An Adventure in Gold Country – Victoria Forest Park

For our next tramping/fishing mission we chose to visit the Victoria Ranges. We based ourselves in the old gold mining town of Reefton for a few days. It felt like stepping back in time to the American mid-west. Steeped in history from the gold mining era, we chose to spend a few nights in the surrounding mountains.

Tunnels and swingbridges

Packing our gear up at the road end wasn’t as straight forward as usual. We discovered signs of a mouse raid in our van food supplies which, confounded by the extreme sandfly and bumblebee attacks, led to frayed tempers…the walk almost never began! In the end we decided the best course of action was to ignore our mouse woes and sort it out on our return to the van down the line.

The first day was a steady 1000m climb from the road end up to the magnificently situated Kirwans Hut. Although it took a while, it was a pleasant walk to the hut through several distinct forest layers as we gained elevation. At points the forest was so dense it felt mysteriously claustrophobic. Upon reaching Kirwans Hut we were pleasantly surprised to find we had the whole place to ourselves for the night. The view from this hut is incredible, perched in a small clearing with views over both the Victoria and Paparoa Mountains. It was a special place to stay. 

Kirwans Hut (1290m)

Enjoying the solitude

Next day after admiring a cloud inversion below us, we began our descent to the Montgomerie valley. Along the way we passed many old gold mining relics from aerial cableways used to transport the gold rich quartz down the valley right through to an old leather boot. It was like being in a museum but you were allowed to touch everything! At the end of the slippery descent was the impressive restored Lord Brassey stamper battery and cyanide pools used in the gold extraction process all dating back to around 1900.

Tea anyone?

Stamper Battery

We spent some time fishing on the Montgomerie river but the trout were very spooky in the bright sunshine so we set up camp next to the Montgomerie Hut. Looking down into the impressive pool below, trout were cruising around like sharks. This is when the sandflies began their assault. Its hard to describe the misery these tiny insects can bring but just thinking back to our first proper sandfly attack makes my stomach clench! The fairly well travelled Captain Cook has been quoted as saying:

‘The most mischievous animal here (in NZ) is the small, black sandfly which are exceedingly numerous and are so troublesome that they exceed everything of the kind I ever met with.’  We are inclined to agree!

After our delicious dehydrated meal, I decided to give the fishing another go. At this point it was getting dark and I could see a few trout rising in the pool below. Tying on a trusty Sz 14 Elk hair caddis I fired a few long casts into the gloom. A cast into the darkness landed, a big swirl engulfed my fly straight away and all hell broke loose. After a few burning runs into the darkness I eventually slid my net under a fantastic 5lb brown. No pictures unfortunately as my shouts couldn’t wake Sylvie up back in our tent!

Sandfly bait

Next day we explored the Waitahu valley, had a pleasant swim and spooked some more trout. We spent one more night camped up on the riverbank before making the long walkout back to the van. We both really enjoyed our time in this area and didn’t see another person for three days, just lots of sandflies! We are looking forward to doing some more tramps and fishing trips in this range.   

Swollen sandfly souvenirs