At home here in Wanaka the nearby Nevis Valley often beckons and is one of my favourite weekend haunts. It’s remote and beguiling, and full of gold mining and gold dredging history.
Apart from outstanding and unique landscapes, remoteness verging on wilderness, and historic examples of the gold era, the river itself is cherished by trout fisherman…
My lucky day…
Accessing it from Cromwell / Bannockburn via Duffers Saddle you look across to the back of the Remarkables Mountains – they’re the spectacular mountain range you see from Queenstown…
The first use of the Nevis Valley was as a trail route for the Maori. When the gold rush arrived in the 1860s, two small settlements appeared in the lower Nevis. Now only the family at Ben Nevis Station, and some owners of historic holiday cottages occupy the valley.
Due to the remoteness of the valley, miners’ workings have been left largely untouched and now provide an excellent representation of an original goldfield. These remains include everything from the cemetery and settlement buildings through to a woolshed and the first ski hut…. more>>
It becomes even more remote in winter…
Gold dredges left modest pools of water behind…
And the landscape was compromised years ago – back when it was thought OK…
The old time miners in the Nevis knew about wind energy – these are 40 gal. drums cut in half and arranged on a shaft to capture the wind. This example still turns squeakily…
There are two entry points into the valley [one mentioned above]. The other is from Garston in Southland. So working our way from Garston back to Bannockburn here are a few of the dwellings in the valley…
The historic Southland Ski Club hut near the top of the Nevis Saddle…
This hut has been restored, but being beside a road can leave it open to abuse. Still it is dry and clean enough…
The carpark beside what is a public 4wd road [closed over winter though]…
This style chair was a product of the 60s. My parents had a set, so this took me right back down memory lane. This one even made the same noise as I placed it by the light…
The above’s out-house [toilet]…
Sadly this state of disrepair of a hut down in the head of the Nevis river, and up a side stream, could easily be put right…
Modern day miner’s cottages I suspect, turned bach /crib/ holiday home…
Beside an old gold dredging hole/lake
Fireplace in above remains…
Again a modern day miner’s cottage…
Up a side valley – new lean-to on the side of a really old mud and stone hut…
The perfect situation for those roasting summer days, where shade is everything…
Selwyn’s house has been lovingly restored and inside is lined with hi-tech astro foil for insulation that was developed by NASA…
Ken’s house was built by his grand-father, and is over a hundred years old with the roof bought here from Scotland is still the original iron …
Nearby is a very interesting and historic cemetery. The photos below are more recent too…
A bunch of crosses in a populated cemetery can numb my mind if I consider the whole experience of being human, and the collective experiences of all who’ve gone before us to once again return to the dust of the universe.
A lonely grave seems to bite deeper – the space creates context that can be reflected on…
The symbol of the cross as being part of death, is I find an interesting concept, e.g. while doing the yoga mountain pose [standing tall and straight - not as easy as it may seem], then raise our hands to the sky [and follow with our eyes], then slowly bring them down, palms out, in an arc to our sides, accompanied with an exhalation we create space – both outwardly and physical in the heart/ribs/shoulders, and so on the descent of our hands we become a cross.
It was surely Christ’s death that consolidated the symbolism of the cross, but now I’m not so sure. Could be he picked it to make a point.
Amid all that suffering he opened his heart to all. Created space in yoga terms if you like. And like all crosses if viewed from below the sky [universe] takes on the role we can’t comprehend, that of the infinite…
Some of our pioneers obviously had this in mind when they placed a bird next the lonely cross in the Nevis Valley cemetery. Note the bird faces north and slightly upwards…
Topping Duffers Saddle more recently we were quite taken aback as photographers, by the light on the back of the The Remarkables…
This well designed verandah on an historic cottage will have seen many happy relaxing lazes in the sun, and shade…
In this dry continental climate rust does almost sleep…
Modern day [night!] travellers…
Modern day symbols, if you like of not such a distant past…
Yet another cross…
The ponds in the background were created by gold dredges – with limited water they’d daily shift their own hole that they floated in…
Eroded not by nature, but by miners washing down the cliff with large water blasting nozzles, known as sluicing guns…
Trip notes: The northern Cromwell end road over the saddle is OK for a car in all but winter. Ditto the Garston end as far as the saddle above the Southland Ski Club hut. The upper and middle Nevis is very much a 4wd proposition, but a mild one. Again not advisable in winter.
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