2277 Upper Buller Gorge Road, Upper Buller Gorge, Buller

Old Ghost Road Cycle Trail and Lyell Creek Gold Fossicking

Buller Walks

Lyell was once a booming township, thanks to gold. Now, you can picnic and camp here and also pan or sluice for gold by hand, thanks to the creek's status as a fossicking area. One family found a fossick in the creek well worth their while after floods in 2020, taking home two large nuggets.

It was explorer Julius von Haast who named the area, after a British geologist, so it is possible von Haast knew of the possibility of gold here. People had started flocking here in 1862, thanks to Maori prospectors, and a couple of Italians who arrived soon after. The town grew to about 2000 in the 1880s, spawned a school, and a newspaper. Unlike most other gold towns, one company, the Alpine Extended Gold Mining Co Ltd, took over most of the works. Great fires of 896 and 1926 reduced the town's footprint and many residents left after each, as they did after the 1929 Murchison earthquake. The last occupants moved on in 1960.

Since the town was abandoned, the streets and hillsides have reverted to bush, and only the campsite remains.

A loop walkway 3 kilometres long (about 2 hours) traverses pretty beech forest and explores the history of the gold mining town, including the cemetery, stamper battery, diversion tunnel, and dray road. There are information panels on-site. One of the features on the walkway is the cemetery, where the stories are grim and the lifespans short. There is also a tunnel, hewn through solid rock and the remains of some heavy quartz crushing gear.

The 160 kilometre Old Ghost Road Cycle Trail follows a historic gold miner's route that connects the old dray road in the Lyell (Upper Buller Gorge) heading northward to the mighty Mokihinui River, then joining the Charming Creek Walkway and the Denniston Plateau on the wild West Coast. The full ride makes a complete back-country loop for intermediate to advanced riders.

Features

  • Mountain Biking
  • Waterfall
  • River

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