In 1836. Te Puoho, (a relative Te Rauparaha) lead a war party (of 50 to 100 men) to Otago via the West Coast and through the Haast Pass, in order to take the Otago runanga by surprise. It took them about a year to get to the top of lake Wanaka. The war party raided a villiage at Makarora and then travelled over the Crown range to get to Tuturau (near Mataura), where they were ambushed and slaughted by Otago Ngai Tahu, who had been warned of their advances by a survivor of the Makarora battle.Prior to the construction of the road, Westland farmers used a pack route across the pass to drive cattle through to Wanaka for sale. - Try to image what it would have been like...
It took 9 years (1931 to 1940) to build the road from Makarora to Haast. The road wasn't connected to Paringa (and the rest of Westland) until 1965 (some sources say 1968).
The cache was placed subsequent to the signs warning of track erosion. You can safely access the cache location.
Original Contents
Logbook & Pencil
Various Trading Items