Page 11 - pākuViews Autumn/Winter 2013
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OPEN SEVEN DAYS
Summer: 10.00am - 5.00pm • Winter: 10.00am - 4.00pm
Closed for the month of August
State Highway 25, Whenuakite
Phone 07 8663725 / fax 07 866 3759
AWARDED RUNNER�UP BEST CAFE
IN NEW ZEALAND, 2010 BY CAFE MAGAZINE
Many of the former dwellings had peach trees growing inside, their
twisted branches emerging from the windows. Most ludicrous was the
sight of a long trunk in flower protruding from a chimney. The scene
in the warm sunlight was one of great beauty, yet there were unsightly
abandoned objects from the gold rush days: large tanks of cyanide
water, twisted piping, machinery with huge cogwheels and steel wire
rope. Nature was mercifully covering this debris with verdure.
The reason for the metalled road was that it was required for wheeled
transport in bringing up the mining machinery to Puketui from the scows
that went as far as Hikuai on the tidal river. The scow
Herald
did the trip
as late as 1926.
There was no time to linger, as there were still four more miles to cover.
A fresh horse was provided at Hikuai. The Tairua River had to be
crossed, and here the stream was dark and deep, with steep forbidding
banks. Spanning the stream was 4-foot wide swing bridge suspended by
steel wire ropes anchored over transoms some 7 ft. high.
The pack-horses filed across the swinging structure, stopping at
intervals to ease the sway. Stanley waited on the other side while I
mounted my horse. I hesitated. “If you don’t like it, teacher, go down to
the ford – you can stand on the saddle. I’ll wait,” he called. One look
at the dark water was enough. The horse was directed to the decking
where he stepped gingerly along for a few yards until the contraption
began to bounce.
It was too much for the horse, and far too much for his rider. The horse
plunged forward on his toes. “Duck your head”, called Stanley. Clutching
my mount round his neck, I just missed hitting a heavy transom beam.
The remainder of the journey skirted dairy farms, and the riding was
really pleasant. Tairua was reached after a six-hour ride from Puriri. Such
was the mode of out-back travel in the 1920s.
This remembrance is written with permission from the Ohinemuri
Regional History, Journal 15, June of 1971.
Fine specimens of the kauri tree on the road to Neavesville. Photo by A. J.
Watson was probably taken in 1908 when kauri logging was still strong. When
Roche traversed the area in the 1920s, logging was coming to a end. The dam
Roche describes would create a lake which was filled with felled logs. The dam
gates would be opened and the flood carried the logs conveniently downstream.
