Specimen Hut to Seddonville

The final section of the Old Ghost Rd cycleway follows the Mokihinui River gorge past the Glasgow Range to the end of the road at Seddonville.

There once was a road up this valley, but big sections of it were destroyed in the Murchison earthquake. In several places there are new bridges across sheer rock faces, where once walkers had to scramble up a cliff and over the top.

The final ghost town of the trip seemed to be a good place for morning tea. We inspected some old machinery, and a toilet without any building around it.

We stopped for lunch and a swim in Johnny Cake Creek then continued to the road end where John’s Subaru was parked. We were hot and sweaty again buy this time, so we drove back up the road over a ford and found another swimming hole.

Seddonville is basically a pub, a shop and a couple of houses, so we drove through it and on to Karamea, where we had rented a house for three nights. To celebrate the completion of the trail, we dined out at the Last Resort, which is much better than the name implies. To our surprise, cellphone coverage has not reached Karamea yet, which is why these blog posts have been delayed.

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