Hamilton's Diggings

Saturday 24 July

This morning I left Dunedin at 9am by car to travel to Middlemarch to spend most of the weelend with my mate Noel Matthews. Noel had rung earlier to report that I would encounter ice on the road probably past Lee Stream. I was not in a hurry and enjoyed a leisurely drive. I met an extremely slow SUV so had to overtake as the driver was irritatingly slow. However I reached Noel's B&B before 10:15am. His family were in Australia so we were going to enjoy a Boy's weekend.

Noel drove us in his Hi-ace to Daisy Bank about a 45 minute drive north of Middlemarch which is past Hyde. Our plan was to walk to the top end of the Rock and Pillar Range followed by undulations to Hamilton's Diggings and Cemetery - a distance of 20kms return.

The air still had an icy feel and as we walked up the farmland hill I could feel a chilly breeze on my face. My initial thought was how was I going to cope in this cold weather. We had lots of layers and spare clothing in our backpacks. My finger tips were cold even though I had gloves.

We walked casually up the hill with the sun making an appearance. Once we hit the summit the warm sun made it a lovely stroll along a plateau until we came to two buildings on our left. From here it was a slippery walk down to the diggings and another short walk to the cemetery. It took 2:45 hrs to reach the cemetery from the start of our walk. The weather was perfect while we had a 30 min lunch.

The distant hills of the Maniototo Valley had a deep white snow and provided a magnificent back drop for our rest. We looked at all the gravestones in the restored cemetery. Gold was first discovered here in 1863 and had over 40 stores and 25 liquor outlets in its heyday. There was a James Howell tombstone which is my mother's maiden name. I was also surprised at the age of the people when they died. Many were late seventies and early eighties. I would have thought that because of the tough lifestyle that people would have died earlier.

We walked back at a faster pace and managed the slippery initial hill easily. We reached Noel's van in 2:15hrs and we both felt pretty good. Noel had a bit of dis comfort from a toenail that needed cutting. My soles felt they had been on a 20km walk.

For tea we walked to the Middlemarch pub for a few jugs and tea. It was home in time to watch the Australia v South Africa Tri-Series rugby game. A few more beers and a port saw the night out nicely at midnight.

Sunday 25 July

I was keen to walk the first leg of the Rail Trail from Middlemarch to Ngapuna. The start of the Rail Trail is 1.5km from Noel's home. It was a cold frosty morning with lots of fog. We started out at 9.15am and before we reached Ngapuna the fog had lifted and the sun was very warm causing us to unlayer our clothes. It was a gentle 6km stroll each way. We got back to Noel's B&B at 11:45am. Had a bite and then it was a lovely drive back to Dunedin in the warm sun.

A wonderful, satisying and physical weekend. Thanks Noel