Moores Valley Road connects the oldest shopping area to a historic valley that exudes rural charm.
History
Moores Valley Road in Wainuiomata was established in the 1850s. During this period, the Sinclair family owned a mill near Wainuiomata Stream and logged Moores Valley and the surrounding area. They built a tramway in Sinclair Valley, the neighbouring valley to haul out the logs to then be taken to the mill with wood being transported along Moores Valley Road. The valley and road’s naming has nothing to do with the Sinclair family however. It was named after George Moore (1805 – 1877), who owned land in Moores Valley, but he resided in Wellington, where he pursued his career as a merchant.
Decades after the Sinclair family left Wainuiomata, the Strand Brothers milled upper Moores Valley beyond the road where Wainuiomata Stream runs. Around 1907-1908, they transported logs up the ridge via a tramway incline then down a steep incline to Rata Street in Naenae where there was a mill. A winding engine was positioned atop the saddle between Naenae and Moores Valley, to haul logs up and down the steep hill to the mill. From the main trunk line, other tracks extended deep into the bush, based on a pattern of where trees were cut and where trees were to be cut next. Learn more.
Today
Moores Valley Road stretches from Main Road in The Village to Brookfield Outdoor Recreation Centre (formerly the Scout Camp) nestled deep in the valley. The Village, Wainuiomata’s oldest shopping area, marks the beginning of Moores Valley Road, lined initially with shops and followed by residential houses. Hair Street intersects the road shortly after the shops, then the road ascends along a hillside called ‘The Rock‘, offering vistas of the Wainuiomata River and Richard Prouse Park below. Whitcher Grove branches off before the road continues into the valley, where farms and lifestyle blocks dot the landscape. Crowther Road intersects the road, but continuing on, you eventually arrive at Brookfield, which is still owned by Scouts NZ.
