Up at the Denniston Incline

Our plan today was to move 22km up the road to a Low Cost Park closer to the road to the Denniston Incline.   Pauline and I thought we might have a go at he Denniston Mine Experience which takes you, all kitted out in your mining gear, down into a mine where you can sample a bit of what the miners had to go through every day.   The others were going to join a tour to the Stockton Mine.  Unfortunately both tours were full and we decided to just drive up to the Denniston Incline and maybe catch the tours on our return from Karamea in a few days.

The Denniston Incline took coal from nearby mines and from 1879 to 1979 an estimated 12 million tonnes of coal travelled down the famous Denniston Incline track.   It plunged 510 meters over a distance of 1.7 kiometres at a gradient of 1:3.   The wagons loaded with 12 tonne coal hurtled down the incline at 80kmh.

Originally the coal was transported to the incline processing plant by skips along a surface road and dealt with by young fit “clippers” who used to unclip the skips to load the bigger wagons.   It was so cold during winter they plunged their hands into buckets of hot water in between skips to keep them from freezing.   The surface road system was replaced eventually by an aerial system until the whole system was shut down in 1967.

  

            The Aerial Skips and remains of the Tensioning System

Large pieces of the Incline workings have been preserved and a large collection of information boards give a background to the area with anecdotes and stories of life up on the Flat.

              Wagon at the Top           Same Wagon from below on the slope

View Down the Incline (Telephoto Lens)

It’s hard to capture the steepness of the incline, as one full wagon hurtles down the hill an empty is towed up the other side.   A middle point on the incline transfers the wagons  to the next rail section on a flat area before they continue on down as the topography wouldn’t permit a straight run to the bottom.

The Top of the Incline

A fascinating look into the past which would make the OSH Inspectors hair curl !

Westport

Another lazy day today as we headed into town from our stopping place out at Cape Foulwind.   Once again it was grocery shopping time (we seem to be in a supermarket every second or third day)   Our thinking was that Westport was the last of the “larger” towns if we are heading further north towards Karamea.

We met up with Denis, the air force workmate I mentioned earlier,  left our car at his place and were ferried around to see the sights of Westport.   Denis has spent the last few years of his Police Career in Westport and loves the place.   After a bite of lunch we went to the Coaltown Museum where we watched an interesting DVD on the Denniston Incline, an area we are due to visit in the next few days.   The recreated angle of part of the incline with it’s hopper of coal was amazing and would have been scary as it thundered down the incline with a full load of coal.

                                         Denniston Incline Angle

The remainder of the museum is divided into Gold Mining, Coal Mining, Maritime and Tree Felling areas with some good displays.

      Recreated Mine Display                       The Maritime Room

Travelling Up the Nile (No not THAT one !)

This morning we had a visit from an old Air Force buddy of mine who used to work with me back in my days at RNZAF Auckland  thirty something years ago.   He has recently retired from the NZ Police after joining them after his time in the Air Force and ending his police career here in Westport.   We caught up through “Old Friends” on Trade Me !

Following his visit we drove back 28km to Charleston this morning to travel on the Charleston Nile River Rainforest Train up the valley through magnificent limestone cliffs along the banks of the Nile River.   This train recreates the bush trams of old which used to transport logs, gold bearing ore, services and people.  The Charleston Goldfields produced in excess of 4 million ounces of gold and supported a population upwards of 30,000 at its peak in 1869.   It was so big that the Government of the day considered making Charleston the Capital of New Zealand. After a short drive from Charleston we arrived at Festival Station, so named because of the Large Music Festivals which were held in the flat area next to the the river where we now parked.   They were stopped when the organiser realised he was making lots of friends but no money!

The train creaks, groans, bumps as it meanders slowly through the dense bush while our driver Graham gave us a commentary on the history of the valley and it’s flora.

         Through the Bush                      “Ships Prow” Formation

The train slowed a few times on the way up to avoid running over the resident sheep which kept jumping out in front of the train and then scarpering down the track behind us.

Finally arriving at soft rock station we alighted and were informed of a 30 min busk walk while Graham took some underwater cavers back to the car park.     The train carries the underground water rafters as well as those of us undertaking the more sedentary scenic train ride !  The track goes through lovely native bush, across a suspension bridge on its way to the Ananui (Metro) Cave where the rafters start their underground adventure.

What he neglected to tell us was that there were 119 roughly hewn steps to climb before we reached the cave entrance !   Anyway we finally made it and had a look inside the entrance as far as we could before reaching the locked gates.

View back to the Entrance                 Further into the Depths

Back through the bush to await the trains arrival and we were joined by one of the local residents – a NZ bush robin.   He quite often meets the train and shares some of Grahams lunch whenever he gets a chance.

In came the train to pick us up for the trip back through the bush.

Punakaiki Pancakes

A lovely warm day today for our trip up along the coast to Westport.   he scenery along the coast is stunning and would easily equal the coastal highway from Adelaide to Melbourne.   The road winds it’s way alongside the sea and the road is lined with Nikau Palms and little red flowers which Pauline identified as an African native called (we think) montibretia.   The Strongman mine memorial was our first stop for a photo.   This was erected in memory of the miners who lost their lives in the Strongman Mine Disaster on 19th January 1967.

We then moved on to Punakaiki for a short walk along the well maintained and presented track to view the Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes.

 

Just our luck to arrive at low tide on a calm day which is not the best viewing time so blowholes were off the menu today, however the pancaked rocks were great.

It is generally agreed that the layers are the result of a process called stylobedding, a process in which grains of sand and shell and skeletons were put under such pressure that they passed into solution.   For reasons still unclear, some minerals merged to form thin seams of mudstone between layers of sandstone.

                 The Surge Pool                       Pauline in the Pancakes

Back to the car park where a couple of very tame Weka were hanging around hoping for a feed !

Our stop for the next couple of nights is at Cape Foulwind 10km from Westport, we are located in a little area next to the domain and the Star Tavern not far from a marvellous view over the Cape.

               Cape Foulwind                           Parked up for the Night

Greymouth and some Whitebait (and yet more Whitebait)

We are still here at Greymouth and today continue sightseeing in the area.   Yesterday morning we finally found a little Cafe advertising Whitebait sandwiches

The Wild Olive Cafe (behind the Royal Hotel)
After talking to the cook  (we asked if they were value for money) we went in and ordered two.  Well we were delighted with the result !, superbly fresh bread, lashings of butter and a big thick juicy fritter in between which tasted marvellous.

After enjoying that we took the others back there today as they were also craving a fritter.   We were just going to wait and have a coffee while they ate but after seeing the fritters again we ordered another one each !   They turned out even thicker than the day before !!
Satisfied we headed off to the Grey River entrance, scene of many a disaster on the bar and the site of a memorial to those who had lost their lives.

We struck the bar on a calm day but even then I wouldn’t like to travel across it!

A  quick walk along the flood wall and a sighting of a frolicking seal in the River.

In the shopping area a mural on the wall of the Greymouth Star caught our attention.


After a drive out to Runanga to check out a camping spot it was back to  the caravan for a relaxing afternoon and to sleep off the whitebait fritters .

The Brunner Mine Disaster

Today we moved on to Greymouth, we spent some time on the way back at the Brunner Mine Memorial which remembers not only the miners killed in the Brunner Mine but also other mine disasters on the West Coast including the recent Pike River disaster.

The Miners Memorial

 

The Mine Entrance Site                  Pauline at the Return Airway

The Brunner Mine disaster happened at 9:30am on Thursday 26 March 1896, when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine killed all 65 miners below ground. The Brunner Mine disaster is the worst mining disaster in New Zealand’s history.

It seemed most likely that the explosion was caused by firedamp, a common hazard in coal mines when a pocket of methane gas is accidentally ignited and explodes. Firedamp is all the more hazardous because of the after effects of the explosion. Gases known as "afterdamp" – carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide produced by the explosion – often prove to be just as deadly and can kill miners unhurt by the explosion itself.

“Joseph Scott, the Blackball Mine Manager.., believed that the majority (of miners) were killed by the explosion and “not more than half a dozen by the afterdamp”. Robert Russell, believing the explosion to be caused by firedamp, while acknowledging that the explosion force and coal dust flames contributed to the causes of death, believed that “at the end it was the afterdamp gases that killed them all”   Rescuers entering the mine after the explosion found themselves suffocating on the afterdamp gas and had to return to the surface, often unconscious, carried by other rescuers, however the determination was such to find the bodies, and to find any survivors, that the rescuers – mostly miners from nearby mines – would insist on returning to the airless mine as soon as they had been revived on the surface.   Miners came from as far as Denniston to assist the rescue effort, albeit that it took the Denniston miners several days to arrive as they had to travel by sea from Westport.

Wood explains this: “The response of the West Coast miners in volunteering for the rescue parties was due to their occupational loyalties and social and kinship ties. Occupational bonding, especially of coal miners, requires obedience to the miner’s code that they come to each other’s assistance. Denniston miners and mine managers, like Blackball miners, included former workmates, relatives and friends belonging to the same generation of immigrants, particularly those arriving between 1875 and 1885” According to Wood: “The tragedy helped to break down some old world differences and establish a West Coast identity especially in the mining community.

The bodies of all 65 miners from the Brunner mine were eventually accounted for, including a Mr. John Roberts and three of his sons who were all working that day.

Acknowledgment: Wickipedia

The old brick works and coke producing ovens have been protected to some extent and provide a fascinating glimpse into what was in the area at the time.   Even the bridge which crosses the river from the old tynesdale mine on the opposite bank has been restored.

               Old Coke Oven                         The Old Brick Works

Bridge Over the Grey River