Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The track continues down the valley road to the abandoned
Tester House
, which was the
location of the first school in the valley, started in 1926 with seven children. There are a
number of large flats in the upper valley, and a whole lot of Himalayan honeysuckle, an in-
troduced weed that acts as a nursery plant for natives in much the same way as gorse.
It's 1¼ hours from Johnson's to the site of
Bettjeman's house
, easily identified by the
straight row of poplars that line the old road. The Bettjeman family were among the first set-
tlers to arrive and last to leave when the valley was abandoned in 1942. In its heyday, the
homestead included a family house, a bunk room built of split totara shingles and a tennis
court. All that remains today is the old chimney stack and exotic plants such as holly and
cotoneaster.
Around 1.5km from Bettjeman's is
Bartrum's swing bridge
, from which point the valley
becomes very narrow as the track sidles around a series of steep bluffs, some as high as
70m. Of particular note is the long bluff up-valley of
Cody's House
. It is sometimes called
Currant Bun Bluff because of the rounded boulders set into the cliffs.
A short distance further down the valley is Waterfall Creek, with
Hellawell's
on the
southern side, 1½ hours from Bettjeman's. This was the location of many community pic-
nics and hockey games. A 1.5km side trip up the true left of the creek provides views of the
waterfall.
Day 3: Hellawell's to Mangapurua Landing
2-3 HOURS, 8.4KM
The track continues to follow the true left of the Mangapurua Stream before descending to-
wards the Bridge to Nowhere, with more rows of exotic trees marking the road and the
house sites as you head through the valley.
About an hour from Hellawell's is
Battleship Bluff
, named for a feature across the
Mangapurua Stream, resembling the prow of an old battleship. The bluff posed the greatest
difficulty for the early road builders: two years were spent terracing the bluff from the top
using gelignite.
Continue along the track as it dips and climbs, crossing streams and small bridges down
the valley. Almost out of nowhere you will turn the corner onto the historic
Bridge to
Nowhere
. This large concrete bridge was completed in 1936, and now stands abandoned in
bush in the middle of nowhere. By the time the bridge was constructed, the lower valley had
been abandoned by the settlers. From the concrete bridge you can see the remains of the old
