Day 23 February 24th Alborns Track, Bottled Powerhouse Lightning Walk & Blacks Point

Today again was overcast and somewhat cooler than recent mornings and for this we were grateful.  We had decided to spend the day exploring the area around Reefton and went to the visitor centre to get advice.  We were recommended the Alborns Track which started 9km from Reefton and lasted about 90 mins taking in woodland and old mine workings.  We were soon on our way and walking on the well laid out track.  The walking was good and we saw several birds that were hopping about including a fantail.  We will have to identify the others at a later date!  

1915 Leyland Truck

fantail

 
 
 

unknown bird

 

 

mine entrance

 We also saw machinery and the low entrances to several old mines.  It was the ideal activity for a dull morning.
 
 
 
 
 
 

river runs through Reefton

Reefton was the first place in the Southern Hemisphere to have electric light and they have a walk to commemorate the installations.  It was a shorter walk and we carried on and it took us round the town passed the hydroelectric plant ruins.  We also saw some delapidated farms and machinery.
 
 


Blacks Point museum

gold extraction machinery

 In the afternoon we went to the Blacks Point museum which is set up in an old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.  (Miners from Cornwall took their faith with them and there are still families called Bolitho and Hocking in the vicinity).  The museum was a bit chaotic but had a lot of Victorian/early 20th century artefacts.  Adjacent to it was a replica stamping machinery set up and we heard about the extraction of gold from the ore.  An interesting afternoon - for me anyway.

 At the visitor centre in Reefton they have restored a winding engine made by Holmans of Camborne, Cornwall in 1895.  It  had a history of being moved to different mines as its current mine became uneconomic.  Its last mine was a coal mine which closed in 1936.  You can put a coin in a slot and the mechanism turns (I had a go).

Holman winding gear