As tourists when we tick the boxes on the must-visit places it can be a bit of a rush. Then it’s easy to overlook other rushes accommodated by the past.
Close to Wanaka and on the very busy road beside Lake Hawea that goes to Haast and South Westland it’s easy to rush by a little creek on the left called Craigburn, and it’s accompanying Dept of Conservation interpretation board, which alerts us to some history of gold mining endeavours upstream back around 1880, mainly in a tributary called Long Gully.
Now days called the Matatiaho Conservation Area it once sported 200 miners, three stores and a butchery, but this development was not long lived as the hope of finding the source of the gold in the very rugged and deeply incised headwaters upstream came to nought. Sadly little evidence of this has survived.
Note courtesy DOC website: Matatiaho Conservation Area overlooks Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, with great views of the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. November to December Isthumus Peak Track and Glen Dene Track are annually closed for fawning between 20 November and 20 December. March to May Safari hunting takes place on Glen Dene Station. Be alert and stay visible, especially during the March to May roar hunting season.
Flowering kanuka and lupins as seen from the DOC track, with a backdrop of Lake Hawea…
About an hour in, the track comes to an end as it drops into seclusion down by the river at some signage, and a small gate in a deer fence…
Hunters [permit required] usually frequent the rugged country further to the west [through above mentioned small gate], and to the much steeper southern areas including Mt Burke…
Lupins by the carpark…
