The Weather was great (maybe a tad windy in parts), the trails were challenging, scenic and varied, and Oamaru proved to be a great host town and what a party at the Hoe-down!
Goldfields Cavalcade to Oamaru- a great success.
Author: Terryjackd
Gabriels Gully Goldrush 150th
Back from retirement, Murray McMillan has been asked to put on a special horse trail ride from Dunedin (Brighton) to Gabriels Gully. Also local keen tramper and icon Ernie McCraw will be leading a walking trail from Dunedin to Gabriels Gully – see below for what the 150yr Celebrations committee has to say about it…
Click here to download a horse or walk trail registration form.
Click here to download a pdf of all the celebration information.
The Lawrence Tuapeka community is gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of perhaps the most significant discovery in New Zealand’s history – gold.
Gold, in the payable form, was first struck by Gabriel Read near Lawrence on 25th May 1861. Read, an Australian-born prospector was initially told he was on a ‘wild goose chase’ but his discovery, in the gully that now bears his name, changed the course of history and laid a foundation for both Otago and New Zealand. By July 1861, the Tuapeka area was very much immersed in the gold rush, with the district’s population swelling to over 11,000 compared to the less than 6,000 in Dunedin at the time.
In 2011, attention will again turn to Lawrence as it celebrates 150 years since what was essentially the birth of our nation. Realising the significance of such an occasion, the Lawrence Community will be hosting a four day celebration, Gabriel’s Gully Goldrush 150th from Friday 18th to Monday 21st March 2011.
The four day celebration will feature a drama which re-enacts the Goldrush with treks and walks to take us back in time to the 1860’s. With music, historical tours and displays, visual art, drama and family games and fun, there’s something for everyone, young or old.
Come and celebrate the past connecting with the present and be part of this national celebration.
Nov up-date
Trails are filling up for next years Goldfields Cavalcade to Oamaru.
Chris Baynes “Tussock Creek Light Wagons” and Sandra Cains “Glencoe Gadabouts” trails are both full. If you have NOT been contacted to say “very sorry but you’ve missed out” then you can assume you are on the trail.
If you have booked on any other trail you can also assume you are confirmed on there (unless the Trail Boss has rung you to say that they don’t think you’re up to it).
Most other trails are close to, if not over half full already. So tell all your mates and get your entries in asap to secure your spot.
The Trail Bosses have done another fantastic job of sorting out some really special country for you to cavalcade through and the Oamaru Host Town committee have obviously got the big tick of approval with more Hoe-down tickets sold than cavalcaders so far!! (That’s just through registrations where folk are buying an extra couple of tickets for their supporters.) If you want that ticket you better order it with your registration too chances are it could also fill up.
Haven’t got your registration forms yet?
Download one from here https://cavalcade.co.nz/
If you’re on ‘Dial-up’ internet ring me on 03 4450111 (might have to leave a message) with your name, address and how many forms you want and I’ll get them straight in the mail to you.
Christmas is coming up and what an awesome Christmas prezzie an entry to next years Cavalcade would be. Also don’t forget Swanndri give all Cavalcaders (and their friends and family) 20% off everything from their web sales – just go to www.swanndri.co.nz and enter ‘cavalcade’ in the promo box.
All the best for a great summer season.
I look forward to seeing lots of you in Oamaru.
A sad loss for the Cavalcade.
It is with great sadness we acknowledge the recent death of Dawn Pickett, formerly George, and as her death notice read, ‘aged 79 years and 18 Cavalcades’. Dawn was a delightful person who had raised 5 children, worked hard all her life but after falling in love and re-marrying later in life, discovered the Otago Goldfields Cavalcades. She rode her beloved horse, Shadow, sidesaddle all the way (no mean feat!) on the very first Cavalcade in 1991; hasn’t missed one ever since and was away on rides all over the country mostly every weekend. Shadow was retired from the last 2 Cavalcades with a new horse trained up to replace him. He died in his paddock at the age of 23 just on a week before Dawn passed away at Dunedin Hospice. Dawn was also on the committee of the Trust for a good many of the earlier years. Her smiling face, warm chuckle and endearing ways will be very sadly missed. Our loving thoughts go to her darling Noel and the George and Pickett families.
Roberta Laraman.
Photos thanks to Kylie Pape
Roxburgh turned on a great weekend for Goldfields Trust Field Trip
Great weather helped to set up a wonderful field weekend in Roxburgh.
31 Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust members met at the Commercial Hotel for morning tea and a very interesting talk by the publican John Kerr about the settling of Otago and the building of his hotel. While most of the Otago Gold-rush towns date back to the early 1880’s Roxburgh goes back a good 20years earlier than that! The reason for that was talked about more at our third stop…
After a very satisfying morning tea we filled up vehicles and drove off in a convoy to Pinders Pond to meet with Stephen Jeffrey of the Roxburgh Community Board and descendants of the pond’s namesake David and Helen Pinder as well as David’s sister Margaret Kitto (nee Pinder). A short ceremony was had to officially ‘unveil’ the two new interpretation panels the Trust had erected at the pond. Thanks were made all around from John Douglas who started the ball rolling about 7 years ago to Mike Floate and Bruce McMillan for further researching the text and photos for the panels and finally to Jocelyn Cook who is the new official and very well respected designer of the trusts panels.
Our third point of interest was on Loop Road at the house of John Crawford. After much comment on the exotic breed of chickens he had running around his yard we got down to the real business of the explanation for the largest stone ruins in NZ – the Teviot Woolshed. John lives about 100m from the woolshed and recently published a book all about it so, not surprisingly, he was a wonderful speaker and put a lot of greatly embellished myths about the actual size of the woolshed to rest. For an excellent article on the woolshed click here. http://www.grownups.co.nz/read/travel/explore_new_zealand/the-teviot-woolshed
Now our group headed out to the Horseshoe Bend (Teviot River) dam, power house and wind turbines for our ‘picnic in the hills’. It was quite windy on top which was very much appreciated as it blew away the dust from between the cars in convoy. Luckily our spot down in the valley was lovely and sheltered for a very pleasant lunch. David Hamilton gave an overview of the John Ewing dam’s and water races used for his gold mining operations and how they had subsequently been used for electricity generation and irrigation purposes. For David’s excellent presentation that he delivered to a conference last year click here. http://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/conference/presenters/hamilton.htm
The day continued with a drive back closer to Roxburgh and a walk around the holding pond above ‘the George’ power house then on to the actual power house itself. Built on what could only be described in 1924 as a ‘precipice’. For more history on the power scheme click here. http://www.pioneergen.co.nz/History.asp
The last walk of the day was into the Teviot River Gorge and the very impressive siphon which transports water down the south side of the gorge then up and over to the orchards further north of the Teviot.
We topped off the day with an excellent meal and camaraderie at the Lake Roxburgh Lodge. Thanks very much to Kim and Phil who looked after us so well just like they did 7 years ago at our previous field weekend to Roxburgh.
Many of us stayed at the Teviot Motels (many thanks to Christine – a wonderful hostess) and all were invited to a ‘help yourself’ continental breakfast in the ‘house lounge’ provided by the trust. This ensured we were all together and on time for our first appointment of the day with Stu and Ngaire Edgecumbe at their gold panning tourist activity. Stu very generously attributes his new business to our previous field weekend (7 yrs ago)where, such was the feedback to Stu’s tour of an as yet undefined collection of tailings, that the seed was planted for him to create it into a commercial venture. Being able to consistently find gold in your pan after having just dug a shovel full of gravel out of the bank at your feet feels very authentic!
After a quick morning tea (fresh scones and all) we drove over the Roxburgh Dam and up to Gorge Creek for a walk and talk by Ed Dwyer. The rain just held out until we had had time to hear the history of the area and visit the red cross on the white rock you can see from the road (the only surviving headstone of about 8-9 miners who were buried here). We also got to inspect a great example of a miners hut built under a very accommodating slab of rock.
The weekend finished in glorious style with the new proprietors of the Shingle Creek Tavern absolutely outdoing themselves by providing us with a lunch surely fit for kings! Thanks very much to Ange and her helper at the Shingle Creek Pub.
All in all a great weekend enjoyed by all. Feel free to leave your own comments below.
Special thanks have to go to David Hamilton, Ed Dwyer, Jason Rooney, Grant Botting and John Crawford for their help in making the weekend such a success.
Don Morrisons ‘Tranz Siberia’ Walking Trail.
For smelly feet and footwear...
Click here to download a PDF of the registration form.
Trail Boss: Don Morrison Ph: 03 4492106 Email: donalddmorrison@gmail.com
Duration: 4 days (3 days walking plus Saturday) Meet: Tuesday 1st March. Limit: 40
$420 per walker
3 days of high country walking. Fully catered, sleeping in woolsheds and tents. Carry only day-packs. Good fitness required.
On this trail we are lucky to have the experience of local tramper Bill Bews who has helped set the trail and will be one of Don’s leaders.
Tuesday 1st March. Meet at Oamaru race course and bus to Mt Dasher Station woolshed – registration and dinner.
Wednesday. Tramp up to Scout Hill Hut. 14 km but rising 500m. Camp here for 2 nights.
Thursday. Starting with a descent we then do about a 20km loop around the top of Grassy Ridge, Siberia Hill and Mitchells hut.
Friday. Return to Mt Dasher Station via Bracken Brae Station.
Saturday. Pack up and head for Oamaru Race Course and the Grande Parade, markets, entertainment, dinner and hoe-down.
Roxburgh Field Weekend 16th/17th October.
Here’s the plan-
(click here for registration form)
We will all meet at the Commercial Hotel in Roxburgh by 10am Saturday where there will be instant coffee, tea and scones for us while John Kerr tells us all about the history of his Hotel and the basics of Roxburgh.
We will then all pile back into our cars (ride sharing if people want to) and travel in convoy out to lake Onslow via Pinder’s Pond and various points around the water races and dams of the Teviot Power Scheme. David Hamilton who has done extensive research on the area will be our interpreter at the various stops. Some of these stops will include short walks to points/relics of interest around tussock and rock country over old water races or sheep tracks so bring your good walking boots and sticks. At some stage we will have a picnic lunch in the hills.
You will then have time to drop off your things and get ready for dinner at your chosen accommodation before we all drive 8mins to Lake Roxburgh Lodge for a wonderful buffet meal.
On Sunday morning breakfast will be served for everybody in the main hall of the Teviot Motels before we walk over the road and down the track to Stu Edgecombe’s mining area. There are various interesting sites, relics and stories that Stu will show us around – you will have time for a quick pan for gold if you are keen ($10 extra per person for gold panning).
Then we will be back in convoy out to Gorge Creek (20mins) to meet Ed Dwyer at 11am who’ll give us a very interesting introduction to the historic trails leading over the Old Man Range and show us a couple of historic shelters/huts (about 30mins walking).
Finally we will acquaint ourselves with the new proprietors of the Shingle Creek Tavern for soup and sandwiches before heading off to our respective homes.
$88 per person It is our intention to make this a fun couple of days where we re-discover some interesting historical places and socialise as a group over meal times…
We understand that we have lots of members local to the Roxburgh area and you may prefer to pop home for dinner or join us after breakfast on the Sunday. Therefore we have these extra options:
Dont want dinner at Lake Roxburgh Lodge? Take $30 off
Don’t need breakfast at the Teviot motels? Take $10 off
Don’t want lunch at Shingle Creek? Take $13 off
Please note: Fee includes a small ‘admin’ fee that goes towards things like paying for meals and petrol vouchers for tour guides/guest speakers.
You will need to bring your own packed lunch and snacks for Saturdays wanderings or you could purchase a packed lunch from the Commercial Hotel for $12 (please add to total).
If you are not currently a member you may wish to renew your membership with this transaction (please add $40 for a single or $65 for a family membership.)
Please include a cheque with the above form filled out and post back to us by Oct 1st. Download a registration form from here or give Terry a ring (03 4450 111) and he’ll post you one out.
PO Box 91
Cromwell.
Due to the nature of this trip numbers will be limited to 40 people max.
The above itinerary is weather dependant and subject to change.
Accommodation
I understand I must pay for my accommodation separately in addition to the above fee.
Lake Roxburgh Lodge (evenings dinner provider). Are you interested in staying in a 4 Star+ rated lodge for $60 per person? If we get enough interest we can book the whole place and stay quite reasonably – if you book individually it would cost between $150-$190 per room! Please let me know before 18th September so I can get back to them.
http://www.lakeroxburghlodge.co.nz/ 03 4468220
Teviot Motels (Sunday mornings breakfast venue) Around $25 per person, motor homes welcome. http://www.teviotmotels.co.nz 03446 8364
The Commercial Hotel and Backpackers (03) 4468160 $30 per person.
