek and the rocky gorge it flows through.

I find a gap in the rocks that overlooks the gorge and I can now see the old dray track that crosses the creek on a stone causeway which was built in a hurry and by hand in 4 months.

Once across the causeway the track starts to head down the range to the bottom of the gorge but not before it passes through another wide open space known as The Ballroom. 

On the 4th February, 1870 over 300 people made their way here from Welshtown & Logantown to celebrate the opening of the new 10 stamp Aurora Battery. After speeches, champagne & salute firing the crowd moved to the open air ballroom to dance the night away to the sound of violins with a warming fire burning in the purpose built fireplace.

I carried on along the track, which wove back and forward down the side of the hill alongside the gorge, stopping to take in the views whenever there was a rock platform or a gap in the scrub.

More ruins appear on either the side of the track as I near the bottom of the gorge.

And then the track disappears under the kanuka bush and down into the bottom of the narrow gorge...

...where there are a lot more stone ruins on both sides of Aurora Creek.

From the creek-bed the track heads along what once was the main street of Logantown...

 ...past the remains of at least three hotels, a butchery, bakers and more miners huts...

...to finally end at the old horse cart. And where my chauffeur is happily waiting for me. This saves me the walk back up the steep incline to the Welshtown carpark. 

We then head off back down to the loop road and home to Cromwell; Bendigo Goldfields done & dusted.

Next Stop Nelson

While I was sorting photos for this blog post I can across this lovely one of a yacht berthed in one of the large estuaries between Takaka & Collingwood. I’d stopped there with Diane on our way back from seeing the shags at Tata Beach, the light from the early morning sun and the calm water were just right for a perfect capture.

We left Collingwood heading for Motueka where I had a hair appointment booked for early afternoon. I’d had my hair done at Bliss Hair Salon before we left Kaiteriteri & Jo had done such a great job I thought it would be opportune to have it done again on the way back through the town. Finding a good hairdresser when you’re on the road is like finding gold.

Crossing back over the “feared” Takaka Hill was problem free although we did meet a little more traffic than last time including a few big truck & trailer units. We took our time and pulled over into one of the many passing bays as soon as traffic appeared behind & at one stage we had to pull up at a narrow section to let an oncoming large truck through. It was slow haul up and just as slow a wind down the other side. It was great to arrive safe & sound in Riwaka where all the fruit trees were in blossom, gardens full of daffodils and kowhai in flower along the roadside. Spring had arrived while we were in Golden Bay.

Originally we thought we might head on to Nelson after my appointment but as we’d arrived early we decided to take a look at a freedom camping spot at Port Motueka where you can stay for a maximum of 3 nights. We liked what we saw and with just another 5th-wheeler already in place it looked a good spot to stay overnight. We unhitched and David ran me back into town. By the time we got back late in the afternoon the car park had another 4 or 5 vans of various shapes & sizes parked up and by night fall there were 11 vehicles and the carpark full. This spot is obviously well known and patronized probably because it's not too far from the Abel Tasman Park.

Some of the benefits of our slow travel is the fact that there’s no hurry for us to get on the road when it comes time to leave, we usually only move 50-100kms and in fact today it’s just 33kms to Richmond where we'll stay. By the time we open our doors in the morning the car park has virtually emptied. Just the two 5th-wheelers and two campervans, one had obviously been somewhere where they’d had torrential rain. It looked like every piece of clothing and camping gear along with the tent was hung out to dry.

Port Motueka is a lovely area surrounded by those ever present estuaries and huge tidal plains that have become a familiar  feature of our visit to the Tasman District. Over the bank on the far side of the carpark is the historic Motueka Saltwater Bath. When I saw a sign further down the road pointing the way to the pool I told David there were pools close by. He asked me if I knew if they were heated or not. I had a laugh when I went for a walk to check them out.

This type of pool is now unusual in NZ although they were quite popular at seaside (obviously) towns of yesteryear. The baths were built in 1938 after families camping nearby over summer were concerned about sharks. The pool was renovated in 1992 when the wooden railings, decks & a concrete floor were added; before then it wouldn't have been more than a concrete pit. There is a special gate that lets the incoming tide fill the pool, the pool is hosed down and cleaned every couple of weeks between October and April. I’m not so sure you could do your daily laps here but it certainly would be a good place to cool off over summer. Especially when the tide was out.

We have now been parked up at the Richmond Racecourse for just over a week, although not a NZMCA Park, the campground is for fully self contained NZMCA members only. There are toilets and a laundry and a few powered sites (if required) plus a resident camp manager. It’s very handy to the Richmond shopping mall and main street and just 15kms from Nelson city centre.

We’ve not done, & won’t be doing, too much exploring around Nelson. We had a few errands to do in town, have the ute serviced and of course cast our vote last weekend. Casting a special vote had us nearly choosing a candidate from a Maori electorate! We were given the wrong forms to fill in and it was only when I couldn’t see a familiar name on the voting paper that I realised what had happened. Back to the desk and another 15 minutes of filling in forms had us finally with the correct papers.

It amazes me that after all we’ve done in making sure our address is correct for all our personal affairs, as in a box number because we have no fixed abode, we still have to have our last known address on the electoral roll. This is just plain silly, ok we’ve only been gone from Tauranga for a year and we know the relevant candidates but what happens in 3, 6 or 12 years time (if we’re still on the road) when we wouldn’t have a clue who our candidates were. It was hard enough recalling our old address when asked this time, let alone in a few years!

On the weekend we went for a tiki tour along the water front, checking the Tahunanui peninsula out and driving right to the end where we had wonderful views out over more tidal flats to the snow covered mountains beyond. To the right are Mt Arthur and other mountains in Kahurangi National Park which was where we had walked and driven through the snow. We thought we might have been able to complete the walk to Mt Arthur Hut while parked up here in Nelson but a heavy dumping of snow last week has put paid to that.

The carparks at the end of the of the sandy track were full of cars and out on the sand in both directions were dozens of people walking. And dogs running. This was obviously a popular dog walking area and being a lovely sunny weekend day everyone was out enjoying it.

We’ve been to the city twice and both times we came across this fellow, he’s obviously a permanent fixture around town, I seem to recall an article or two on him on TV & in the paper, something about taking up carparks and nor paying a fee. I think the council need to collect over $50,000 in fines. I say good luck with that one. David had recollections of his childhood in the UK when he saw him coming down the road; he was waiting for him to call out “Rag 'n bones, rag 'n bones”

After a visit to the WOW museum (more on that in another post) we drove along the waterfront, stopping to book dinner at The Boatshed Cafè. We’ve been waiting to stay in Nelson since David’s birthday back in July when the family gave him a dinner voucher for the restaurant. We’re looking forward to sampling the seafood on offer.

Another perfect day of spring sunshine and people out enjoying it. Although we did have a blustery day earlier in the week that wasn't much fun.

And one last photo, an abandoned farmhouse on the main road into Richmond; perfect fodder for a photographer!