The Reefton Globe
 

Words & Photos: Dave Mitchell & Ditte van der Meulen

Reefton is world famous for considerably more things than you can poke a stick at. It was the first town in NZ to be lighted by electricity, way ahead of many global cities. It had a thriving mining industry from 1870 to 1950, which is when the gold ran out and the wheels fell off. Its local stock market rivalled New York in many ways. Coal is still coming out of the hill sides to this day and it’s one of the least windy places in NZ - a winning combination in winter for fog and smog. There also used to be a hundred head stamper battery at Crushington that you could hear from outer space.

We cut our teeth mountain biking into the likes of Big River and out to Waiuta, up to Kirwans Reward gold mine then down and out the other side via the Waitahu Valley. We plied our trade around Blacks Point appreciating the excellent tracks and infrastructure that the Forest Service threw their vast resources at, or at least the bread crumbs left over from their massive forestry operations. There was much to discover in the early days and one memorable track was an old miners’ trail that started just out of Blacks Point, crossed the Inangahua River on a rickety rackety swing bridge before climbing to the old Globe Hill mining site, resplendent with rusting boilers and a load of old mining stuff scattered far and wide.

Between 2006 and 2016 OceanaGold single handedly revitalised Reefton’s flagging gold mining industry in an open cast sort of way. They came, they mined and did quite a bit of shopping. Where the Globe miners once tunnelled, Oceana dug a ginormous hole and extracted 610,000 oz of gold (impressively the original mine produced over 400,000 oz the old fashion way). Done and dusted they then did a remediation job on the site, planting almost a million trees - mainly beech and manuka. They removed most of the mining infrastructure and built a mountain bike/multi use trail from Reefton to the Globe Progress Mine site.

The trail starts opposite the Reefton Motor Camp on the other side of the river and initially climbs up an old forestry road to the ridge line. From there it’s sublime grade three single track for 11kms, winding through a small forestry block into mature and regenerating native forest. At the old mine site there are interpretation panels, toilets, some original mining relics, views into the lake and along the Victoria Range. There is a further 10kms of track (mining road) circumnavigating the vast mining site.

The offical opening in November was preceded in September by the “offical un-offical” opening with Kit Watson from OceanaGold, DOC’s Chris Hickford and Jo Newburry from the Reefton Trail Collective. The partnership between these organisations along with Ngāti Waewae and the Buller District Council has brought the history of the place alive. We had a fantastic ride up and back and were impressed by the site restoration, visitor facilities and information.

We based our stay at the Reefton Domain Campground. It’s a great central location with easy access to the excellent tracks at Blacks Point, Big River and Globe Hill. Bassana Pizza Parlour matched our Italian experiences in every way, especially their tiramisu. Reefton is also famous for its historic main street, eclectic buildings, Little Biddy gin and Moonlight Creek whisky. You can’t beat the wild west coast on a sunny day.