South Island

A lot of New Zealanders have a perception of ‘Coasters’ that can only be said to be ‘wide of the mark’. One of our past Prime Minister is reported as uncharitably calling them a bunch of ‘feral in-breeds’. If you come from anywhere other than ‘The Coast’ you will doubtless have an opinion of the people who live there (and I am quite certain a decent chunk of these opinions are made without actually ever having met someone from The Coast, let alone having ever actually been there!)

By the way, it is one of my abiding loves that ‘Coasters’ have a term for anybody who doesn’t come from ‘The Coast’. Irrespective of whether you come from Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland, Sydney, Moscow, Beijing or The Moon- if you have your origins anywhere that is ‘over the hill’, meaning the other side of the Southern Alps, ie. not that narrow strip of land that is known as ‘The Coast’, you are from AWAY. That is all.

…and another wee note about ‘The Coast’. That term only applies to this ‘The Coast’ when it is used by Coasters whether home or away or if you are actually on this ‘The Coast’ even though anybody living between Wairoa and East Cape refers to their territory as ‘The Coast’. Don’t be confused between the two!

…and the term ‘Coaster’ applies only to any person born on the West Coast. There is a fondly held belief that if you have come from ‘Away’ and live on The Coast for many, many MANY years you will be a Coaster. Nup! Won’t happen. The generous locals will make you feel like one of their own, they will include you in all things, they will never exclude by giving you a label to identify you as different in mixed company, BUT you won’t ever be a ‘Coaster’.

But to the purpose of this post. A few years ago a topic was (briefly) re-visited by our local Council in response to a few locals having a bit of a grizzle about the name of our town. GREYMOUTH! “Oh no! Grey! People from Away think it rains all the time here anyway and we have a town with boring colour grey in it!! We’re not achromatic or boring!! Re-name our town!!” Of course it’s not to the colour grey that the name refers but to Governor Grey, New Zealand’s first Governor but that did generate a WEE bit of discussion and I’m sure some crazy names were suggested.

However despite what general perceptions are of The Coast or the people who live on it, this article appeared in the papers the other day. Read it and believe it. The people on The Coast are among the most generous, the most honest, and the most welcoming I have met. When my wife and I decided to move here some nine years ago it was just one of a number of places I would have been happy spending my retirement in but was ‘somewhere new’. I had seen most of the South Island including The Coast but had never lived in Te Waipounamu (the South Island) and my wife had spent a couple of weekends down South- a family visit to Christchurch as a child and a wedding in Blenheim in the seventies. We decided that following our kids may not be all that clever as there were no guarantees they would be wherever for ever and it wasn’t all that far from The Coast to visit Wellington where they currently were anyway, so here we are.

The Coast has many issues that many might imagine would impact of the state of mind of people who call it home. Isolation, of course is something that has made Coasters what they are- resilient, hard-working, gregarious, helpful, generous and thus isn’t seen as being a negative but it DOES mean that much that Kiwis in other provincial centers take for granted such as retail and service options aren’t as good as they might be. Traditional industries on The Coast are being impacted by conservation imperatives- mining, milling, fishing have all been somewhat strangled and to establish new operations is more and more difficult, so work is harder to find and the economy is challenged. But dairying is alive and well, quality arts and crafts proliferate, tourism is a jewel in the crown given the natural beauty of The Coast is world renowned, and if only the government would make good on their promises about delivering top quality internet to the provinces The Coast could become a mecca for IT based innovation and development given that it is such a wonderful place to live.

So any reason for Coasters not to be happy? Not really. I know I am.

Dunganville– get your attention and prick your inquisitive side a bit? I love this area and it is a popular place for locals to go for a leisurely bush walk at the historical Woods Creek gold field. Nowadays it’s a sparsely populated area about 25kms out of Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand where I live (Greymouth, not Dunganville.) The Woods Creek walking track meanders through old gold-mining workings and is a fascinating window on this 19th century activity. Not only is the walk educational it is also restful the path passing through areas of logging operations (for building lumber for the establishment of the nearby town) and virgin native bush. There are birds aplenty, with tui, kereru (wood pigeon), various tits often seen. If you feel so inclined have a bit of a fossick in the streams that flow through the area, but remember that this is NOT a public prospecting area and anything you find you are not legally entitled to remove. Bugger! The track is very well formed and sturdy steps and bridges make getting around very easy. The walk is neither long nor difficult and would suit wanderers of all ages amd fitness levels. The workings (which are liberally serviced by information boards) show a variety of processes. It was clearly very hard work winning the gold-bearing gravel for sluicing, and digging out the tunnels to provide further sluice material as well as water channels to power the sluicing operations. The stream that winds through the area gurgles gently in the background and the steep banks are festooned with ferns of many kind. The colours are vibrant greens and the plants range from tiny fungi and ferns to hundreds years old native giants.There are numerous tunnels of various sizes (width and height) and one can only imagine how difficult it must have been both initially excavating them and then working in the tight spaces to win the gold-bearing spoil. Take your time passing through these tunnels (and it’s a good idea to go armed with a torch as some of them are very dark). Don’t be afraid- you may come across cobwebs, but the spiders won’t harm you. You may see some cave wetas but they are more afraid of you than you should be of them. If you are adventurous enough revisit the track at night and you will see beautiful glow-worms.
As mentioned there are numerous information boards along the track and it is worth the time to read the stuff that’s presented.But, sad to say, New Zealand has its share of bloody idiots, people who have no respect for the property around them, and even scant regard for the safety of others. Look closely at the image above. This is a section of the main information board at the start of the track, and you will notice the bullet holes on the top quarter. Many New Zealanders love their hunting, and the vast majority of them are very safety conscious, but it is a sad fact that there will be the numbskulls around who just HAVE to shoot something. How much of a hero do you think this drongo would have felt having shot a large information board. Whatever greater being there be, please protect me from these idiots.
These last two images show the processes used then and now to extract the valuable yellow metal from our earth. Above is a typical sheer face that is formed when high-pressure hydro-mining is used to wash down the gold bearing gravel for sluicing while below is how it’s done today with heavy duty machinery able to move in minutes what it would have taken our forebears days. Pretty ugly but those licensed to mine are required to return the land to its original state when they have finished working the claim.
I hope I’m around to see THAT happen!