From Fox to the Coast at Gillespie's Beach
Sunday 27 September
A rainy night turned into a rainy morning at Fox Glacier Top Ten. We packed up and left pretty close to the 10am deadline - not bad given we’d lost an hour overnight! Grabbed a few expensive supplies from On the Spot, then hit the road (mostly gravel) out to Gillespie's Beach still in the rain.
Parked up in our prebooked spot at the DOC camp as the sun came out and blue skies broke through, then went for a walk out along the beach. It’s a stunning, classic wild west coast beach - black sand, grey river stone, crashing breakers, rolling waves and white sea foam racing up the dark sand.
The waves were fabulous as they curled, rolled, ,crashed and boomed along the shoreline, rattling the flat oval riverstones as they flooded in, creating a wonderful melodic sound. Watching and listening was quite hypnotic! We walked south which was a good idea as a huge bank of cloud was hanging over the northern end of the beach & dunes.
We wandered up to the settlement (approx 3 houses, a ruin, assorted out buildings and some old rusting machinery), watched some tuis feasting in a kowhai tree then crossed the tanin stained and reflective Quinlin Creek and went to visit the Miners Cemetery. A miromiro, tomtit, flew over us and settled in the harakeke just ahead of us - so cute.
The Miners Cemetery had many fancy headstones for the Irish and Scottish settlers, and probably quite a few unmarked graves.
Wandered back along the road back to Banjo for lunch and a siesta before wrapping up warm to go exploring northward - to the historic bucket dredge and the lagoon. Sun was out but the wind was whipping up.
Gillespies Beach was a hub for gold mining in the 1860s to 1870s with a resurgence in interest in gold dredging in the 1930s. As the gold ran out & miners moved on the machinery was left to rot & rust in the dunes. Today large chunks of the metal machinery still lie there rusting away and gradually being subsumed by nature.
The remains of the 1930s gold dredge are no exception, rusting away in a pond behind the beach. There was a resurgence in interest in gold here in the 1930s, using dredging not mining this time. The dredge was abandoned as it seems there was not as much gold here as imagined and it was no longer financially viable. We shouldn't litter the environment, but these old pieces do look cool as they gradually rust away.
From the dredge we headed out to the beach to walk up to the tannin stained creek estuary and the lagoon. Several creeks come together to drain out to the sea here - the main creek was roaring after the overnight rain - dark brown waters rushing out into the grey crashing waves. Louis tested the temperature - not too cold, but certainly not water for swimming in!
Walking back along the beach into the wind was quite the challenge - our skin was sandblasted and our hats were in danger of being whipped off! We veered inland to the river stone hobbit path and made our way back to Banjo and the flushing toilets - its good to have them here at the DOC Camp - but the water comes from the creek so the tannins make it look like someone forgot to flush!! 😳
Back at Banjo the skies over the Southern Alps had lost their cloudy shroud and we had stunning views of Mounts Aoraki & Tasman, and a clear vista of the Fox Glacier.
Quick dinner of giant sausages, before joining our new neighbours on the beach to watch the sun setting over the Tasman, casting a glorious pink glow over the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps behind us - perfection! 🩷
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