After a night of torrential rain a rainbow appeared in the sky as we farewelled Seddonville. The mist came down and the rain set in. The locals had told us that they hadn’t seen a drop of rain for weeks which was most unusual for this part of New Zealand, and now it seems that the wet West Coast weather was back with a vengeance. Tendrils of mist hung low over the hills as we drove through the Buller Gorge.
We felt like we should be ducking our heads as we drove under the rocky outcrops known as Hawke’s Crag. This part of the gorge was carved out of a stony bluff and the crag hangs high over vehicles as they drive around the tight corner. It must be high enough for most traffic, we reckon, as plenty of trucks and buses drive through the gorge daily, but we still felt like we should be ducking low underneath, just to be sure.
A second rainbow filled the sky and seemed to welcome us as we drove into Reefton, our stop for the next couple of nights.
Reefton was nicknamed “Quartzopolis” because of the rich gold bearing quartz reefs found in the hills, and the town burst into life in the 1860s-1870s. It was the first town in New Zealand to gain electric street lighting, just a few years behind New York. As the most of the gold was extracted, the boom times were over, but miners continued to take small quantities of gold for many more years. There is also Oceana Gold who rail ore bearing quartz from Reefton to Palmerston on the other coast. Those who are following our blog will remember our trip to Oceana Gold at McCrae's Flat in Central Otago. Reefton Raceway is our stop over and the three of us soon lined up all in a row. Other caravans and motor homes drifted in as the afternoon wore on.
Once settled, we dodged the showers and made our way to the Information Centre in town, always a good place to start. There is a huge winding engine on display, which was used to lower the miners deep underground, then raise the gold bearing rock in cages up and down the mineshaft. There is also a replica Quartzoplolis Mine at the centre, just like being underground with it’s dirt floor and timber props holding the roof of the mine up.
There is sure to be lots more to see around town, and we plan to explore the delights of Reefton in greater detail tomorrow. With any luck more whitebait is on the menu for tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to meet up with the Reefton Bearded Miners, that sounds like a whole lot of fun.
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