Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE LAND OF DOING WITHOUT
Davy Gunn is one of the great legends of the NZ back country. He was born in 1887 in
Waimate, Canterbury, the son of a shepherd. Gunn was a chip off the old block from
the get-go, working as a stock agent and farmer, and then in 1926 buying the McKen-
zie family farm in remote Martins Bay. He eventually held the lease of more than
25,000 acres in the Hollyford Valley.
It was here that legend was born, as Gunn became the ultimate bushman. From his
base at Deadmans Hut on the banks of the Hollyford River, Gunn lived on the sniff of
an oily rag, calling the Hollyford 'The Land of Doing Without'. He set to improving the
stock-droving track to facilitate his annual four-month-long, 175-mile cattle drive to
the Invercargill sale yards. Talk about a hard row to hoe!
It's not surprising then that Davy looked for alternative sources of income. Having
constructed huts through the valley, he gradually went from running cattle to guiding
tourists, beginning in 1936.
This was to be the year of Gunn's greatest achievement: the emergency dash he un-
dertook to get help for victims of an aircraft crash in Big Bay in 1936. Gunn tramped
from Big Bay to Lake McKerrow, rowed up the lake and then rode his horse more than
40km to a construction camp, where he telephoned for help. The trip would take an
experienced tramper three days - Gunn did it in 21 hours. And that's how you become
alegend.
Having slipped over a bluff in 1950, aged 63, Gunn began to lose much of his
strength and vigour. On Christmas Day in 1955, as he was attempting to cross the
Hollyford River with a 12-year-old boy in the saddle behind him, his horse stumbled
and fell. Both Gunn and the boy were swept to their deaths; Gunn's body was never
found.
Day 3: Lake Alabaster Hut to McKerrow Island Hut
3-4 HOURS, 10.5KM
Backtrack for 20 minutes to the suspension bridge over Pyke River and, after crossing it,
continue beneath the rocky bluffs along the lower section of the river. Here the track enters a
lush podocarp forest, and all sights and sounds of the two great rivers are lost in the thick
canopy of trees. The stretch of track from Pyke Bridge to the south end of Lake McKerrow
can be rough, uneven and very muddy at times of wet weather.
The track works its way through the bush for two hours before breaking out into a clear-
ing next to Hollyford River, now twice as powerful as it was above the Pyke River junction.
Before reaching
Lake McKerrow
the river swings west around
McKerrow Island
; another
channel (usually dry) rounds the island to the east. Near the dry river bed there is a sign
