Rough and Tumble

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Another weekend, another Rotary event. "Rough and Tumble" was sponsored by the Westport Rotary club. The plan was to head out to the Rough and Tumble lodge near Seddonville (half way between Westport and Karamea) for a weekend of merrymaking and tramping. Seddonville was formerly a mining community named for past Prime Minister Richard Seddon (1893-1906 - frequently and aptly referred to as King Dick). It is currently home to a rare mollusc (giant land snail), which is found only in the Seddonville area. It is considered nationally endangered and has been the subject of considerable controversy involving the local coal mining operations. In the end a major project was undertaken to "relocate" the snails.

We arrived at the lodge by convoy in the early afternoon. The Rough and Tumble bush lodge proved ideal wilderness accommodation for our group of about 25 (although a couple of us had to crash at the motel down the road). After a short walk along the Mokihinui River we had an evening of organized fun interspersed with heaps of food and fireworks to finish the evening off. It bears mentioning that during our earlier walk Josh fell, bashing his knee. By late evening, he had a good sized bruise to show for it ... and show he did.

On Sunday we headed down the Charming Creek walkway (an easy grade tramp). The walkway follows along an old tram line that provided access to the large volume of timber and coal which was extracted from this area. The terrain in places is quite rugged and there are a number of tunnels and bridges which built in this thick bush amount to some great engineering feats. The track was about 10 kms long finishing near the mouth of the Ngakawau River.

After a late lunch at a fine pub in Granity, a small group of us headed out to a beach near Westport. We had been headed for a popular beach known as Carter's beach, but owing to my fine sense of direction, we missed the turn off and ended up at a beach just north of Cape Foulwind. This beach was a spectacular find. It was a fine day and the tide was on its way out, opening up the path to a pristine beach covered in fossils and tidal pools. There were two good sized sea caves/tunnels as well. We had some excellent sightings of crabs, starfish, sea lice(?) and anemones. Adrianne picked up a fair sized vertebra - presumably from a smaller whale or a dolphin. Turned out the “accidental” beach was the highlight of the weekend.

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Photos

Star Fish
Astrid holds a good sized starfish found on the "accidental" beach

Comments

[Junior]

Merrymaking and tramping
Sounds intriguing. Accidental tourist started this way.