A Mineral-Belt Adventure
I well remember my introduction to Nelson's ultramafic landscape while on a Mt Richmond Easter trip with Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club in the late 60's. I found the unusual environment intriguing, so when we moved to Nelson six years ago I was soon enjoying exploratory trips on Bryant Range's curious terrain. That encouraged me to lead several club trips into accessible parts of the mineral belt, and include old mining relics as added interest.
The most recent excursion was on Sunday, 4 May, when six trampers set off from the carpark at the end of Aniseed Valley Road, happy that the weather, although rather cloudy, looked promising for a day’s adventure. Walking up the valley’s 4 wd was an ideal start to the trip; a scenic warm up, with the opportunity to get to know one another. The warming process was interrupted, though, by several river crossings, sapping warmth from feet.
Wet feet...
But progress was good, and by 10.30 we were relaxing with morning tea beside the remains of the Champion Mine smelter, enjoying a fortuitous burst of sunshine. Here, details of the mining endeavours are well outlined on council’s information panel, and it is interesting to compare old photos on the board to what remains today.
Another river crossing
The next section of the tramp saw us moving single file along the tramway formation which, with gravity, enabled transport of ore from mine site to smelter. The first km, or so, took us through regenerating bush, where the formation had often slumped or suffered damage by pig rooting. A test of footwork. After a track junction, where a track drops steeply to the river to provide a short cut to the 4 wheel drive, the route entered the steeply sided Champion valley, and we were now in original vegetation. The formation became more intact, except for erosion at steam crossings. Sometimes we had good views of the slopes on the opposite side of the valley, tumbling down from Mt Malita, our afternoon objective. The tramway climbed gradually, but soon the Champion Stream, who’s roar was becoming more and more audible, would be at our level. Just after a track junction to United Mine, we encountered an impressive rock bluff, and admired how the tramline was hewn into the rock. The vegetation abruptly changed from beech to the squat trees of the mineral belt. In a few minutes we reached the mine site, with the fast-flowing stream just below us. The disturbed ground in this area was devoid of plants because of the mineral content, but was an ideal (and hopefully safe) place for lunch.
We can't get lost..
Cloud, rather than ambient sun, now dominated the sky, and with a few hours of trackless terrain ahead of us, lunch was fairly brief, lacking the leisure that attended morning tea. A few hundred meters up valley we could see the spur which would take us to the ridgeline just west of Mt Meares. But first we had to contend with a band of scrub, interspersed with awkward rock, that dominated the valley floor. This would be the most difficult part of the trip, but everyone came through with aplomb, and in less than an hour we were leaving the interlacing vegetation behind, with a delightful array of rock and benign sub-alpine shrubs and tussock ahead of us.
Picking our way through the terrain, climbing ever upwards, we finally reached the undulating ridge that would take us westward towards Mt Malita, 959m.
Climbing ever upwards.
Looking north, we were treated to expansive views across the ultramafic landscape of the Roding River headwaters, with Wooded Peak and Dun Mountain beyond. And south, the Miner River and Hartebreak Ridge. Meandering through this magic place we admired curious rocks, and plants typical of this landscape, such as abundant gentians, flowering strongly in late Autumn, rusty-coloured inaka, tawny pygmy pine, and densely-matted broom. An effort was made to dispatch some nearby wilding pines. It was pleasing to see many of these invaders were cut down a few years ago, for without such intervention, these pines would overwhelm this unique terrain.
As we got closer to Malita, cloud enveloped its summit, suggesting there was no more time to linger.
The team
We hurried onto the mountain’s flank, leaving the mineral belt behind, the vegetation quickly changing from shrubs to fully grown beech trees. A roughly marked trail took us through the forest to the small hut a little south of the summit. It was nice to find the hut looking loved, with a couple of new mattresses. Here we had a late afternoon tea before the long descent to the carpark.
Mt Malita hut
The western slopes of Malita no longer support original vegetation. Now the top hundred meters are covered in grass, with limestone boulders strewn around. Below this is a band of regenerating bush, with a reasonable track descending through it. And from about the 700m level the rest of the slope, like much of Aniseed Valley, is commercial pine forest. Being shrouded in cloud, and deprived of an expansive view, there was no point in mounting the summit a couple of hundred meters away. So we found a route through long grass to the formed track, which would take us through the emerging bush. Beside the track we spotted a couple of mountain cabbage trees, a plant I hadn’t seen in the area before.
Reaching the pine forest zone, we found the area ahead had recently been logged. As a consequence we had a navigation hold-up, resulting in torches being used during the final half hour’s descent to the carpark. There was a sense of happiness and achievement as we sought the warmth of the vehicles, and thought of a warm reward when we got home.
Thanks go to the two drivers, Maaike and Charles, and to all participants, for their interest and stamina in overcoming challenges like the scrub bashing after lunch. And thanks to a couple of others who showed interest and would have come, but for other duties intervening.
Participants: Maaike, Isabel and Malcolm (scribe) with guests Charles, Rita, Bevan and Grant.