‘Damn Denniston
Damn the track
Damn the way both there and back
Damn the wind and damn the weather
God damn Denniston altogether.’
This was a common refrain among the hardy souls who lived and worked in this harsh environment.
The townships of the Denniston Plateau, and the Denniston Incline itself, existed solely to extract coal from the plateau. Living conditions on Denniston were harsh; the rocky, windswept plateau is often immersed in cloud, receives a high annual rainfall, and very low temperatures are common.
The first settlement, known as "The Camp", was located on a rock ledge above the Waimangaroa River. It was built below the level of the plateau between two escarpments for protection from relentless winds.
Nowadays there are only a few people living on the plateau but many visitors daily.
There has been much written about this over the years but briefly the Denniston Incline was widely referred to as "the Eighth Wonder of the World". It began operation in April 1880 and was a self-acting ropeway that used gravity to lower 12.5 ton gross laden weight New Zealand Railways' coal wagons one at a time from Brakehead, at Denniston, at the top to Conns Creek below. The Denniston incline fell a total of 516 metres in 1,670 metres and closed in 1967.
There is a great quote by Maurice Clayworth on an information board near WP3 which says "The only time there was no danger on the incline was when it wasn't working"
Until first a bridal track and then a road was built goods and people were also transported in these wagons, an event so terrifying that many who travelled up The Hill never left until they were transported down again after death since it was impossible to dig a grave on this rocky plateau.
There were several coal mines on the plateau and many relics remain. Two other settlements were Burnetts Face and Coalbrookdale.
There are many interesting walks on The Hill including a dedicated trail related to two very popular realistic novels written about the area, "Denniston Rose" and it's sequel "Heart of Gold" by Jenny Pattrick.
There is also a developing network of mountain bike tracks.
A museum has been established by "The Friends of The Hill" in the former high school.
After visiting the area you may log this cache but at the same time send me through the message centre the answers to the following questions which can be found at the waypoints. Do NOT post these answers with your log.
If there are any issues you will be given the opportunity to correct them within a reasonable timeframe otherwise your log will be deleted.
WP1 How many different types of coal wagons are here?
WP2 Why is this rock a feature?
WP3 What are the last three digits near the top on the back of the wagon nearest the incline?
Please be aware that this is an alpine environment and the weather can change quickly.
EDIT 4/2/25 The Terrain rating has been increased slightly since it is not currently possible to drive to WP3. Walk or bike are the options for now.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.