In October of 1856 a musterer found a few specks of gold in the Aorere Valley above Golden Bay and so a rather short-lived gold rush started. Not much remains of the mines themselves, but the descriptions of the area made us curious enough to go and explore the area for ourselves.
After turning off of the main highway, we made our way down a dirt road that eventually turned into a narrow farm track. There wasn’t really a formal trail head just a grassy patch of what looked to be sheep pasture. After following a few sheep trails, we soon found the track which quickly climbed out of the grassy fields and into more rugged brush.
After a long, steady climb we eventually got high enough that we were able to look out over the curve of Golden Bay and the mountains of Kahurangi National Park in the distance.
Once we reached what felt like a plateau, we found the first of two side trips to the caves in this area. Hidden amongst the dense bush the entrance to Stafford’s Cave dropped steeply away. The recent rain made the entrance quite slippery and so we didn’t venture too far down into the cave.
Returning to the main trail, we continued a short distance to another turnoff to Ballroom Cave. The entrance to this cave was a little less steep and so we were able to make our way into the huge underground chamber. It is said that miners used to use the cave as a venue for dances, and with the tall, flat rock ceiling it was easy to image people gathering here out of the elements.
After leaving the caves, the trail joined the water race that formed part of the old mining operations. The State River Sluicing Company had over four kilometers of water race in this area linked to one of the largest dams in the area Druggan’s Dam. Despite the huge water projects, only a little over 1,000 ounces of gold were ever recovered and the company was wound up less than ten years after it started operations in the area.
We passed one of the old water outlet tunnels, that had been carved into the rock before the track joined the dam, giving us great views across the reservoir to the Wakamarama and Burnett ranges in the distance.
The dam was an excellent spot for lunch and we enjoyed watching some ducks swimming back and forth across the lake. After relaxing for a while in the warm sunshine, we made our way back down the track to the car, stopping briefly at the river to check on some modern day prospecting operations.