10 January 2017 Hector, Buller District

Here lie Denniston folk

We woke to glorious sunshine this morning, or at least enough to indicate the rains had eased. The forecast suggested this to be only a small window of good weather, perhaps only a matter of hours; we just hoped it would remain dry while we dumped, filled with water and diesel and stocked up with fresh food. We were in luck; all went smoothly and we were on the coast road north before 10.30am at first duplicating that road taken to Denniston last week.

Setting out up the Charming Creek Walkway

But at Waimangaroa, we turned toward the sea, heading for the Denniston cemetery where past residents of that spot high on the plateau left their bodily remains. Given the lack of top soil up at Denniston and the settlements about, there was no option but to bring the bodies down toward the sea where they could rest six feet under, undisturbed.

We had called in here about eight years ago, not in search of anyone in particular, simply to wander about reading the headstones and imagine the stories behind the abbreviated memorials. From down here, their ghosts could look up the incline to their last residence or out to sea from where so many of them had come by ship. The state of the stones had deteriorated in the interim, although there were a few new memorials with immigration details added to those that might have graced the originals, placed by descendants. 

The Ngakawau River

Back on the road we continued north, having passed the bygone settlements and locations of Sergeants Hill, Fairdown, Deadman’s Creek, and then Birchfield, all places part of my grandfather’s history and that of his siblings. Eight years ago we had scratched around a paddock in Birchfield looking for the remains of the Griffiths Bros Engineering workshops where my grandfather had worked as an apprentice back in the late 1800s; today everything is overgrown.

We came on through Granity, then a string of non-descript poor housing, today a little more loved and better kept, soon passing the massive coal processing and loading sheds at Ngakawai  and across the river; we took note of the old tennis courts for possible overnighting. We drove up behind Solid Energy’s works to the carpark for the Charming Creek Walkway, parked and lunched before donning our sturdy boots.

View back to the Ngakawau River mouth

The Charming Creek Railway was a privately owned line which provided transport for the timber milling and coal mining operations in the Charming Creek Valley. Brothers George and Bob Watson, sawmillers of Granity, were keen to open up the large timber resources in the area and set themselves the ambitious task of building a railway up the rugged Ngakawau Gorge. It was completed in about 1912 and ran as far as the Watson’s Mill in Charming Creek Valley.

In 1926, Bob Watson established the Charming Creek Westport Coal Company and the railway was extended. From 1929 up to six coal trains used the line daily, each way. Timber milling was small scale compared to the coal operations, which in the peak year of 1942, employed sixty nine men and produced 43,385 tonnes.

Flooding at The Bins

In 1958 the line closed, the operation no longer economic. Any remaining operations were served by a road to Seddonville, further to the north. Today it is nothing but a walking path, and cycling for the foolhardy. The whole route apparently takes three hours, but we only went half way, to the Mangatini Falls in one hour, the remains of Watson’s Mill a quarter of an hour further and then a on again for quarter of an hour, crossing three more bridges in the hope of being able to walk back to that turning point within the next couple of days, weather permitting.

Swingbridge across the Ngakawau River

The walk is one of the most spectacular I have done, and this was probably due to the previous days’ weather. The rivers were all swollen and raging torrents, the Mangatini Falls simply magnificent as they plunged down into the Ngakawau River. The path was wet and muddy, and flooded in spots to the top of a child’s  gumboots near the open space called The Bins. Water poured from the cliffs like rain where there were no conduits; it was just marvellous and surely a unique view of what would always be a very pleasant walk.

We were delighted to encounter a robin beyond the mill, a curious little creature who would be gobbled up in no time flat is folk were allowed to bring their dogs in here. He hopped around for some time, entertaining us and no doubt interested in microscopic insects we may have stirred up with our muddy wet boots.

The Mangatini Falls down into the Ngakawau

Once back, we drove back to the tennis courts or what is left of these, between the road and the roaring sea, walked across to the run down convenience store operated by the loveliest old fellow who expressed a desire to retire sometime soon. He just needs a buyer for his store, a business which probably struggles to even supplement his pension. We bought icecreams from him and stood in the sunshine outside chatting and reminded ourselves how wise we had been to take early retirement. 

Back near our camping spot we checked out the information area, pretty well kept gardens about a rather kitsch arrangement of plaster dolphins. This is all about celebrating Hector, the place and the dolphins who are likewise named.

Old railway new Mangatini Falls

The total population of Hector’s dolphins is estimated to be about 7,400; numbers on the West Coast are about 5,400. Buller Bay supports the greatest density recorded anywhere. They were named in 1881 in honour of Sir James Hector who is probably best known for his geological survey work carried out within New Zealand. He was the first director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington.

The above statistics are gleened from the interpreative panel by the sculture and have been unchanged since at least eight years ago. Perhaps their diminishing numbers are more at crisis level now, because I do recall a news article recently decrying their demise.

This evening we are alone and likely to remain so at this hour, although there are several pukekos fossicking around in the undergrowth behind us. It seems that here one may have either pukekos or wekas, not the two together.