Millerton Incline

Wow!  Usually when I'm near Westport I take a drive up to Denniston, but today the friend I was staying with took me up to Millerton instead.  Fascinating!

Probably more to see than at Denniston but less known.  We took a drive around.  Took the dogs for a walk down a bush track and found the old mining incline.  This worked in the same way as the Denniston one, but is obviously less steep.  The full coal bin going down was counterbalanced by the empty ones coming up.  This was clearly abandoned in full working order and has just been walked away from.  All the bins on the incline are full of coal - and now have layers of moss growing over the top of them.  if you look closely at the edges of the darkness, centre top, you can see some of the old rock work on the tunnel.

I did have to work my way around the safety fence to take this photo - but given the state of rust and growth, I figured the bins weren't about to start moving any time in the next 50 years.

We also found a couple of great waterfalls, the old miners bath house, lots of abandoned mining equipment and some fascinating tunnels and tracks.

After out jaunt we decided we should stop at Granity for a coffee but the cafe was closed for the winter so I bought a pair of earrings at the craft shop instead - as you do.

I really regretted not taking my big lens with me.  When we got back to the pub we were sitting out in the beer garden having a game of scrabble and the bird life was superb.  I heard tui and saw lots of bellbirds, fantails, grey warblers and waxeyes.  Next visit I'm definitely taking my zoom.

As to the scrabble, it was so great to have a game.  Tarn and I are both avid scrabble players - but we're serious about it, so playing with 'casual' players just doesn't cut it.  It had been literally years since she and I had managed a game, and I won, so she'll have to come and visit me now for a playoff!

The extra image I've loaded is taken from the same spot on the incline but looking downhill.  You can see the quarter circle of bush out the other side of one of the next tunnel down, in the centre (ish).