What is to be Seen Along the Road^*

On leaving Tua Marina the land to the left which is now market gardening and dairying land was in heavy bush in 1843.

Across to the west is Mount Dobson named after Alfred Dobson our first provincial engineer and a member of the well known Dobson family. The gully coming down on the left from Mt Dobson is Battles Gully named such because James Battle who was killed by the Burgess-Kelly gang on the Maungatapu in 1866, lived there for some time previously. This bush land was taken up originally by Dr Vickerman and then passed into Henry Redwood's hands, both of whom were well known in early Nelson. The last patch of Redwoods bush was milled in 1906.

About a mile on, the lands on the left, in the original survey were allocated to the Hon. Lord Petre one of the directors of the New Zealand Company in 1840.

Further on at the foot of Strachans Peak stood the 'Half Way House' opened as an accommodation house by William Strachan in 1854. Strachan was one of our most capable and energetic settlers and if you look up the lengthy reports of Thomas Brunner in the Proceedings of the Nelson Provincial Council for 1857 you will find that Strachan was let the contract for constructing the southern and most difficult half of this road. Following the huge 1868 flood he got into financial difficulties and was sold up. At home I have his surveyor's chain used on the job.