Nelson Creek, Ngahere

Where Is Nelson Creek?

“Where on earth is Nelson Creek?” I hear you ask.

Just a short drive from our housesit in Barrytown

After finishing our housesitting assignment in Barrytown, we travelled south along the coast to Greymouth and turned inland for around 25km.  Reaching the turnoff onto Nelson Creek Rd, it was another 6km before we reached the tiny settlement of Nelson Creek.

Nelson Creek Recreation Reserve

The Nelson Creek Recreation Reserve (NZMCA #6571) entranceway is right opposite the Nelson Creek Hotel (very handy as I was to find out later!).

Some get confused as to whether this is a DOC Camp or not.  While it is technically on DOC land, it is actually managed by the local community and what a great job they are doing.  It only cost us $6 each per night (no powered sites) and this is cheaper than the majority of DOC Camps which often have fewer facilities available.  The DOC Passes are not able to be used at this camping ground.

Facilities that are available to use:

• adventure playground
• coin-operated gas BBQ’s
• clean flush toilets
• potable water
• in-ground fire pits at numerous sites (wood supplied with many)
• dump station
• covered kitchen sinks and benchtops
• rubbish and recycling bins

It is a large area with good access for bigger rigs and is located right beside Nelson Creek.  I can understand why it would be so popular in the summer months with some interesting looking swimming holes.

We had the pick of the spots but chose to be by the whiskey coloured Nelson Creek

Unlike DOC Camps, dogs are allowed on a leash but not permitted to be in the designated picnic areas or on the DOC walking tracks.

One of the bonuses of travelling in winter is that we often get these places to ourselves and don’t have to worry about where we are going to park.  This was the case here, and over our two-night stay, we only saw one other motorhome during the entire time.

Nelson Creek Hotel

As mentioned earlier, the entranceway is right opposite the Nelson Creek Hotel.  It was an easy walk from our campsite to the hotel to enjoy a late afternoon drink.

They had a roaring fire going and it was as warm as the welcome we received from the husband and wife managers (Jackie and Neville).

We sat in the corner listening and watching the locals come and go and joined in on some rather interesting conversations.

The local ‘watering hole’, the Nelson Creek Hotel

We love to visit these ‘small town NZ’ locations and meet some of the people that make these places so special.  The red wine beside the fire went down very well too!

They also cater to the hungry traveller with a bar menu available.  We didn’t order any meals but we did see a burger or two come out which looked like towers!

We enjoyed the relaxed and friendly vibe so much that we went back the next night (just to make sure of course!!).

Walking Tracks and history

One of the special attractions of Nelson Creek is to walk in the footsteps of the early gold miners that settled in this area back in the 1890s.  At the height of the gold rush, over 1,200 miners were scattered throughout the area surrounding Nelson Creek.

In the past, ground sluicing was the main method of working the gold from trough-like hollows on the surface of the area’s sandstone. 

Now, we love hiking but are not the hard out trampers that go for days and days.  There are three tracks on offer, all starting from the camp.  The longest being around 2 hours return, the shortest only 20 minutes.  No matter which of the tracks you chose they start at the same spot and branch off in different directions.

Walking the tunnels and swing bridge at the start of the tracks

You first walk through an old tunnel (presuming used for diverting water at some stage), climb some stairs, through another tunnel and emerge at a rather impressive and long swing bridge.  This suspension bridge crossing Nelson Creek is a historic bridge which was originally built in 1872.  It has had a few facelifts over the years, the most recent one in 1982. 

The swing bridge emerges out of the tunnel

After crossing the bridge you have the choice of heading off in three directions.

All the tracks are well signposted

Callaghans Track

This is the longest track (30 min one way) and climbs steadily to a mossy knoll lookout point.  The panoramic views offered us bush-clad vistas across the valleys either side of the ridge.  If you keep walking, you will reach Prices Creek Road.

We did have to wonder if we had reached the lookout as there were no signage, seats or obvious viewpoints.  We continued on a bit to see if the downhill section of the track climbed any higher but after 10 minutes, we decided that we had in fact made it to the top and yes, it was the lookout we had come across.

Breaking out in a sweat by the time we reached the top

It was a well-formed track but the steady incline for the entire way, did get the heart rate up and the sweat soon started to form on the brow!

Making our way back down a large water race to Nelson Creek

We crossed a couple of deep tailraces as well as a large water race as we crisscrossed our way through regenerating beech trees. 

Tailrace Walk

This is the easiest and most accessible track.  Just a 20-minute loop track from the suspension bridge, it crosses a number of impressive tailraces. 

Getting up close to the deep trenches dug to assist in sluicing of the gold

Old gold workings are also visible throughout the red and silver beech trees which dominate this patch of forest.  We were gob-smacked when we saw our first tailrace.  Yes, we have seen quite a few of these historic forms of sluicing gold but nothing like these. 

How they ever dug these tailraces is beyond belief

They are so incredibly deep, narrow and smoothed out by the millions of litres of water that must have passed through these narrow channels.  The mind boggles as to just how they ever managed to dig these races all those years ago.

Colls Dam Walk

The walk to Colls Dam will take you 40 minutes return from the suspension bridge.  There is another easier and shorter access point from a car park further along Nelson Creek Rd, at Gows Creek carpark.

moss-covered tracks led us through regenerating forests

Once again we were treated to some good examples of tailraces and plenty of tailings beside the track.  This showcased the hard laborious work executed by the hard-working miners.  All without the luxury of machinery to assist them.  Each rock we saw piled up in massive drifts must have had to have been placed there by hand. 

The small dam built to feed water to the many tailraces used for sluicing gold

The dam was smaller than we expected but the water on the tiny lake offered some great reflections of the regenerating undergrowth that grows down as far as the lake edge.

Summary

Nelson Creek was the perfect stopover for us for a couple of nights.  Great facilities and fantastic value for money, the area is packed full of history.  You get to enjoy plenty of glimpses of the by-gone era of gold mining and some examples of amazing engineering feats, all concentrated in a relatively small area.

Reminders of the gold rush lay beneath the trees in the camping ground

Click on the link below to view a video of some of our highlights at Nelson Creek.