Aniseed Valley, Nelson: Rural Area Guide to River Country and Mine Tracks

Last updated October 2026

Aniseed Valley is a rural locality that follows the Roding River inland from Hope, crossing the boundary between Nelson City and Tasman District. It is farm and lifestyle country rather than a township, with Aniseed Valley Road as its only through route. Houses and paddocks sit well apart, and daily services are back toward Hope and Richmond.

The valley is known for quiet river scenery and for tracks into Mount Richmond Forest Park, including walks past the remains of its copper mines. Those upper-valley tracks can be walked, but they are not a gentle outing: slips and rockfall are an active hazard, so check the warnings before you leave the car park.

Official Locality Facts

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About Aniseed Valley

Upper-valley walks carry a clear hazard warning, and that should shape any visit. The Department of Conservation reports many slips and washouts on Hacket Track and the Whispering Falls Track, with a high risk of falling rocks, and it advises anyone not comfortable with that risk to choose another route.

Heavy rain makes further slips more likely, so the advice is to avoid those tracks completely if heavy rain is forecast. The valley road and the locality itself remain open.

Aniseed Valley is a long rural corridor, not a suburb centre. It runs southeast of Hope around the Roding River, with Nelson City on one side of the boundary and Tasman District on the other.

Aniseed Valley Road leaves State Highway 6 at Hope and climbs toward the ranges of Mount Richmond Forest Park. Farms, lifestyle blocks and bush edges line the lower valley. There is no village green, main street or local retail strip.

Recorded European use of the valley goes back to the mid-nineteenth century. Surveyor Thomas Ridge Hackett, an early colonist, bought land here in 1858 from William Stratford.

The Hacket car park and creek recall him, though the Department of Conservation spells the track, creek, hut and car park with one t: Hacket. A local school later served the valley from 1905 until 1938. Children now travel out to schools in the wider Richmond and Nelson area.

The feature that put the valley on the map was copper. In 1881 Fred Stratford found an outcrop in the upper valley, and mines, tramways and a smelter followed through the 1880s. The industry did not last.

Visitors today come for the river road, the forest edge and, when conditions allow, the mine relics and the walk up Hacket Creek. It is a place to drive slowly, picnic, and turn back if the hills look unstable.

Getting Around

The practical way in is by car. From Nelson, follow State Highway 6 south through Stoke and Richmond. At Hope, turn left onto Aniseed Valley Road. The Department of Conservation places the Hacket Track car park about 11.5 kilometres along that road: a signposted turn onto a short gravel driveway. Toilets are at that car park.

There is no railway and no ferry, and no scheduled bus along Aniseed Valley Road was confirmed for this guide.

The road itself has a long history. It had been extended up to the copper mines by 1885 so that machinery, timber, bricks and coke could be carted in by dray. Before that, miners used pack tracks, including a route that gave Champion Road in Richmond its name.

The valley is spread out. A short drive from Hope reaches the first farms. The forest park, the mine sites and the track car park are further up the road. Allow extra time if you are continuing on foot, and do not assume mobile coverage will be reliable once you leave the highway.

Getting Outdoors

The standout walk is Hacket Track in Mount Richmond Forest Park. It is a day walk up Hacket Creek to Hacket Hut: 11.4 kilometres return by the same track, about four hours, graded an advanced tramping track.

From the picnic area at the car park the track crosses a wooden bridge over the Roding River and, after one kilometre, a suspension bridge over Hacket Creek. It then follows the creek through private land to a picnic area where the Miner River meets Hacket Creek.

Whispering Falls Track turns off there. Further up, a signposted side track leads to Browning Hut; walkers continuing to Hacket Hut stay on the right-hand track. A short side trip, the Chromite Mine Track, leaves Hacket Track not far above the Whispering Falls junction and takes about 25 minutes to cover 1.1 kilometres to a historic chromite mine.

Treat the track as damaged country, not a formed promenade. Many sections between the car park and the Whispering Falls turnoff have been washed out. Slips are marked with danger signs: move through them quickly and carefully, and do not stop.

Further slips and rockfalls are likely. Toilets are only at the start. Dogs are allowed only with a Department of Conservation permit. Stay on the formed route where it crosses private land.

The other reason to drive up the valley is the copper-mining ground. Walking tracks and old tramway formations lead to the smelter, the Champion Mine and the United Mine.

The road to the smelter is described as well formed and easy walking, but the river has to be crossed in three places, so do not attempt it after heavy rain. There is a picnic table, a toilet and an information panel at the smelter.

The link tracks between the mines are steeper and, in places, only route standard. Conditions change. Read the signs on the day, and turn around if a crossing or a slip looks unsafe.

History and Heritage

Fred Stratford’s 1881 discovery of native copper in the upper valley set off about 30 years of company-making, shaft-sinking and share trading. Most of the mineral belt was soon covered by prospecting licences. The main workings became the Champion Mine, the United Mine and a smelter beside United Creek.

At the Champion, a shaft was sunk in 1884 and another in 1886. Tramways were moving ore to the smelter by 1886. The first molten metal flowed on 26 April 1886. Eight days later, operations shut down. Low copper prices and a lack of funds were the reasons given at the time.

A second attempt began in 1903 under the Maoriland Copper Company. By 1907 the United Mine had been re-timbered and the Champion’s north shaft dewatered, with new headworks installed. Both mines were abandoned by 1909.

The impassable road was blamed, but later geological reports showed the real limit: near the surface the ore was almost pure copper, or green malachite, and below that it gave way to lean iron sulphide with only a trace of copper.

Bush fires in dry spells also damaged the idle plant, including a destructive fire in February 1898 and another in March 1904.

What remains is a set of relics rather than a restored mine. Horse-worked whims, incline formations, shaft sites and the smelter terrace can still be walked. The heritage text at the site was written for a Nelson City Council panel.

Champion Road in Richmond takes its name from the mine, after a pack track was formed from there in 1883, a journey of about three hours. No fortunes were made. The valley’s lasting record of that boom is the walking country, the museum photographs, and a road that still ends among the old workings.

Near Aniseed Valley

Just outside Aniseed Valley, within 10 km of its centre, nearest first.

Businesses

All 5Services 3Places to Stay 1Food & Drink 1

One Dental StokeDentists · 9.1 kmFeaturedEmmaus Dental | RichmondDentists · 5.6 kmRoom for Two – Nelson Boutique AccommodationHotels and Resorts · 6.1 kmFuchsia Skin & BeautyBeauty and Personal Care · 8.4 kmIndian Delight Takeaway & DeliveryRestaurant · 8.5 km

Where to Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Aniseed Valley?
It is a rural locality around the Roding River, southeast of Hope. Aniseed Valley Road starts at State Highway 6 at Hope and runs up the valley toward Mount Richmond Forest Park. The locality crosses the boundary between Nelson City and Tasman District.

Which council covers Aniseed Valley?
Both. Part of the locality is in Nelson City and part is in Tasman District. The Tasman portion is in the Richmond Ward. For a particular property, the rates notice or the council’s property maps are the reliable check, because the boundary runs through the area.

How do I get to Aniseed Valley?
Drive south on State Highway 6 through Stoke and Richmond, then turn left at Hope onto Aniseed Valley Road. The Hacket Track car park is about 11.5 kilometres along that road, on a short gravel driveway marked with a Department of Conservation sign. There is no train or ferry, and no valley bus service was confirmed.

Is there a shop or a school in the valley?
No. There is no local shop, and Aniseed Valley School closed in 1938 after opening in 1905. Shopping is in Richmond, with some services in Hope. School enrolments are at schools outside the valley; check zones directly, because catchments were not confirmed for this guide.

Can I visit the old copper mines?
Yes. Walking tracks and old tramway lines lead to the smelter, the Champion Mine and the United Mine. The smelter site has a picnic table, a toilet and an information panel. The road to the smelter is easy walking, but the river is crossed in three places. Do not cross after heavy rain, and treat steeper links between the mines as tramping routes.

Is Hacket Track safe?
It is open, but it is damaged. The Department of Conservation warns of many slips, washouts and a high risk of falling rocks on Hacket Track and the Whispering Falls Track. Move quickly through signed slip zones, do not stop there, and avoid the tracks completely if heavy rain is forecast. It is graded an advanced tramping track: 11.4 kilometres and about four hours return.

Are dogs allowed?
On Hacket Track, dogs are allowed only with a Department of Conservation permit. Contact the Whakatū / Nelson Visitor Centre before you go. There is no general dog rule published for the whole valley; private farmland is not public walking country.

Why is the track spelled Hacket when the surveyor was Hackett?
Local history records the surveyor and early land buyer as Thomas Ridge Hackett, who bought a plot in the valley in 1858. Department of Conservation signs and the track page use Hacket for the track, creek, hut and car park. Both refer to the same place.

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Explore Nelson only lists suburbs officially recognised by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), and Aniseed Valley is one of them. Suburb boundary: LINZ, CC BY 4.0.