Murchison district for a ride

Press, 26 July 1979, Page 29

Murchison district for a ride

.Only 4km of the Shenandoah Road between O’Sullivan’s Bridge, just ovtside Murchison, to Springs Junction now renfeins unsealed.

However, there does not seem to be any likelihood flat this small piece of jingle road will be converted to bitumen for sme time. Certainly, it is npt on the completion list oj the Ministry of Works at, present. <, Even with this small section of road still undated, most drivers who nve used both main i*eutes to Nelson agree that the inland route through the Lewis Pass, the Shenandoah and Murchison is by far the easier. j Hill grades seem so much easier and the afnount of tight hill turning on the inland route much less than that on the coastal route. Scenically, the two routes contrast considqjably. The coastal route losses through fine grazing areas before running ajong the Kaikoura coastline and below the spread of the magnificent Kaikpura ranges. <The inland route offers beautiful bushland, all of which is topped, for much df the way, by snow-cap-jJed peaks until very late ini the year. 'Because of the increasing popularity of the inland route for travellers to the Nelson district, Mur4Jtison is assuming greater importance as a way-sta-fion and as a tourist Centre in its own right.' - The town, when" it was

known as Hampden, was a service town catering to the needs of goldminers and those hardy souls clawing a living out of the heavy bush. It has been in the news of [ate — first for the noto'riety it received as being near the epi-centre of what became known as the 1929 Murchison earthquake, and a month later, as the town to which the Newman Brothers drove the first stage coach from Foxhill 100 years ago. Today, Murchison gives no hint that it was ever devastated by an earthquake. It is alive and very well and still carrying out the role for which it was first established — pandering to the needs of those passing through and those who stop to stay a while.

The area has a lot going for it. True, it would not have the biggest sunshine recordings of the country, nor does it have the lowest rainfall or a reputation of always being fog-free.

But it does have a tremend o u s community spirit; it has some of New Zealand’s best fishing and shooting and, for anybody with an historical bent who likes poking around, as exciting a history as any place in New Zealand. Murchison was close to Lyell, one of the biggest goldfields worked in the last and early part of this century. And there is still gold in “them thar hills.” Lots of people are still looking for it, and finding it.

Accommodation is no problem. There are two hotels and mote's in the town. Up the way, at Gowan Bridge, is the turn-off to one of the best fishing lakes in the country, Lake Rotoroa — one of the two lakes in the Nelson Lakes National Park. To get to the other, the traveller from Murchison branches off at Kawatiri Junction on to a paved road which leads to Lake Rotoiti. Camping is permitted and there are also motels. Above the lake is the Mount Robert ski-field.