Time: 1 hour (includes shopping)
Distance: 3.7 km
Start: Old Little River Railway Station, 4235-4237 State Highway 75 Little River
Finish: Same place (it's a loop)
Date: Friday 27th October 2023
It was 8:20 am. I checked the MetService website, and discovered - with slight horror - that the forecast had deteriorated somewhat. The benign "occasional showers" had been belately upgraded to "thunderstorms, heavy rain and snow down to 300 meters". I inhaled oxygen sharply through my teeth and blew out a long breath through pursed lips. Calm.
"She'll be right." I thought. Probably too late to warn the others anyway. Carolien was already on her way. We drove across town and picked up Linda and Nicole and then continued on direction Akaroa. We were on our way to Hinewai Reserve for a lovely bush walk. Black clouds were gathering ominously in that direction. No worries.
As sunny Ōtautahi receded into the distance, it began to rain and then the heavens opened and it pissed down in torrents and sleeted too. This went on for quite some time and I had the wipers on triple speed. They were going like the clappers. We decided to stop at the Little River Cafe and Store and reassess the situation over flat whites, hot chocolates, friands (blueberry and almond) and muffins (also blueberry). The cafe was packed but we managed to squeeze in. Outside, the clouds momentarily parted revealing a blanketing of snow on the hill tops. Hard to imagine that it was 25 degrees yesterday.
Clare Reilly had an exhibition on at the Little River Gallery - beautiful brightly coloured South Island landcape paintings with birds flitting across. We admired the paintings and chatted with the artist. We leisurely checked out the gallery shop. Then we reconvened, canned the Hinewai idea and decided to do the Little River Heritage Walk instead. As we stepped outside, the Antarctic blast hit us like a hurricane and it started snowing and then hailed. It blew into out faces and we nearly turned back.
But being hardy South Island gals (not really) we perservered. We picked up a (weirdly uninformative) Little River map from the Little River Information/Craft Station and started on the Little River Cycle Trail behind the train station. We soon left the trail though, crossing Highway 75 to Kinloch Road. The sleet had momentarily subsided. [Ed's note: according to the Little River CommunityTrust, there exists a Heritage Walk Brochure but I was sadly unable to ascertain where abouts is its whereabouts].
About 200 meters down Kinloch Road we merged onto the gravelly Wairewa Pa Road. In Te Reo Māori, "wai" means "water" and "rewa" means "lifted up". I couldn't find the story behind the name or the pa but, according to Ka Huru Manu, the Ngāi Tahu Atlas, Wairewa (Lake Forsyth) was dug by the Polynesian explorer Rākaihutū with his famous kō (digging stick) and the area was later claimed by Ngāi Tahu ancestor, Māko. At that time the Little River Basin was covered in totara forest and the land was abundant with kākā, kererū, tuna. In the early 20th century (as described in The Lore and History of the South Island Māori by W.A. Taylor) the effects of colonisation took their toll. The houses, church and school on Wairewa Pa Road were eventually abandoned in the 1960's. The odd chimney and shed remain. Nowadays the Wairewa Rūnanga are the local hapū with the Wairewa marae at their center.
The blossoms were out and the lambs were huddling around their ewes. Ōkana Stream was brown and swirling, and a cluster of ducks crossed our path, running at high speed. A derelict farm house was sprawling with wisteria. Could this be "the last house standing, buttressed by trees that have grown up through it's framework"? The childhood home of local legend Naomi Mereiera Bunker (nee Robinson, Ngāti Irakehu, 1925 - 2015), former kaikaranga of Wairewa marae.
Back over the main highway 75, we checked out Efd, a shop that is fairly bursting with creativity - selling upcycled clothing and curtains and plants and pottery. We dilly dallyed in there a bit which is why the whole walk took us an hour instead of 30 minutes.
