Tag Archives: new zealand

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Denniston – Part 1

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The West Coast of the South Island was once the site of a gold rush. People came between 1864 and 1867, just after the gold in the Victorian gold fields started to run out. This place was pretty different to Central Victoria though (ie. It’s cold, wet, and a jungle).

When the gold ran out, people looked to mine other things, and coal was one of those things. On top of the plateau behind the village of Waimangaroa is the former mining town of Denniston.

Denniston Heritage Site

The mine was worked from 1880 all the way to the 1960s. Nowadays, Denniston has been listed as a heritage site. A lot of the site is in ruins, but you can still tell a lot from the ruins.

Denniston Heritage Site

Denniston Heritage Site

There’s also plenty of signage to show how things were once.

Denniston Heritage Site

Denniston Heritage Site

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West Coast Towns – Part 2

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We explored a big West Coast town in the last post, but what about the tiny ones? There are plenty of them to choose from. Many towns were founded because of mining, timber or sealing/whaling. Not a lot of agriculture was established because the terrain was very mountainous with dense forests. Even the Maori found it hard going here and generally only came to find their precious greenstone (a form of jade).

17km north of Westport is the hamlet of Waimangaroa (long black river), which refers to the peaty river that flows through the town.

Waimangaroa

It might be small, but their war memorial is central to the town.

Waimangaroa

The bush and the hills that back the town is not very hospitable, but we’ll head up the top there in future posts when we’ll check out a historical mining site.

13km further up the road is the hamlet of Granity, another mining town. There’s also some steep, forested hills backing this town.

Granity

The town is not without its facilities though, as this former-church-turned-library testifies. Rather cute, I think.

Granity

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West Coast Towns – Part 1

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We left Golden Bay and headed for the wild West Coast. Although it is generally less than 50km as the crow flies from Golden Bay to the West Coast, this area is so rugged that there aren’t any roads through the area, though it’s great for real outdoor types. A famous walking/hiking/tramping track, the Heaphy, passes through here and though beautiful, I heard it’s not a Sunday stroll by any means.

So who dares to live on the wild west coast? Only the hardiest of Kiwis – it’s wild and woolly most of the time in the west. There are towns scattered throughout, though it doesn’t get much larger than Westport, population a touch under 5,000.

Westport

Like a lot of Kiwi towns, it has its share of art deco public buildings, as the older buildings were all destroyed in an earthquake in 1929. Earthquakes are a common theme in New Zealand.

Westport

Close to Westport is Cape Foulwind, named by Captain Cook, who didn’t have very a good time on the West Coast.

Cape Foulwind

At least now there’s a lighthouse to warn people away from the dangerous coast.

Cape Foulwind

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A walk to Fossil Point – Part 2

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Once over the dunes, the beach stretched out before us.

Walk to Fossil Point

Walk to Fossil Point

We were on the windy west coast, and boy, was it windy. And everything was on a vast scale.

Walk to Fossil Point

Walk to Fossil Point

Our destination turned out to be these boulders of beach rock, as they contained fossils – shells that are remnants of the sea floor that existed during the Miocene period, approximately 10 million years ago.

Walk to Fossil Point

We also had a little surprise when we searched for fossils.

Walk to Fossil Point

Luckily, he was having a long nap and hardly stirred, else we would have been in trouble.

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A walk to Fossil Point – Part 1

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We are venturing out on one more walk in Golden Bay before we head off elsewhere. This walk is to the southern end of Farewell Spit. The spit forms the most northernly point of Golden Bay, and indeed, the South Island of New Zealand. It stretches out 26km into the sea, and being so exposed, it is the site of frequent whale strandings.

We didn’t venture to the far end of the spit as that requires a 4WD or a 6 hour tour. We did however venture to the end of another no-through-road and walked across some boggy paddocks.

Walk to Fossil Point

Between the sea and the paddocks are some low dunes.

Walk to Fossil Point

These trees give you an idea of how windy it gets in these parts (though it was pretty calm in the paddocks during our walk).

Walk to Fossil Point

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A walk to Wharariki Beach – Part 1

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Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you had a lovely (if perhaps cosy) time with your family.

Now, back to my 2018 trip to New Zealand. I must say that this reminiscence has been good for me. It’s providing me with a great opportunity to relive that trip and really cherishing it. I hope you’re enjoying these posts too.

We’re still in the Golden Bay area of New Zealand, and today we’re walking to Wharariki Beach, which is in the north-western corner of the region.

The beach is accessed via a walking track across some paddocks from the end of a dirt road.

Wharariki Beach

We passed through some interesting coastal vegetation. The stream is brown due to the tannin in the water (like in Tasmania) and the bushes are flat as it’s almost always very windy in these parts.

Wharariki Beach

It was however a fine, sunny, early summer’s day, so walking these paddocks was a pleasure.

Wharariki Beach

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Collingwood – Part 3

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One of the loveliest things to do on an extended beach break is the meander on the beach at all hours.

Collingwood views

There was plenty of opportunity to do that in Collingwood as the town is on a huge sand spit.

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

One can wander about in all directions for hours upon end, often without seeing another soul.

Collingwood views

Once on the sand, there were plenty of things to see. I was very interested in seeing what the sand hid and then consequently revealed when the tide receded.

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

Collingwood views

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Collingwood – Part 2

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Our accommodation in Collingwood was a beach-side bach called Beach End Cottage. A bach (for an Aussie or Brit, it’s pronounced like birch, but shorter) in Kiwi-speak is short for bachelor pad, but now is thought of as a holiday home.

Collingwood

In distant times, baches might be thought of as a simple beach-shack (aka SeaChange), and Beach End Cottage is a good example of one of these. On the end of a beach, away from town, set into the bush, an arms-throw from the water’s edge and with a neverending view of the bay. Nowadays baches can also be water-front resort holiday ‘houses’ (or is that just for the city slickers?).

Collingwood

Collingwood

Anyway, I’m glad that the bach was still there for us to experience. There are worse ways to experience Collingwood and Golden Bay, I’m sure.

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Collingwood – Part 1

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The reward for traversing Takaka Hill is being able to visit beautiful Golden Bay. This wasn’t my first visit to the area, but previous visit was 14 years before, so I was curious as to whether the area had changed much. That is, become a Byron Bay kind of place, or had it retained its feeling of seclusion.

Collingwood

We stayed in the town the furthest way along the bay. It’s called Collingwood, and has no links to the Melbourne suburb of the same name other than being named after the same guy. Actually, I’m stretching the truth when I call Collingwood a town – it’s really a village.

Collingwood

Collingwood

That’s most of downtown Collingwood! It did start out quite big – a centre for its own gold rush in the late 19th Century, but a series of fires razed the town, and when the gold rush receded, so did much of its population. But its location as the sunniest spot in New Zealand and close to a slew of national parks makes it an adventure playground to those willing to brave the drive out.

Collingwood

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Over the Hill

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From Nelson, we drove further into the north-west of the island. Our destination, the mystical Golden Bay. But to get there, we had to traverse the notorious Takaka Hill, which separates Golden Bay from the rest of New Zealand (for those who think that NZ isn’t isolated enough from the rest of the world).

On Takaka Hill

The pass is around 791m high, but seems higher since we can see down to sea level a lot of the time. There’s Nelson in the mist!

On Takaka Hill

At the top of the hill is Hawkes Lookout. Time to stretch and photograph the views.

On Takaka Hill

We also met some of the local birdlife. The weka is a common flightless bird in these parts. They’re not shy but not mischievous either.

On Takaka Hill - a Weka

Hubby, ever the geologist, was interested in the rocks protruding from the hillside. They’re limestone. These hills are the crunch point between the two tectonic plates that Australia and New Zealand are on.

On Takaka Hill

Being a bit of a Lord of the Rings fan back in the day, I thought these types of rocks look familiar. A bit of research uncovered that they did film in the general area, although much higher up (with the aid of helicopters). And probably in winter (we visited in early summer).