Gillespies Beach Suction Dredge Walk - Westland Tai Poutini National Park

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park.
An easy and unappealing 15 minute 400 metre loop walk.
Map Data: Google, Digital Globe, Department of Conservation (DOC).

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GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Some walks you can pretty much judge by their name. This easy walk follows feral sheep between gorse bushes to see rusting relics of when Gillespies Beach was briefly a bustling gold mining town around the 1860s. If you like rusty metal, feral sheep, gorse and not much else, follow that sheep...

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Feral-looking sheep having a scratch on a tree.

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
A piece of Suction Dredge history.

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Another piece...

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park.
This is history. (Not to be confused with a disused industrial site that no-one ever cleaned up).

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park.
Seriously, this could be a nice walk. Get rid of all the gorse. Plant some trees. If it was completely and utterly transformed, it could be nice.

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
At last...

GILLESPIES BEACH SUCTION DREDGE WALK - Westland Tai Poutini National Park
And then you realise that the best rusty relic by far was the one right at the start of the track. Doh!