It's a Gas

Food cooked in the open air tastes extra special to me, so the idea of a short hike through native forest and brunch in the bush is appealing – especially when I'm told the fire we will be cooking on comes out of the ground.

Merve and Shirley Bigden, Murchison Lodge owners, first heard about the local ‘gas holes’ over a game of golf seven years ago. They'd recently settled in Murchison, south of Nelson, and were getting to know the locals. Their interest was piqued.

“We made our way through farmland and native forest, guided by old preserving jar lids nailed to the beech trees to mark the route,” says Merve. “We couldn't believe our eyes when we finally saw them.”

The couple spent several years researching the idea of taking private tours up to the site and negotiating with the landowner for access. They opened their Natural Flames business last year, taking groups of up to eight in to see the gas holes.

As we drive into the forest, we stop to inspect an old oil well head, a remnant of previous mineral explorations. “At one stage in the 1960s, there were 40 men up here prospecting for oil,” Merve tells us. All that is left of their endeavours is a good road.

We drive on, across farmland, looking out for deer that often graze on the banks of the creek. From the far end of the property, we walk an hour and a bit through bush. There's a couple of banks to scramble up, a stream or two to cross and a feeling of going deeper and deeper into no man's land.

And then we come across an astounding sight. Cresting a bushy knoll, we look down on a small basin surrounded by green ferns with dancing flames coming out of the ground. The side of the basin – large enough to park a Mini Cooper in – is cracked and ashy, and the flames dance around the face where the gas seeps to the surface.

Merve constructs a simple tripod to support the camp fire pots and cooks our bush tucker. We sit on small benches above the edge of the basin and ask questions like, “What happens when it rains?” and “Who lit it the first time?”

Local legend has it that two deer hunters smelt gas here and (bravely, I think) dropped a match to see what would happen. “I like to think that they were having a cigar after a successful hunt and threw their match into the bushes,” says Merve. “Maybe they even cooked themselves a venison steak!”

Then we have hot billy tea and pancakes drenched with local beech-dew honey. The food is heavenly; it takes me back to my Girl Guide days.

Sitting in the bush after an appetite-enhancing walk, listening to birdsong while our host cooks pancakes and brews tea over natural gas – it all combines to create a pretty special experience.