. ST BATHANS DayOut IN THE MANIOTOTO Turn off SH85 at Becks. A loop takes you to the village on a sealed road Hot and dry in summer, cold and dry in winter, the Maniototo and out to the highway again on an unsealed road. Plain stretches out under vast skies to arid, tussock-covered hills crowned with rocky tors. Early settlers built cottages - some of A tiny village, steeped in history, with fascinating old buildings and a which survive - from the schist rock or from mud bricks. Lured picturesque, man-made lake. by gold into the region, some stayed, when goldmining declined, to farm the land. ST BATHANS - HERITAGE On a DayOut here in summer, you can follow in the steps of 2000 people lived here after the 1864 gold rush. Today four permanent the miners, slaking your thirst at one of the original hotels or residents run the historic pub and Post Office. As you walk up the coaching inns built during the goldrushes; in autumn you can peaceful main street, it’s hard to imagine the small valley bustling with enjoy the brilliant colours of the exotic trees lining river banks; in activity centred around its five stores, several hotels and canvas grog winter hoar frosts create dramatic patterns in the countryside and shops and, of course, its mining operations. freeze the dams for skating and the ancient sport of curling. The first miners found gold easily, but when the easy pickings were Sending curling stones spinning over ice not your thing? Then, exhausted, huge quantities of water were needed to extract the deeper there’s the quiet sport of fishing, one of the prime attractions of the gold. Races were cut to bring water for breaking down the gold-bearing area. If you’re feeling energetic, it’s a fantastic area for mountain gravel and also to take away the tailings. With a good water supply in biking. Ride a trail for a morning or afternoon or tackle all or a place and channels for removing the sludge, work began in earnest. section of the 150 kilometre rail trail between Middlemarch and In the 1880s John Ewing, who had considerable holdings in the area, Clyde. introduced a new technique of hydraulic elevation to raise and process gold-bearing gravel. You can get a feel for the area on a DayOut from Alexandra, taking SH83 to Ranfurly - known for its Art Deco buildings. Kildare Hill, some 120 m high was carved away, leaving a 69m deep En route you can divert to St Bathans and to Naseby, originally hole. By 1933 the deepest hydraulic lift in the world was operating at St goldmining towns. Both have interesting buildings dating back Bathans. Two years later, however, mining was abandoned because of to the 1860s and St Bathans is particularly attractive with its concern about its effects on the buildings of the township. When water lake and quaint main street which has been preserved but not filled the enormous hole that was once a hill, the Blue Lake was born. overly prettified. If you want to spend a night in an historic hotel refurbished with modern comforts, we can recommend driving ST BATHANS - ARCHITECTURE about 40km beyond Naseby to the Danseys Pass Coach Inn (fax/ ph: 03 444 9048). • Vulcan Hotel - 1882 From Ranfurly you retrace your route until the turnoff to the Ida A visit to St Bathans is not complete without a drink at this historic Valley, returning through Oturehua, Poolburn and Ophir to SH85. mud-brick pub. Stay the night and you could have an encounter with For a relaxing holiday, though, you need plenty of time to absorb the resident ghost! the atmosphere and to photograph the expansive landscapes. • Post Office - 1909 This two-storeyed wooden building has been refurbished and still functions as a Post Office, as well as offering other goods for sale. 1 Despatches, the business trading in the Post Office, is the booking NASEBY office for St Bathans Horse Treks (Fax/ph: 03 447 3512) A pleasant holiday township which owes its existence to the discovery • Public Hall - c. 1880 of gold. It’s a popular centre for mountain biking, and ice skating and curling attract visitors in winter. A mud-brick building managed by DOC, it features a sprung matai floor - ideal for the dances once held here - and a photographic NASEBY - HERITAGE/ARCHITECTURE display of the village’s history. Hogburn Gully and Parkers Diggings were early names for the canvas • Bank of New South Wales Gold Office - c. 1860 town established after the discovery of gold in 1863. Nine years later when the town was constituted a borough, it was renamed Naseby after Gold was assayed here (to test its purity) and stored in safety. the birthplace of the Otago Superintendent, John Harris. When the population of the village declined, the bank had the building relocated to Oturehua where it was used as an agency and Of the 25 hotels flourishing in the boom years only the versatileAncient a museum for some years before being restored to St Bathans. Briton remains, and it’s as old as the town. The diggers didn’t just slake their thirst there; some rooms were used as a hospital. So if the miners • Roman Catholic Church - 1892 overindulged, young Dr McCambridge treated their delirium tremens, A church was built as early as 1864 for the many Irish diggers or injuries resulting from drunken brawls in a comfortably familiar who came to the area in the goldrush. The present sun-dried brick setting. church replaced one damaged during a storm. Looking after their minds was also a priority: the tiny corrugated-iron Athenaeum began its life as the Union Church in 1865 and later, when ST BATHANS - WALK - 30 minutes return individual denominations established their own churches, it was used as a library. It’s easy to miss the signpost on your left as you approach the village from Becks. Other interesting buildings are the Watchmaker’s Shop (c. 1865) and A walk in fantasy land, not to be missed. The path takes you the Jubilee and Early Settlers’ Museums. alongside and through the white, convoluted pinnacles of clay and gravel on the edge of the Blue Lake. The shapes of the NASEBY - ADVENTURE/SPORT tailings are dramatic when you view them from the end of the Mountain Biking lake, but walking amongst them you have the feeling of being in another world. A great choice of trails in the Naseby Forest Recreation Area. Ice Skating, Curling and Ice Hockey ST BATHANS - PICNIC The Maniototo Ice Rink, a large outdoor artificial rink, is a popular A reserve on the shores of the Blue Lake provides an ideal picnic venue for winter sports, in particular the ancient game of curling, area and a base for swimming and boating. brought to the region by the Scottish settlers. You can also have your picnic lunch at tables under the trees Fishing opposite the pub. Just carry your beer across! Coalpit and Hoffmans Dams and streams. 2 NASEBY - PICNICS/WALKS RANFURLY Naseby Forest Recreation Area The main township of the Maniototo, Ranfurly services the farming community. In recent years it has also attracted visitors who come to • Coalpit Dam see its restored Art Deco buildings and to have fun at its Rural Art Deco Weekend, held at the end of February. An attractive picnic spot with a play area for children, a boat ramp and toilets. RANFURLY - HERITAGE • Hoffmans Dam New Zealand’s First Surveyor-General A picnic, swimming and boating area. A statue in the centre of Ranfurly commemorates John Turnbull • Walks Thomson. This remarkable pioneer started his career at the age of 16, surveying estates on Penang Island and mainland Malaya. Three years Information boards give details of the tracks in the forest. There’s later he became Government Surveyor to Singapore. Over 12 years a variety of walks taking from a few minutes to 6 hours return. he laid out the town and planned roads, bridges and buildings in his additional role of architect and engineer. He also found time to record KYEBURN DIGGINGS and DANSEYS early Singapore in over 100 paintings. Fluted cliffs, high heaps of tailings and a miners’ cemetery are obvious remains from the search for gold here in the 1860s. When life in the tropics took a toll on his health, he decided to become a farmer in New Zealand. However, the offer of the job of Chief Surveyor The Danseys Pass Coach Inn, the main building in the area, of Otago proved irresistible. After selecting a site for Invercargill and dates back to goldrush days. Teamsters travelling from the laying out the town centre , including a reserve of 80ha (Queens Park), Waitaki River basin to the Central Otago goldfields with their he surveyed Southland on horseback and on foot. A year later, in 1857, wagon trains would stop here for a rest and refreshments after he started his survey of inland and North Otago. His achievements, crossing the high and winding Danseys Pass road. both in surveying and as Chief Engineer for Otago, resulted in his appointment as the first Surveyor-General of New Zealand in 1876. For According to local legend, the stonemason who built the original two years he surveyed the country before retiring to Invercargill. part of the hotel was paid with a pint of beer for every schist boulder he shaped and laid. On his travels he continued to paint. The Hocken Library now holds an important and valuable collection of his paintings of Otago and DANSEYS - PICNIC/WALK Southland.