Boxing Day was a day to avoid the hoards of campers and holiday-makers which were pouring into town and filling the roads, shops and markets. So we chose to make the short drive to Nelson's historic Dun Mountain Walkway. It starts just a couple of km up through the Brook part of town. The walk starts with a steady 10 minute climb and then follows the historic railway route for another 90 minutes before a 40 minute descent back to the car. The first half of the walk is through pine forest which then suddenly stops and is followed by mixed beech and native forest then ends through a stand of Californian Redwood. There are several "sequoia" Redwoods around Nelson's gardens and they are magnificent. Several are 100 years old or more. The railway was built in 1862 and only ran for 4 years whilst they mined; first copper, then chrome ore from Dun Mountain. (so named after the igneous rock dunite) According to our guide book, Day Walks of Nelson, Ian Trafford, the mine closed in 1866 when American Civil War trade blockades made the cotton industry uneconomical and the mauve dye which was a byproduct of processing the ore was not needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment