UP BEALEY WAY

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 11

UP BEALEY WAY

Bach, crib, cottage, hut or holiday-house —call it what you will —a growing proportion of New Zealanders are becoming second home-owners, proud possessors of something to live in when they get away from it all. As the clamour and pace of city living increases, so too does the urge to escape to a relatively untouched environment. The owners of the 28 holiday homes on Bruce Spur, in the upper Waimakiriri Valley, have been enjoying their slice of alternative living since 1960. when they won balloted sections offered by the Lands and Survey Department. Two hours driving from Christchurch and some eight miles down country from Arthur's Pass, Bealey Township. Bruce Spur, is far enough away from the mountains of the Mam Divide to have high sunshine figures and a low rainfall. approximately one-third of the Arthur’s Pass annual average of 158 in. Children swim in nearby Bruce Stream in summer and find sufficient snow around the houses in winter to build snowmen. On a broad tussock spur backed by beech forest. with a view that extends from the high peak of Mount Rolleston to the beginning of the Hawdon Valley, the settlement derives its name, as do many other features in the area, from Samuel Bealey, an early Superintendent of the CanterburyProvince.

The first Bealey settlement sprang up at Klondyke Corner in 1865, to cater for road-workers and passsing gold-diggers but lasted a brief 18 months, after which essential services were transferred to the Bealey Hotel across the Waimakiriri River. Built in most cases byowners and friends, the Bruce Spur houses are unpretentious and comfortable with special features necessary to their situation — 400-gallon water-tanks store rainwater from roofs, bins and cupboards hold firewood collected from forest and riverbed; and. in many cases, ranges cook meals, warm rooms and provide hot water.

Few houses lack a bath or shower, but with the first frosts waterpipes must be drained after each stay. None 'of the houses were completed in record time. Picnics and ski-trips always came first. Several of the houses have changed hands since 1960, and in three cases houses are shared by two families. Two steep sections remain vacant and may soon be offered byLands and Survey for ballot.

Electricity is taken for granted at Arthur’s Pass; but at Bruce Spur, although some generators have been installed, most houses are lit by pressure lamps and candles and the absence of electric toasters, jugs, irons and vacuum-cleaners — and even television — is seen as a pleasing simplification. For most Bruce Spur cottage owners the coming of electricity would be unwelcome. Total relaxation is the

common aim, but many take advantage of the alpine surroundings to ski,, climb or tramp. An enthusiastic group canoes on the Waimakiriri and several residents fish with success in areas which they are understandably reluctant to pinpoint.

Many children attend week-long ski schools at Temple Basin or Craigieburn ski-fields, and enjoy Arthur’s Pass National Park adventure camps. Being an isolated settlement, requests for help from passing motorists are frequent. At various times residents have provided travel directions, mechanical assistance, petrol, meals and beds for the night, and have turned out in force when motoring accidents have occurred.

Bruce Spur’s isolation means potential hazards. Fire is one.

Houses have their own fire-extinquishers and the Forest Service recently installed a roadside bin of fire-fighting equipment. The nearest phone is at Arthur’s Pass and there is support for the idea of an emergency phone booth.

The area is administered by the Lands and Survey Department as a national park, house owners leasing the land on seven-year renewable leases. There is little hope that lessees will ever secure this Crown land as freehold. The department has established only one similar settlement in Canterbury. This is a group of 20 holiday homes on the Boyle River in the Lewis Pass area.

Recently the department also made available 90 sections at Lake Tekapo.