A bit more about the area

A wee leap forward for a bit : I think it was 1984 when there was a big flood and a few things happened. The Herbert Hill slumped and the main electricity line had to be shifted - actually this was put through my paddock on a temporary basis and it is still there today; illegally! But I'm not on about this yet. The Ministry of Works in clearing the clay from the road, decided to dump it in the middle of the river - at Frame's Crossing. This was an illogical thing to do for the river bed is gravel, which rolls down to the sea during floods, but the clay caused a change in the flow. Allan Ross had a crop of turnips in his paddock beside the river, but the next flood caused all this to wash away because of the clay left in the river. Previously the river bed was reasonably tidy but now it is an expanse of gravel that is prone to weed growth that is expensive to control.


The flood though was as high as I have ever seen it! It washed the road out over the gully just before the sawmill and it left a huge log on the bridge to prevent access to the forest. To carry that large log meant there was a massive amount of water! We removed the log and access was again possible, but then I heard another story: Jock Anderson told me that he was living in Nat Stevenson's house and he had been to the Herbert Store with his wife, Jessie, each on horseback. When they reached the bridge, there was water about ankle deep flowing across it! He rode across, but Jessie was afraid, so he returned on foot and led her, mounted on her horse across!

He said he had seen the river like that one other time! There is no way that I would cross that bridge under those circumstances!

Of course the flood caused damage to the Herbert water scheme pumps - flooding out the pump shed which was very high, and filling the intake with sand. As this was a community project we supplied a pump and a couple of men to clean it out and this took about a week to do! The flood also caused a lot of damage to forest roads and it was expensive to carry out the repairs.
As well the culvert crossing the Glenburnie Creek was washed away preventing access to Cosy Dell.

It is amazing how quickly these episodes are forgotten!

Back now: Just West of the bridge was a track down to the river bed - it passed through a small plantation of Radiata Pine (huge trees) - this is what we called 'Maggie's Pit'. We needed road metal (gravel) on our roads to provide good all weather access, and this is where we sourced our road metal.

As I have said elsewhere, the Waianakarua River is one of the very few actually owned by the landowner, and Margaret MacKay owned this area. The pit had been used for years, and Phil Wilkie told me how he has won the contract to spread gravel on the Herbert Hill (years ago) and had loaded his trucks by hand, using a shovel! The truck carried 4 cubic yards!

Anyway Margaret usually did not charge us for the gravel, instead we would clear the gorse from her sections further along the river. Cliff Blaikie bought these sections much later.

Grave's Dam today

At Graves Dam there remain the concrete abutments of the water wheel that drove the small flour mill. There were also some of the sheds made from sawn timber. I am told that the mill did not operate for very long.

It may not be well remembered, but there was another dam, just South of Sharp's Corner. This dam was to provide a catchment area for the Phoenix Mill at Waianakarua. One morning though this dam was not there (1965/6); someone, for some reason had blown it up!

There are a few stories about the bridge - Skippy, the driver for Waitaki Transport carted posts out of the forest on a regular basis. Now originally, the bridge had trusses going across the top to hold it together - these were removed during some modification. Anyway one time Skippy load his truck so high that it jammed under the trusses, so he walked to HQ for assistance. I suggested letting the air out of the tyres, which was enough to let him pass through - we had a compressor there to top the tyres up later. Another time he left his Hiab (hydraulic crane) up and smashed it off on the first truss before he managed to stop! The bridge was made of Australian hardwood of very high quality! (some decorates our garden)

Charlie James did a similar thing with his Hiab, this time unloading at the mill and returning into the forest for another load. By then the trusses had been removed, but he wiped out all the power lines crossing the road!

One day it snowed, and I sent the forest workers home. I put chains on the old Commer truck and headed into the forest to see if I could find a pig. Bert's Mark I Consel could not climb the hill past the bridge - it was too icy.

I stopped just past his car and tied a rope to my truck. Bert just touched his car and off it slid backwards toward the river - we both feared that it would slip over the bank into the river! Bert began to make a move, but his feet went from under him and he fell flat on his back. There was comedy in this and I could not stifle a laugh! He must have hurt himself, but then I have seen the old bugger break a finger playfighting and never let on! The car did not go over the bank and I eventually pulled it to safety - I was mildly ashamed that I laughed, and feel guilty that the memory still makes me smile!

Oh yes I did get a big, fat pig!