A cool cloudy day today, lots to do on the computer to arrange the next major step in our travels in 3 months, so we stayed in for half a day. We ventured out to the nearest grocery store, over the gravel road through a pine forest to Tapawera, a small town with a convenience store. It’s also a stop on the Great Taste Trail so we checked out the signposts about the trail and noticed a small museum across from the store.

The small museum is in the old Kiwi town railroad station.

The Nelson railway was a lifeline for the area, taking goods from the farms to the port in Nelson from the late 1880’s until 1955. This is about all that is left of the line. A protest against the demolition of the line was staged by women who sat on the tracks, resulting in 9 women being accused of communism and arrested! Inside the small building to the left are signboards about the impact of WW1 on the area, with many men leaving for the war.The larger building holds information about the Paheka history of the area, the miners, farmers, loggers and trainmen. We didn’t get much time to look at it as a gentleman came to lock up the buildings, but a few things caught our eye!

The area where we drive over the gravel road, past the old Stanley Brook school, circa late 1880’s? The school doesn’t look like the one we pass, maybe modified over the years?

The hills are covered with pine trees, obviously not native, and planted in rows; forest plantations. Started way back in the 1920’s when the native forest had been logged off or burned to make pastureland, which subsequently proved poor for that use and began eroding. Forest plantations were thought to be the answer.

No wonder we sometimes get Oregon vibes, Doug firs!

Back over the gravel road to the peace of the B&B garden!

Happy New Year! It’s gonna be a beautiful day! We got in the car and headed out for our first walk of the year, but were stopped by the sight of the mare and foal in the paddock next to the road. We’ve seen them from a distance, but never this close.

We interrupted the foals breakfast.

When Mom saw us she headed our way with baby trotting behind!

Mom munched some grass over the fence, maybe hoping for a carrot, while baby was a little skeptical!

We were heading back to Baton Run where we were yesterday to try to do the hike we attempted then. The hostess of the rest stop had given us directions to a swing bridge over the river so we wouldn’t get our feet wet. We scoped it out yesterday and found the parking area and headed over the private bridge.

The current land owners restored the swing bridge.

We learned from the sign boards yesterday that basically only the river valleys are suitable for agriculture. There was a minor gold rush in the area starting with a gold discovery in 1855. Miners arrived but it was never lucrative enough for major strikes. In 1859 the Taylor family moved to the area and built a hotel to service the miners. This bridge was an access point to the hotel. The newest owners of the land have rebuilt the hotel which burned down at some point.

It is a private residence now that hosts conservation and art workshops, but they allow the public to use the bridge.

A great brief history of the short gold mining era and a photo of the original hotel can be found HERE. The current owners story and photos of the rebuilt house and the original hotel can be found HERE. We continued on the road into the beech forest along the Baton river which is down the slope from the road. The river looks crystal clear with a cobble bed and boulders creating small rapids and falls. No pictures can do justice!

The road got progressively more rugged and potholed as we continued upriver!

We came across another building along the road, a private hut, a little different architecture than the Taylor hotel!

This private hut has something to do with the mining claim on the river. There are several signs stating that the whole river has one mining claim under the name of D. Atkins.

We reached 2 and a half miles, and a hill climb, so we turned around and retraced our steps through the beech forest. We saw some trees with the sooty black mould  but they had lots of wasps crawling over the trunks, and very few hairy anal tubes extruding from the trunks. The invasive wasps have altered the ecology in this area! We returned to the car and relaxed, then explored another bridge we saw through the trees.

A much more rickety, basic suspension bridge. This looked to us like a bridge to move sheep across the river to a chute where they could be loaded up onto transport trucks. I can’t imagine sheep entering this bridge and crossing willingly!

We continued back to Baton Run and took a detour on the Great Taste Trail to our 3rd suspension bridge for the day!

Named for the family that runs the rest stop, it’s an impressive swing bridge!

Three suspension bridges in one day! Not bad for the first walk of the new year!

A cool rainy night led into a cool misty day with rain threatening. We stayed inside as long as we could, then headed out to a possible hiking venue if the rain held off. We drove down country lanes to a bridge across the Motueka River and turned down a gravel road following the river upstream.

At one point we were above the river looking down on the fast flowing clear water!

We went past a few farms in the narrow valley and a few signs for lodging. We passed by a few hand painted signs advertising “cold drinks, ice cream, local history”. When we turned a corner we were surprised by a new barn, with a parking area in front, a rustic bar and a rusty tractor inside!

A brand new rest stop on the “Great Taste Cycle Trail”.

The Great Taste Trail is a 200km loop cycling/walking trail around the area that goes from coast to the mountain foothills with stops along the way at cafes, craft breweries and wineries along the way! As we read the history of the area on the signboards and admired the rusty tractor the hostess arrived on her farm ATV. This is a new venture for the family that has farmed the area for 3 generations. They had a horse-trekking business in the past, but saw the trend from horses to bicycles and changed with the times! The Great Taste Trail goes through their property and a swing bridge over the river was named in honor of them, Lublow’s Leap!

A Lanz Bulldog tractor from before WW2.

A photo of the 2nd generation farmer Norm Lublow in the 1950’s using the tractor!

After our time reading about the goldmining and farming history of the area and some delicious ice cream (unfortunately the cold drinks don’t include beer or wine) we continued down the gravel road until it was impassable, in our car anyway!Our adventure stopped at this ford on the Baton river, a tributary to the Mouteka river. On the other side, about 2km up the road is the border of the Kahurangi National Park and tramping trails!