Spotlight on Pelorus Bridge

Pelorus Bridge - Abel Tasman Magazine

Pelorus Bridge is located on the Marlborough side of the border with the Nelson District, between Havelock to the north and Rye Valley to the south. The bridge itself crosses the Pelorus River where it meets the Rai River. The whole Pelorus Bridge settlement consists of a scenic reserve, a publically-owned, DOC administered but privately-managed cafe and camping ground. The postcard view from the one-way bridge on State Highway 6 is the first thing that will grab your attention; a canyon-esk river, with large grey rocks and deep, dark green pools. If you’re a fan of the Lord of the Rings universe, this was a filming location for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

For the past couple of summers, a group of families, mainly our fellow Riwakians, have camped beside the river in late January, during which I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the area. There are however, some changes coming to the management of the cafe and camping ground with the family, who had operated the camp and cafe for eight years, deciding not to re-tender for the lease from DOC. So, my intel on Pelorus Bridge might be a bit stale by the time you’re reading this, but we can only hope the cafe is still awesome when it reopens and the new management is up to the high standard to which we have become accustomed.

The camp itself has 14 powered sites on the south side of the river but we’ve always opted to camp on the river’s northern bank (the true right of the river) where the sites are unpowered but are larger, sunnier and grassier. We’ve been lucky enough to book out a whole row of sites along the river’s edge where we put our tents, caravans and campervans, as well as an area for communal cooking, relaxing and activities such as badminton, touch footy, frisbee and musical jams. We’ve also been blessed with excellent weather each time we have stayed there so have spent much of our time swimming in the river. There are excellent rocks from which you can jump into deep pools just down the bank from where we camp, and also a great little section of rapids to float down for a bit of extra excitement.

The year before last a mate came up with a genius idea for an activity for our collective horde of offspring. That plan involved driving up Maungatapu Road a good ways along the Pelorus River with a trailer full of all manner of inflatable things, tire innertubes and other watercraft so we could float back down to the campsite. The aforementioned youngsters had been forewarned this was a compulsory activity so were all enthusiastic participants. Shortly before we departed, however, when asking for adult volunteers to come on this rafting trip to make sure we returned with exactly the same number of our offspring as we’d started the trip with, the crowd of adults dispersed as if somebody had farted at a picnic. Each of those adults either looked at their shoes or suddenly had urgent business back at their campsites. In the end, Tim, Bryre and I ‘volunteered’ to kayak down with the gaggle of nippers and another mysterious child who we seemed to have adopted without realising we’d done so.


"There are excellent rocks from which you can jump into deep pools...."

The year before last a mate came up with a genius idea for an activity for our collective horde of offspring. That plan involved driving up Maungatapu Road a good ways along the Pelorus River with a trailer full of all manner of inflatable things, tire innertubes and other watercraft so we could float back down to the campsite. The aforementioned youngsters had been forewarned this was a compulsory activity so were all enthusiastic participants. Shortly before we departed, however, when asking for adult volunteers to come on this rafting trip to make sure we returned with exactly the same number of our offspring as we’d started the trip with, the crowd of adults dispersed as if somebody had farted at a picnic. Each of those adults either looked at their shoes or suddenly had urgent business back at their campsites. In the end, Tim, Bryre and I ‘volunteered’ to kayak down with the gaggle of nippers and another mysterious child who we seemed to have adopted without realising we’d done so.

After the short drive we located a good place to access the river. After some cursory preparations, (e.g. who needs sunscreen? Who hasn’t put insect repellent on yet?), and as soon as we got the kids and ourselves into the river it became clear that because the flow was extremely low, due to the recent extended period of fine weather, this was not going to be a quick journey back to the campsite. In fact, it was to be a slow moving flotilla and a water-based trip punctuated with long periods of walking through shallow spots and across river rocks. This is not to say there weren’t some nice little rapids to float down, including one that caused me to tip out of my sit-on kayak when I was trying to show off my sick kayaking skills. It took us a leisurely three hours, but this included stops to jump off rocks into deep pools, snack breaks and some towing of kids who had run out of energy. It was a wonderful way to pass a beautiful summer afternoon, so as we floated back into the camp-site the kids were all tired but jubilant at having been on an adventure, while the parents all wore looks of relief having started to wonder, due to our later than expected arrival, if we hadn’t had a misadventure.


"It was a wonderful way to pass a beautiful summer afternoon..."

There are a number of nice short walks around Pelorus Bridge, including a couple of easy strolls around loop tracks on the eastern side of State Highway 6. On the western side, where the main camp area is located, are some more adventurous trails including a track to a small waterfall and also a relatively steep climb up the Trig K track. Fishing for trout is the other main daytime activity on either the Rye or Pelorus Rivers. Luckily for us, young Alex (aka Fish Slayer) is perhaps the most determined fisherman you’ll meet anywhere so we almost always get a couple of the largest of his freshly caught and smoked trout to eat while the others are released back into the river.

Another tradition we seem to have created when this same group of families go camping together is buying a huge quantity of takeaways on our final evening for a group dinner. Last year, a group of us went to the Pelorus Tavern, still commonly called the Trout by locals, for a couple of quiet beers while we waited for our takeaways to be cooked. As we sat outside in the last of the day’s sunshine we noticed a small group of locals who were clearly celebrating something, and equally clearly, had been doing so for a few hours. We got talking to what turned out to be the birthday girl, a local lady wearing a brightly coloured wig, who may have engaged in slightly more rehydration than was strictly necessary. This was turning into something of a cultural experience for some of the members of our little group in the Kiwi propensity for high-spirited, daytime drinking and celebrations. I hadn’t realised just how internationally diverse our little group was before the birthday girl asked the question of where we were all from, and the answers between the five were: “Canvastown, Murchison, Malawi, Kentucky-USA and Yorkshire-UK.”

Pelorus Bridge is a special place and I’m pretty sure it’ll be another of our enduring annual camping pilgrimages.

Words by Brendan Alborn (Owner Operator)
Images: Stan Mariette and Brendan Alborn

Brendan has a long association with the Abel Tasman, visiting it for the first time when his parents moved to Marahau in 1997. After spending much of his life overseas, Brendan and his family moved to the area at the end of 2010. When Brendan is not spending his time in the outdoors he seems to spend much of his time creating even flimsier justifications for spending more time in the outdoors.

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