Save Happy Valley

No mining in the valley

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:02:55 +0200

No mining in the valley

There is still no mining in Happy Valley but it is not saved from the jaws of the bulldozers. With the announcement by the National-led government review of the land listed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act it is yet more important for Happy Valley to be saved. Unmodified natural ecosystems take a long time to form and we have already lost too much of these valuable areas.

Drilling in the Valley

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:59:07 +0200

Over Easter a group of us tramped into the Valley to gather information on the recent drilling operations that Solid Energy has begun. There is no doubt that they are preparing to move forward with their mining plans in the Valley, and these drilling operations are presumably to gather more detailed and accurate measurements of the coal lying not far below the wetland ecology.

The Solid Energy leviathan looms. Let's just hope that we can gather together once more to fend it off.

See the YouTube clip below.

Drilling Begins

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:21:18 +0100

Kia Ora all

Walked out of the valley today to the sound of a helicopter buzzing in men and equipment to start on what can be safely assumed to be the next drill site.

The sites are up to 10square meters some a bit smaller. They flatten out the area, put up pink tape and then move in there rig. The rigs are tall obviously and noisy.

They have fenced off an area near camp (just up the stream from water collection sites) they have put water pumps and generators there. The water is for the drill, we have to put up with the sight always and the sound all day.

We saw at least four sites that have been done and there is two operational. It seems that they take roughly a week to finish a site (I guess).

Security is regular, they spend there day under a tarpaulin trying to see who is in camp with binoculars. They said if we cross the sealed of areas we will be trespassed. Typical old security games.

They are exploring for the next few months I have heard but am not totally sure, makes for sad times.

Don't know how wide this goes so will leave it at that.

Happy third annniversary

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:44:21 +0100

To a background of tumbling coal prices and with the threat of drilling hanging over Happy Valley, dozens of committed activists walked in sweltering heat to celebrate the three years of occupation at Happy Valley. The swimming hole was a welcome reprieve from the heat, and we were pleased to see that our presence was still delaying the long-planned drilling programme in the Valley.

The love and time that has gone into building the occupation camp oozes from every worn floorboard and carefully cut notch in the knife rack. Hundreds of people have visited this camp over the last three years, to lend their voice to the calls for this beautiful and valuable place to be saved from rapacious capitalism and consumerism.

It is not that camp that people come to visit, however. It is the red tussock wetland, the gray rock pavements and the stunted green forest. It is the snails, the spiders and the kiwi. Why visit offshore islands to hear kiwi when they can be heard every night in Happy Valley?

While the wheels fall of the capitalist economy which demands that all nature must succumb to its merest whim, Happy Valley lives on in blissful ignorance.

Solid Energy claim "the occupation itself had made no material effect on the development". And yet the start of the drilling was announced as soon as the weekend was over.

Of Pylons and Pretty Paths

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:51:13 +0100

I returned to the valley after an absence of more than a year and had forgotten how beautiful it is. That’s a pity, because I’d spent the day before arguing that Meridian Energy shouldn’t be able to put pylons from their proposed dam on the Mokihinui River across the upper Waimangaroa Valley.

On our walk in through richly coloured vegetation, fog and sharp grey rock, we neither saw nor heard the vast coal mine a couple of kilometres away. But power pylons, no matter how skinny, would have ruined the remote and untouched atmosphere.

The camp in Happy Valley looked like the labour of love it is, everything was dry and in order with everything from spare gumboots to binoculars. Having so much gear already on hand makes it the perfect place to lug a baby into. I wondered why we hadn’t come for a week.

Belated post on Walk the Walk

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:33:36 +0200

I was lucky enough to be able to sneak across to the valley on the day the Walk the Walkers arrived at the destination of their epic journey. We had a lovely walk in, beautiful kai, Heather was presented with some wine (carefully/cheerfully lugged in), and some good photo shots :)

Here’s an excerpt from the Walk the Walkers Blog:

"Dear Friends,
The journey is over and reached a perfect ending in the snowshine in the happiest valley I have ever known with seven friends in a warm comfortable yert, enjoying a hot meal and cups of tea and a bottle of wine, well appreciated with the knowledge it was carried in on someone’s back, just like everything else that made us warm and comfortable in such a wet, muddy place…

Matt from Mot met us here aswell and Emily and I left at 9.30 the next morning, up the bridal path to the top of the incline and along the four wheel drive track to a little old miners hut at the beginning of the track in to the valley. There we waited for Jonah, Micky and Matt in the chip wagon from 1.15 until about 3.15. We were on the way into the valley from about 3.45 and had to hurry ourselves to get through the roughest and most dangerous bits of the walk before dark.

Luckily the walk in was dry and sunny, then it snowed the next day and melted before we had to walk out, by which time the sun had come out again to melt away the snow from the day before."

Check it out - http://walkingit.blogspot.com/

If you’d like to visit the occupation see http://www.savehappyvalley.org.nz/occupation for contacts.

Wilderness Exploration

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:41:57 +0100

Wow, my first stint ever at solo occupying and wilderness exploration. I lived like a prince in what is arguably now New Zealand’s most famous alpine wetland. The post-anniversary weather was great and I had the yurt all to myself.

Over the course of my four days in the valley I encountered a veritable plethora of bizarre animals and plants. Several of which are perhaps new to New Zealand taxonomic science. Highlights included an abandoned golden spider hawk wasp nest, which was filled up with many brightly colored ord web spiders of species I have never before seen. These animals had been captured by the wasp, stung and paralyzed, and then injected with eggs… like living larders!

Myself and Jonah undertook a survey of some of the scree slopes surrounding the valley in search of the elusive Happy Valley Vagrant Spider (see photo in my previous entry). Though these animals were at the end of their lifecycle, we found numerous nests indicating that many hatchlings were produced in the early summer. Hopefully classification of this animal will be pending in the next few months.

I also encountered the largest parasitoid wasp I have ever seen. This beast was bright red, yellow, black and white and was perhaps 12cm long, with a 5cm long oviposter spike. Unfortunately I was unable to document this animal before it escaped.

As per usual, my return to civilization began with the discovery that my car engine was dead. Happy times ensued, alleviated by some helpful passers by… who were keen to assist the man labelled by New Zealand Herald as SHVC’s enthusistic and well-spoken science geek. Cars suck… support Walk the Walk!

2nd Anniversary

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:40:30 +0100

6 cars squished into 3 at Burnetts Face and off we bumped to glory, the roadend and more rain. Before the walk we split the donated grub - the occupation now has 10kg! of pasta. Then off we trudged ... into ... the rain. When we got here we cruised up to Stockton for photo ops with good old “Stop Solid Energy! Save Happy Valley!”

Walking the Walk

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:39:13 +0100

Heather and Mick are being staunch supports of the Happy Valley Campaign. Check out their Walking the Walk blog. Send them a support message. They will be on the road for a while. YAY!!

Spider in the Zen

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:52:28 +0100

Happy Valley in the heat of a dry spell was a landscape unlike any I have ever witnessed.

The dense swampy grasslands were firm underfoot and the wind-blasted rock ridges and plateaux were hot and exposed to the Summer sun. This unusual weather for the diverse sub-alpine topography of the Upper Waimangaroa Valley caused spectacular responses in the ecology of the area.

As we explored, we encountered a riot of colour as the hardy Denniston vegetation made the most of the strong sun to put forth flowers. We also encountered several specimens of a large and unusual Tunnel-web Spider in the Zen Garden behind the Occupation Camp. This animal displayed fierce territorial behaviour when we attempted to photograph it. Peter Jackson based the giant spider Shellob on a similar native species in his movie Return of the King. Despite this, Tunnel-webs are not dangerous to humans.

Happy Valley was identified by the Department of Conservation in 1998 as an area of high invertebrate biodiversity. The area has never undergone stringent study by taxonomists so mostly this biodiversity is still unclassified by science. This spider is one of several local lifeforms in Happy Valley that may warrant further scrutiny.

If you encounter any unusual animals or plants in Happy Valley, please attempt to photograph them and record the area in which you found them. Any incoming data can be forwarded to savehappyvalley@yahoo.com

A month in the valley

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:08:51 +0100

17-19 November 2007
A group came in (including my nearest and dearest Megan) for a camp working bee over the Canterbury Show weekend. We pulled down the yurt, built up a base with rocks and faced the door east to catch the sun and miss the rain. Had to do a bit of head scratching to figure out the best was to put it back up. Note to the Council: it is a temporary structure and we do not need resource consent so go away and do some worthwhile work. I slapped up a new table since the old one was on its - ahhh - last legs . . . Did not a bad job given the situation but it is not as “rustic” as the old one. We left Greg at camp and headed out under cloudless skies.

14 November 2007
Went for a walk over to the Blackburn Pakahi to the north of Happy Valley. It would be a nice area if it was not for rutted 4WD tracks all over the show, stuff from old mining operations, litter, burnt out car seats and all sorts of rubbish showing that some people just DO NOT CARE about things.

13 November 2007
Rain day. Been good weather until now.

8 November 2007
Pete, Francie and Greg headed off leaving me alone with the wekas. I have never seen the little buggers as cheeky as they are here in Happy Valley. I will never forget the time when a weka dragged off a three day old tramping sock while we were bivvying in the bush over in Kahurangi National Park. What was it thinking? Why did it want a toxic, sweaty sock? Anyway, the wekas here at the camp are always on the prowl. If you are not careful they steal your lunch out of your hand. They seem to like tea leaves as well. Decided to stay in the valley another week - have to work on my relationship with the wekas.

7 November 2007
Another few visitors. Francie and Pete walked in separately during the afternoon. Greg took Francie and I on a neat walk to a plateau to the south of Webb Stream. We were up there in the late afternoon and early evening and the combination of the landscape with the sun low in the sky made it quite a magic place. Problem was that looking north we can see what is remaining of Mt Fredrick being hauled away as part of the Stockton mine operation. There was a lot of dead trees, and these are BIG trees, that were dead in one of the guts heading down into Webb Stream off the mine site. Looks like they are hit with acid mine drainage or siltation. Got back to the camp late to find that Pete had arrived and boiled up the thermette.

5 November 2007
Greg came in during the afternoon. Just as well that I was wearing clothes at the time.

3 November 2007
Did stuff like oiled the tools, fixed handles on things that needed handles fixed and spent ages designing a candle holder made from a tin can.

1 November 2007
I headed into Happy Valley for a week at the camp. Headed out onto the track with a pack load of food and a stack of books. Not feeling too fit - might be the heavy pack or too much time spent sitting on my arse. I sweated my way up the sandstone bits marveling at how the sandstone underfoot is the grippiest rock I have ever tramped on. The extensive sandstone pavement is a weathered, lichen encrusted grey. It is yet another unique corner of New Zealand. The track had been nicely rerouted to avoid all the muddy bits which makes the tramp a little easier and so I made it to the camp in good time. Dylan, who had been occupying the camp, left things in good order and left a note saying that his stay was pretty neat. That night I heard the weka, ruru and kiwi calling which is just a little bit nicer than the sounds of boy-racers and sirens in the city.

November

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:38:15 +0100

Another mint day perched next to a global treasure. The occupation is now replete with the alpine butterfly! Yep campers, G & S led us to victory over the truckers hitch. We even got a mission to St Pat’s dam where the Mollymawks live. There was about 100 of them and heaps of olive green and dark brown spotted eggs! Ake ake ake Happy Valley fans!

Helicopters Above

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:37:31 +0200

That Orange Hughes 300 just shot around the campsite for a look. Fuck, they must be more boring than us.

Bloggy

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 18:36:19 +0200

2nd Sept
We woke up to the news from the Western land that Greenpeace had tagged a tramp-steamer - in Chinese! Cool. Maybe we could do some deal with them like totally toning down Xmas in return for not strippin and rippin our wild places?

3rd Sept
After a cold night, the morning was dry and warm. The predicted heavy weather is coming in. So what better conditions for an adventure stroll? We are the people of the alpine blog. We have muddy boots! And wet backs. See you in court Solid Enemy.

Spring!

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:33:28 +0200

AS I PECK AWAY AT THE CELL PHONE

2 HUGE BANKS OF CLOUD

TUMBLE TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER

AND PRESS.

THE LIGHT IS SHADOWLESS.

2 WESTERN WEKA ARE

SWIRLING AROUND

TOO.

Bblogg, Bblogg

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:32:01 +0200

Its better than bad, its good... Well friends. What a week, ERMA’s decision to continue 1080 aerial drops, supported by Forest and Bird and opposed by the Deer Stalkers Assoc. Must be the elegant illustration of innate value of surviving functional ecosystems. These pristine ‘wild places’ could be left and whatever value they have will, no doubt, appreciate. Or we could keep trying the book - keeping that has taken us here. A place where order [SP: needs?] to check the balancesheet of past and present industry, vast areas of ‘our’ natural forests are dosed with poison. That will be fate of Happy Valley, for ever more, if it is scraped aside into over-burden dumps, sediment dams, re-hab areas and haul roads.

But we don’t have to condemn the seams of coal in the Brunner coal measures to the coking retorts of Japan and China for meagre foreign exchange and look a little further ahead. I wonder if Humpty Dumpty was a kiwi egg? X the occupants.

Text blog

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:27:13 +0200

1 August 2007
FAR OUT! IS THIS PLACE REAL? EVYTHG FROZEN LST NIGHT INCLDG BOOTS. JAUNT UP TO THE MINE B4 LUNCH. MEGA VIZ. AFT READING BONE PEOPLE LST NIGHT I HAD JUST HAD TO TRY FRIED BLACK PUDDING KERI HULME ROCKS! THEN IT WAS OFF UP THE WEBB STREAM TO SCOPE OUT THE AREA. COME AN CHK THS OUT THESE COAL MEASURES RULE!

27 July
Its situation normal here at shv rescue station. We are hunkered down. Moonlit nature rambles. X

29 July
Ahoy hoy. The haul road from Mt Frederick seems to glow…

30 July
Bloggy blog blog... We read the Weathermakers last night. By candelight. We learnt a new phrase “global dimming.” Fecking perfect we mused

31 July
Brrr...Brrlog. Rivers up, mud thawed. This picnic no picnic

P.S. Up at Augustus. The ridgeline is gone...

P.P.S. Coming soon to Christchurch.
Email savehappyvalley@yahoo.com for more info.

A Wintery Happy Valley

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:23:34 +0200

Winter is usually wet in Happy Valley, but it can also be dry and very cold.

We’re getting heavy frosts and each day, when the sun goes off the camp about 2.30pm, a chill sets in.
This is when I go for a walk in the warm bright forest across the valley, until this too falls into shadow.

At night, the Milky Way is so clear it looks like a band of fine cloud stretching across the sky from one horizon to the other.

I hear weka calling, but no kiwi. This is unusual for HV, as I mostly hear kiwi some time in the night. Its nesting time, so perhaps this has something to do with it.

Our camp is very shipshape and remarkably comfortable.

Our weka visited and stole half a pear I was eating from the tabletop where I thought it would be safe
I left Happy Valley just as the sun was coming over the range, making the frost-filled valley floors dazzling white against the dark Mt William Range.

As the manuka warms, fernbirds begin chirping.

Fundraiser in Golden Bay

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 18:22:28 +0200

Last week around fifty people gathered at Riverside Community hall for a feast, party and celebration for the protection of the Powelliphanta Augustus snail. It was an enlivened and beautiful evening decorated with informative art work and a stall, reggae tunes, drumming and plates of multi-colours as all enjoyed a banquet of fresh food prepared with care and love.

The celebration was organised by the Motueka SHV contingent with local supporters and friends. Surrounding gardens were represented with a lot of local produce and food donated, and the evening was supported by many local orchardists and community members.

Following a blessing and a meal there was a chance for people to gather, talk and learn before the short film about Happy Valley was shown. Tara spoke afterwards outlining the latest news from both the Happy Valley and Mount Augustus occupations. She encouraged people to become involved, either with occupying/visiting the area, becoming locally active or with the many other facets of campaigning around the country.

As the evening passed, the kids were still full of energy so they played some games for which prizes and certificates had been made…and some of the big big kids joined in too! Snail cake and hot drinks were served and plenty of divine spirulina shots were consumed, made with local organic apple juice.

Along with Little Dread representing on decks, there was music from live band Uenuku Rainbow feeding the revelling and dancing that continued into the night. They shone with their snail song which received a hearty encore.

For organisers and many people there, it was a chance to send vibrations and support to the snails and activists on Mt Augustus and to celebrate what it is we are campaigning for - biodiversity, harmony and endemic life. For others from the diverse ages represented, it was a chance to learn more about these issues and to fuel discussion and action!

After expenses, $420 was raised for SHVC and Augustus from the koha entry, drink sales and clothing and patches printed by the local crew.

An awesome evening supported and enjoyed by many!

2006 | Environment Report | Solid Energy

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 18:19:52 +0100

SHVC has put out a mock 2006 "Environment Report" on behalf of Solid Energy.

Check it out here: http://indymedia.org.nz/media/all/display/8988

Solid Energy lodged interim injunction and defamation proceedings in the high court!Which simply prooves how bullish they are. And how important greenwash is to this SOE.

Read the report!

Solid Energy destroying the Mt Augustus ridgeline [Photo taken from Happy Valley]