Facing south from the north section of Moores Valley near Whitemans Valley, you can see the valley floor is blanketed in the yellow blooms of gorse. Once covered by old-growth forest, the trees in this valley were felled from 1906 to the 1910s, turning the land into pasture. Over the years, gorse has taken over the pasture, but the land was cleared of gorse, only for it to be reclaimed by gorse once again.
The area was known as Cairnbrook Farm, named after David Cairns (1863–1942), who was a farmer in Wainuiomata in 1904 to 1909. One of his daughters married into the Wood family. Today, the land is owned by a development company that had or have plans to develop this site for housing.
![Wainuiomata River and School, Circa 1920 [Public Domain]](https://wainuiomata.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Wainuiomata-River-School-480x270.jpg)
