Granity – the name made us want to stop and see what was there. We found another former coal town which time was passing by, a couple of shops, and a few interesting old buildings. The band rotunda spoke of livelier times, and was renovated and re-opened in 1997.
There was more action happening further up the road at the Stockton processing plant at Ngakawau. The rather grand concrete building was completed in 1905.
Coal is carried down the hill on an aerial ropeway and loaded onto rail wagons.
A little further up the road and we reached Seddonville, our stop for the night. You wouldn’t think this sleepy little rural backwater had much to offer, but in fact there was plenty to keep us amused in the afternoon. First we did a walk through the Chasm tunnel, along a disused railway line. We walked over two timber walking bridges laid on top of the original rail bridges over the river.
Just as well we brought our torches along to help us on our way through the tunnel. We were surprised to meet some other walkers out here in the middle of nowhere. Just as well we did as one of them told us about a 4WD trip up in the hills. Robin was raring to go – and Geoff and Pauline bravely followed in our dust.
Driving off-road we followed a rough track along the Mokihnui River till the road petered out. The road was rather steep in places and Robin had to lock the car into low ratio to keep traction on the gravel. We noticed several other vehicles parked up and presume that engineers are testing the area for coal seams or something similar.
The drivers were both delighted to take their vehicles across a couple of fords. The photographers were let off on one side, then the drivers drove back over, and with a big rush, splashed their way across the ford again.
You don’t need to be in a big town to have fun, simple pleasures like our walk and a drive up in the hills can be just as enjoyable. And just to remind us that this is “coal country”, the smell of coal fires is wafting in the air as the afternoon draws to a close. Seddonville had it’s own small coal mine in earlier times, as we found out.
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