Date: 13 September 2009

Leader: Marlene Lynam

The last two times this trip has been scheduled it has had to be called off because of poor weather. But this time the weather gods were kind for the nine would-be “pioneers with gold fever”.

The trip down to Neavesville in 2 cars went smoothly – even the last few kilometers on the narrow metal road past several farm houses. “Farm” might be a bit kind as this area seems to have attracted a number of alternative lifestylers who collect derelict cars, old buses and caravans;  who have their stock wandering freely in the bush; and maybe grow some specialized cash crops.

Park at the end of the council maintained road, and then walk for about 40 minutes on a forestry road which is also used by off-road vehicles.

Then its off to cross some recently cut areas of pine before joining the start of the track to the Kirikiri Stream Battery. This battery was found  a few years back by Merv Grafton of the Kauaeranga Tramping Club. The story is that Merv and his wife spent countless weekends tramping along the stream searching for the Battery which old publications had described. It was only by good fortune that they eventually found the Battery on a plateau, some 20 metres above the stream – easy to miss if you were at stream level and in relatively dense regenerating bush. After finding the Battery, Merv marked out a track which has been maintained informally by the  Manukau and Kauaeranga Clubs.

Marlene led off followed by Tony with his loppers at the ready. The track was pretty well marked, and we were doubly lucky that there hadn’t been any storm damaged trees that had fallen across the track. The track was mostly through regenerating native bush, and included 2 minor stream crossings. One of these was the Battery Stream, which had  had water diverted from it for the Battery site. It took about 2 hours to reach a clearing which had some old cooking gear. A side track from here leads to a couple of derelict tandem dolly wheels and their buckets – part of the old aerial bucket system which conveyed quartz from the Mine to the processing Plant.

Down a steep incline and we saw the end of the aerial bucket system and a short ditch that would have held a kauri race for the Plant. This is the best preserved small Plant that I have seen, making it relatively easy to picture the process: stampers, followed by grinding bowls, and ending with what looked like spiral cones. All the ground material  would have been mixed with water and then fed into the spirals which would have used gravity  to separate the heavier gold from the gunge.

Back up the incline for lunch in the clearing and then re-tracing our steps. We took our time with Tony and Peter both using loppers.

Thanks to Merv for finding the site and sharing the directions with us. Thanks to Marlene and Tony  whose previous experience on this tramp made for an enjoyable day without getting lost.

And ‘No’ we didn’t satisfy our lust for gold!