A Community That Makes Things Happen!

The Kawatiri River Trail is a picturesque walking and biking track that runs alongside the Buller/Kawatiri River in Westport. 

About eight years ago, the Buller Cycling Club came up with an idea to create a network of trails through an area of wasteland and the Westport community made it happen. What was once mud, gorse and wetland, has now been transformed into an eight kilometre bike and walking trail. And, remarkably, all this was achieved by volunteers.

The dog-friendly walk starts (or finishes, depending which end you begin) beside the NZMCA Park, at North Beach. The track winds through native bush, amongst many shades of green flora.

NZMCA Park, North Beach.

Start (or end) of the Kawatiri Track.

Old hockey turf or weed mat forms the base of the path with a covering of gravel. The track twists and turns, towards Shingles Beach (a small sand beach on the Buller River). It's a place that holds fond childhood memories for Bernie. He spent many of his younger years at Shingles Beach, swimming, surfing and riding waves. When we got to the beach, Bernie bailed on the rest of the walk, deciding instead to sit and reminisce. So, my furry friends and I continued on, unchaperoned.

Swimmers at Shingles Beach

Looking down the Buller River towards the river mouth.

From Shingles Beach, we headed towards the Lost Lagoon. The track became more open, with a change in vegetation.

Weka territory!

Lost Lagoon

After two years of planning, followed by three and a half months of building, a bridge materialised over The Lost Lagoon. All credit must go to the enormous effort and support from the community, making what had started out as an idea, turn into a reality. The bridge was aptly named 'The Volunteer's Bridge,' honouring the people who made it happen.

Volunteer's Bridge over The Lost Lagoon

Further along, we came to the 'Floating Basin Boardwalk', which is 200 metres long! Again, the construction of this challenging project was achieved by locals. A crew of up to 15 volunteers, spent 10 weeks making the boardwalk, which was financed through fund-raising. Contributions were made from DOC, Holcim, Westport's Mitre 10, the Council and community-funding. Locals lent diggers, chainsaws, compactors and tractors, along with their expertise and many hours of hard work. Everyday, for two months, lunches for the volunteers were supplied by a local cafe. An impressive community effort!

We turned back once we'd crossed the boardwalk, it wasn't the end of the walk but the dogs were hot and in need of some water. After walking over the floating basin (heading away from the port), there's a short walk called the 'Harbour Loop Track', which provides fabulous views of the port and mountains (when they're not hidden in cloud). On a day without wind, the reflections in this sheltered haven are stunning, making it a popular spot for photographers. 

In 1988 the Government made a decision to remove itself from operating Westport Harbour. The port and assets (such as the Kawatiri dredge, wharves, jetties etc) were offered to the Westport Borough Council and the Buller District Council, which they accepted.

But alas, in July 2016, the port lost it's biggest customer when Holcim Cement Works closed down and shipping cement from Westport finished.

The remains of an old cattle wharf can be seen alongside the track. 

The photo below shows the old cattle wharf and the stocks yards behind.

Photo supplied with permission

Part of the old cattle wharf has been revamped into a fishing platform and is the result of another community project. Not only is it a popular fishing spot, it also preserves a special bygone era. 

The new fishing wharf - to the left you can see some of the old cattle wharf.

Looking over the old cattle wharf towards the port.

The track ran beside the Buller River back towards Shingles Beach, where I'd left Bernie. We'd taken longer than I thought so I was surprised he was still waiting. Maybe all the memories of the good old days had made time stand still for him.

Swimmers at Shingles Beach

The photo below shows the two breakwaters on each side of the Buller River, which were completed in 1892. These structures were made as barriers to improve access to the port. They were extended by another 300 feet in 1966/7. 

The walk back was nice, with wild cherry trees providing some welcome shade.

We wandered through Les Warren Park, passing flowering pohutukawa trees, and then arrived back on North beach.

And, to make my day even better, there was a driftwood teepee. I love seeing these.

During warmer months, North Beach is a sought after spot for swimming and is popular all year round for fishing and surfing. The beach seems to change each time we visit, sometimes it's smothered in piles of driftwood, dumped by thunderous surf. Other times, coloured stones appear and the sea is calm and peaceful. 

Oakly still had some energy left, and was excited to be on the beach again!

 The perfect place to dig big holes.

DOC manages a freedom camping area, right beside the beach. Both nights we were there, it was full. There aren't too many beaches in New Zealand that still allow camp fires, fortunately North Beach is one of them. 

As evening drew to a close, a warm glow of golden light appeared. It was time to get the camera out and take the dogs back to the beach. 

A creative person had made a rustic tree.

As the sun disappeared behind clouds, Bernie tried his luck with a bit of fishing. However with an outgoing tide, conditions weren't ideal, so there wasn't any fish for dinner that night. But wow, what a beautiful place to hang out.

Westport will always be a special place for me. I look back with fond memories of the brief time I lived there. The people were (and are) friendly and welcoming, and as a community they're truly the best ... quick to rally around to help those in need, or to fundraise for a worthy cause. 

Yes, it does have it's fair share of wet weather, but this little West Coast town also has many sunny days (particularly in February). It's rich in history and proud of it - and to top it off, it has some of New Zealand's most stunning scenery.  

Riches of The Buller Gorge

The Buller Gorge is one of New Zealand’s scenic wonders that should be added to your ‘Must See’ list. A remarkable landmark located in the Lower Buller Gorge is Hawks Crag. It’s a narrow piece of road carved out of an overhanging rock face. With the mighty Buller River thundering below it.

The cliff at Hawks Crag is almost vertical, which certainly created a challenge when constructing a road through it in 1869. The solution was to cut a narrow slot across the cliff face. It was a painstaking task. In the late 19th century, the road was only just wide enough to take carriages and carts. The road around the cliff face has since been widened so buses and trucks can fit through. A protective railing has been built to provide a barrier to the unstoppable Buller River below.

The rock that makes up this area is called Hawks Crag Breccia (pronounced ‘bretcha’). This rock forms the vertical cliff that has been cut into and is now known as Hawks Crag. In 1955, two prospectors, Frederick Cassin and Charles Jacobsen, discovered uranium rich rocks near the cliff face. It seemed a strange place to find uranium and therefore hadn’t been searched by previous prospectors.

Uranium is a naturally radioactive element. It generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Prospectors began arriving in the Hawks Crag area after hearing about the discovery of uranium. However samples found were too low in uranium concentrations to enable underground mining to be cost-effective. This meant prospectors left to search other regions of the Buller Gorge, hopeful of making their fortune.

In 1846, 25 year old surveyor, Thomas Brunner along with two Ngati Tumatakokiri guides (Piki and Kehu) and their wives, began a 550 day journey to explore the wild and uninhabited West Coast gorge. They set off from Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes district and followed the river to the sea.

Brunner described the trek as the worst country he had ever explored. The weather was horrendous, with torrential rain and barley enough food to survive. Their diet consisted of fern roots, rats and eels. They had been trailing the raging Buller River for two months and were near starvation. Sadly, to survive, they had to eat their skeleton-like dog. Thirteen days later they reached the coast. The perilous Buller River had almost made their journey unachievable.

Another name for the Buller River is Kawatiri (meaning deep and swift). It flows for 169km and finishes at the Tasman Sea near Westport. Much of the Buller River’s catchment area is mountainous and thickly covered in native bush. For most of its length the river flows in steep-sided gorges with many rapids.

Perhaps you're wondering where the name ‘Buller’ came from? It was named after Charles Buller. Buller was a Member of Parliament and director of the New Zealand Company (The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand).

In 1862 two Māori prospectors found a large nugget of gold close to the Buller River in an area now known as Lyell. This find started some of the richest discoveries in New Zealand's mining history. A new township formed and was named Lyell after Sir Charles Lyell (a British geologist).

By 1873 a bustling town existed, there were six hotels, three stores, one drapery, three butchers, one baker, a blacksmith, a school and an ironmongery store.

Several factors contributed to Lyell's dwindling population after it's successful prospecting days. One factor was the absence of a doctor, so illness often resulted in death. Another component was a disastrous fire in 1896 and then in 1929 the Murchison earthquake struck! Roads leading into Lyell had many landslips and until they were cleared the townspeople had to walk out to get supplies. After the earthquake more people left Lyell. It was too isolated and when sickness struck, health care was too far away. 

Nowadays, Lyell is a historical reserve maintained by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Although no original buildings remain, there's a large grassy camping area with walking and biking tracks nearby.

Lyell wasn’t only known for its gold prospecting days. It’s also the region where the legendary gold miner, Bridget Goodwin went prospecting. Bridget Goodwin was also known as 'Little Biddy', 'Biddy of the Buller', and 'Biddy the Fossicker'.

Bridget Goodwin was born in Ireland, possibly in Dublin, sometime between 1802 and 1827. She had little or no education and was unable to read or write. Biddy mined first at Bendigo and Ballarat in Australia and then sailed for New Zealand, with her two male goldmining companions, arriving at Nelson in the mid 1860s. First, she mined in the Collingwood area and then, after a long overland trek to the West Coast, in the Buller River region.

‘Biddy of the Buller’ lived and worked with her two male friends (she wasn’t married to either). Female goldminers were an unusual occurrence in nineteenth century. So Biddy made an impact, plus she was a small woman, about four feet in height and of slight build. Nevertheless she was capable of hard physical work. Gold prospecting involved scooping up, cradling and panning sands from river and stream beds. She often worked standing in the water for hours on end and also supervised the work of her two companions (who happily agreed on her leadership).

The threesome never earned a fortune from gold prospecting and after necessities were bought anything left over was spent on drinking sprees lasting several days. Biddy was a keen pipe-smoker, and enjoyed a drink. In those times, her morals were rather controversial. However her reputation for hard work under conditions of enormous hardship, her hospitality and loyalty to her companions won her much admiration and respect.

In the 1880s and 1890s Biddy and her two mates lived and mined near the Lyell township. It was during this period that both companions passed away (at separate times) in Reefton hospital. Understandably, Biddy was heartbroken and decided to settle in Reefton, which is where she spent the remainder of her life.

Reefton is where Biddy became known as 'Old Biddy' or 'Old Biddy of the Buller'. She was an Anglican and received many visits from fellow parishioners, whom she entertained with stories of her early life.

On the 19 October 1899 Biddy of the Buller passed away. Her age at death is uncertain but is given as 72, 86 and 96 years. Bridget Goodwin’s grave can be seen in the Reefton cemetery today.

Now, when you travel through the Buller Gorge, cast your mind back to the much admired, four-foot high, stoic gold-miner ‘Biddy of the Buller’. Also imagine the optimistic uranium prospectors as you pass through Hawks Crag. And while you take in the sights of the rapidly, flowing Buller River, remember this beautiful scenic slice of New Zealand holds a fascinating history.