TRIP REPORT: COBB DAM
Date: 03/05/2009
Trip leader: Dave Haycock
Trip report & photos: Michelle Woollaston
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect on Sunday - a frosty start, then cloudless blue autumn skies for the rest of the day.
Five vehicles met at the < intake? outlet? top part of the dam> where the castle-like <big concrete building thingy> was reflected in the limpid waters of the lake.
First on the the list of interesting sites to see was the rocky moonscape of a magnesite quarry. This soft shaley marble-coloured mineral (chemical formula MgCO3 ) was, it was conjectured, crushed and used as fertiliser. Camped at the quarry were 3 chaps tracking native birds...hope we didn’t disturb their operation too much.
Back at the <intake thingy/ overflow> Dave filled us in on some of the history of the Cobb Dam, and in fact was a mine of information all day. Next we stopped at the memorial to the dam construction workers overlooking the reservoir, a long kumera-shaped blue lake stretching impressively away to the shelter of brown, flat-topped hills in the distance.
On to another quarry, overlooking the lake and a source of rubble for concrete used in the dam construction. The steep unstable walls of the quarry seemed to incite some of the more daring to attempt an ascent, but not all of us made it up - as a nervous novice 4wd-er I was cowering in the back seat as Bevan and Debbie’s truck slid backwards down the scree, thankfully not flipping over as I had feared it might. Apparently his other truck would have made it up easily.
After taking a more sensible route out of the quarry, we followed an overgrown track (which left the truck with a pattern of pretty scratches) to the site of the old concrete works, where we padded around on the soft carpet-like pale green moss and took photos. It was interesting to view Mt. Campbell, Hoary Head, Crusader and Mt. Arthur from the other side of the ranges where they present a somewhat different profile, especially Crusader which loses its volcano shape.
Our next site of interest involved a bit of a walk up some hilly tracks to the <?? pumping station?> where the boys admired the pumps and machinery. Twin large bore pipes carry the water from the dam, through stone-collecting sumps, and along the flat a little way before plunging dramatically down a hill to the turbines at the bottom. Huge square concrete buttresses situated at intervals along the pipeline ensure that the pipes stay in place the weight of the water and metal would otherwise cause them to slip forwards.
A picnic lunch was held on one of these buttresses at the top of the hill. Picnic tables, chairs and chilly-bins were lugged up on to the stepped structure and we all enjoyed what must be one of the most dramatic dining spots anywhere with a vista encompassing the valley, river and distant hills and the added excitement of a plunge to one’s death (or at least certain injury) should anyone fall off the edge of the concrete.
Next we followed a narrow track with hairpin corners necessitating handbrake turns to negotiate, which led us to the site of the dam workers’ houses at the bottom of the hill, opposite the power station. Only a few concrete foundations and sets of steps remaining now, in the <1950’s???> there were 6 houses on this sunny spot.
That concluded our tour of the dam. Barron’s Flat was our last port of calla side trip on the way back to Upper Takaka. Driving over private farmland we ended up on some dozed clay tracks to the tops, where the views of Golden Bay farmland and the sea beyond were spectacular. We parked next to a pylon carrying 66000 volt wires across the valley - an impressive span of 1.3 km! Pondering the marvels of modern engineering and the determination of the dam constructors we dispersed in the late afternoon with the satisfying feeling of an interesting day well spent.
|
Past club trips 
