Stunning stroll
Date: 23 Mar 2002 , The Press, Christchurch, page WE12
Caption(s): The Pupu Springs Walkway: amazing engineering feat. The spectacular water race beside the Pupu Springs walkway.

History and beauty mingle to make a Golden Bay walkway one of the best around, writes PAT BARRETT.

FACT FILE Access: The walkway begins 9km from Takaka at the end of the Pupu Valley Road. It is signposted and has an information panel at the car-park. Times: Car-park to water-race, 20 minutes; water-race to Campbell Creek Weir, 45 minutes. Take special care with small children along the raceway. Grade: Easy. Map: Kahurangi National Park.

This short, easy walkway, located in the heart of Golden Bay, is rated as one of the region's best short walks. It is also historic and varied, with a spectacular water race contouring around a steep forested hillside for more than 3km.

Beginning beyond the Pupu Springs at the end of farmland, where there is a small car-park, visitors are quickly absorbed into the historic interest and botanical beauty of the walkway, which starts past a series of small bridges over Campbell Creek.

It was this creek which was used by a team of eight goldminers who built the water race over a six-month period in 1901-02.

Some amazing engineering feats were accomplished by the team, including large sections of curving race constructed on the steep forested flanks of the hill, several beautiful aqueducts, and a 123-metre drop at the downstream end, to provide sufficient pressure for the miners' sluicing guns. It was widely regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its time.

The race itself is part aqueduct and part canal, and flows through an amazingly rich botanical garden, festooned with ferns, mosses, and liverworts, and alive with the song of forest birds.

Observant walkers will soon discover large freshwater crayfish - koura - swimming in the clear, cool water of the race.

Growing alongside the canal are numerous rimu, beech, mountain cedar, silver pine, and matai - all adding to the sense of traversing an emerald green tunnel high above boisterous Campbell Creek.

To reach the race from the car-park an easily graded zig-zag climbs through the forest to the intake structure for the hydro- electric power station; the current use for the water race.

This small station, restored after a flashover in 1981, is operated by the Pupu Hydro Society. It was originally built by the Golden Bay Electric Power Board in 1929, after the gold mining potential of the water race was abandoned about 1910.

Beyond the intake the most exciting portions of the race are soon encountered. Here a narrow catwalk snakes around the hill between the raceway and a precipitous drop to the streambed below. People with children need to be especially careful on these sections as small children can easily slip between the steel railings - it is advisable children are carried in a backpack.

Farther on lie some especially attractive corners where the canal sweeps past in a gentle curve overhung by ferns and forest trees.

It is a delightful walk, ending at the weir built on the upstream end at Campbell Creek. There is a restful spot for picnics, a table, and a deep green pool into which Campbell Creek drops in a small cascade beside large weathered boulders. A large shutter was raised or lowered at the upper end of the weir to vary the water taken from the stream.

The return trip is as interesting as the upward journey, providing numerous delightful views of the canal coursing through the forest, and another opportunity to locate koura as you cruise the catwalk.