Mangapurua Valley Journey
(Whanganui National Park)
Trip report by Judy McCarvill
Trip dated: Friday 6 - 8 February 2003 -
Friday - saw ten Club
members leave from their overnight camp at the Ruatiti Domain and drive the
21 km to the end of Ruatiti Road and the start of the 38 km (each way) to the
Wanganui River – our ultimate and hoped for destination! This involved
the original road to the Bridge to Nowhere on the way to the river.
Armed with topo maps and an historical map of the valley we followed the legal
road to the Mangapurua Forest boundary and on to the Whanganui National Park
and the base of the Mangapurua Trig (our lunch spot). On the way we passed the
site of Aislabies house and the very important telephone bureau which was such
an asset to the Mangapurua Valley settlers; and the turnoff to the Kaiwhakauka
Valley.
Our plan was to go as far as was sensible before making camp on Friday night
and then on Saturday, leaving our main gear behind, head off with light packs
and lunch and see how far we could get. At around 5 pm on Friday we reached
the site of Bettjemans property which proved to be a great spot. A canopy covered
camping terrace, some locally made ‘furniture’, toilet, stream for
water and an adjacent chimney – all that remains of the Bettjeman 4 bedroom
family home. It’s also probably about as far as ‘wheels’ venture.
Saturday saw an early start and we passed by the locations on the map and in
the book “The Bridge to Nowhere” – the huge bluffs – Dress
Circle, Codys, Helliwells and of course Battleship, and again marking off the
names of the property owners and places as we walked. The valley is narrow with
only one property on the road at a time - not one on each side. The old road
and the swingbridges crossing the side streams made for excellent walking, and
the places where the settlers had gathered for their valley events - the annual
New Years picnic, the hockey field - added to the journey. Your scribe had left
after the main group (Friday was hot and she was tired) and she wasn’t
sure how far she would get. Battleship Bluff was reached by 10.20 am, so on
she pushed. When she caught up with and was welcomed by the tail enders of the
main party, she had just said “Maybe I’ll get to The Bridge to Nowhere”
and Mike’s voice said “I think you will” – and there it
was – a standard Public Works Bridge in the middle of nowhere. A great
photo opportunity which was not to be missed!!
Canoeists from the river assured us it was only 10 minutes to the river but
they didn’t have watches and so 40 minutes later here was the Mangapurua
Landing on the Wanganui River where the settlers arrived in 1917 to start their
endeavours, with many joys and heartbreaks. A quick dip of a boot in the water
before returning to the Bridge for lunch, then 3 hours to Bettjemans to pick
up the rest of the gear and on to Quin’s Flat (the site of the Public Works
depot) for the night.
The rain started on Sunday morning at around 4.30 am so it was a wet breakfast
and pack up but the amount of water on the ‘road’ gave us some idea
of how rain would have been a constant worry to the settlers. We arrived at
the bus for a late lunch and a welcome hot drink prepared by the ‘fly campers’
whom the mozzies drove out at around 3.30 am.
A memorable trip through an area finally abandoned in May 1942 was made more
enjoyable by the settlers location map and the signs at those locations, the
DoC swingbridges over the side streams which are gorges in their own right,
the only easily seen signs of the early settlers - a massive hydrangea bush
on the roadside and the chimney at Bettjeman’s. There are others –
groves of trees – with yet others hidden up side tracks. No sign of the
rose gardens some settler’s wives prided themselves on having, so time
has taken its toll. Pigs, goats and opossums are in the Valley although DoC
have culls and other means of keeping them under control. Pig hunters also frequent
the valley.
The rains in mid-February which fell after our visit have caused a large impassable
slip at Bennetts Bluff – 15 minutes above the Bridge (Wilderness magazine
report April 2004). DoC had not inspected further up the Valley but suspected
other slips. A local resident on Ruatiti Rd says mountain bikers have been in
the Valley in March but he had had no reports from them of the state of affairs.
Public road access in the area has seen many slips and washouts so the locals
have their problems. We wonder if these rains were more/less than January 1942
but there is no one left to tell us. However, one thing is for sure the area
is so isolated/remote, the cleared land was subject to major slipping as the
hair roots of the tree stumps died off, prices for fleece wool during the 1930’s
depression were low and the government of the day did their sums and decided
that the amount of product produced versus the cost of maintaining the road
(which was one of the cash incomes for the farmers who maintained the road along
their frontage) did not show a positive result! So the three families still
in the Valley were ordered out in May 1942, the others having already left.
They just walked off and had to start again.
Thanks to all for a very enjoyable and memorable weekend. Party members were
Shane Boulton, Joan Davis, Anne and Bryan Dudley, Judy McCarvill (scribe), Rae
Mitchell, Marian O’Brien, Sharon Osman, and Liz and Mike Sampson.
Recommended reading before and after a visit “The Bridge to Nowhere”
the Ill Fated Mangapurua Settlement by Arthur P Bates.