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Ramrock
Road (4WD)
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The Central Otago landscape of tussock, schist and
outcrops of rock can be found only 30km inland from the beach town of
Waikouaiti. The hills up from Bucklands Crossing have the rounded Central
Otago profile and are fretted by streams as elsewhere, but they are green.
It is at the old Nenthorn goldfield that they turn brown. Nenthorn's ruins
date back to 1888. Back then the town had a main street of calico, sod and
iron structures including over 20 hotels, two banks, a public dance hall
and skating rink, accountant, chemist, barber, banks, builder, butchers,
watchmaker, fruiterers, boarding houses, blacksmith, stables and the
Nenthorn Recorder newspaper.
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It was reported by John Boyd, who was a waiter at
'Laverty's Pub', that he had never seen so much drunkenness and brawls and
fights with boots, knives and bits of wood brought into play. He said that
he had seen the pub manager standing on the bar with a stockwhip lashing
men like a bullock team driver.
Today the greatest danger comes
from old mineshafts, which make it dangerous to wander off the track in
this isolated spot.
From Billy Flat you climb
quickly to Billy's Ridge, then across the meandering Taieri River to
Middlemarch and habitation once more. |
HOW
TO GET THERE
Turn
right off SH I about I km south of the Waikouaiti shopping centre and
follow the sign to Bucklands Crossing.
MAPS:
H43
(Middlemarch), 143 (Waikouaiti)
E
>W. Start at 143 273097
DISTANCE:
46.3km
TRACK
CONDITIONS
Narrow
winding gravel road over hills.
For
further information see 4WD South Island Volume 1 (Ken Sibly & Mark
Wilson) |
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