I’ve spent seven days in Waihi interspersed with two nights in Whangamata. It has been a wonderful time enjoying both family and the scenery. Today for my last day Mary was keen that I should do some walks in the Karangahake Gorge. There are a number of walks through the old mine tunnels and railway tracks.
Today was one of those perfect mornings when the sun rises in a cloudless sky. The forecast was for 23C and as we were largely in tunnels and bush it seemed like the ideal day for the gorge. Mary drove me to a carpark after breakfast and we set off at first on the “Windows” circuit.
We were combining two walks; “Windows”, which was where gaps were cut into the tunnels of the mines to allow air and light in and Tunnel or Tramway, which had once been a train route. Some of the views of the Gorge were spectacular and there was an amount of up and down steps.
We returned to our starting point and set off on the “Tunnels Walk”. At one point we were right down by the river and the path was quite wet and slippery, and not ideal for passing walkers coming from the other way. After a climb up we came to the tunnel entrance; the tunnel itself is a kilometre long.
On completing this walk, which took us back to the bridge we had crossed at the start of the first walk we returned to the car and Mary drove us up to the Waikino Railway Station, where we were fortunate enough to see the train full of walkers and cyclists who had come from Waihi Station, because they hadn’t wanted to cycle the extra distance. The station itself reminded me of the one in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, with its lovely cafes and dining room.
After a cup of coffee we set off to look at the old pump house and Kilns. There had been houses in Waikino until relatively recently when they were washed away in a flood. We climbed up to the old kilns, which had been left derelict until recently when conservationists set about preserving what was left. `I could only be horrified by what the workers had been expected to do, the dangerous materials they were working with and the depth of the kilns.
we retraced our steps and after a walk through some beautiful native bush we came to the waterfall, which was cascading beautifully in the sunshine.
We retuned to Mary’s for some lunch then when it was a bit cooler set off on our third walk. Mary lives on Reservoir Road and the road does indeed lead up to a reservoir. The walk through the bush was beautiful particularly as the light was so good. I became very distracted trying to photograph a Tui without success, We followed a lovely stream for most of the way and had to cross it at one point.
We ran out of time to go any further and had to quickly return to Mary’s to change for an evening meal at a restaurant to celebrate our last night together. This was rather Spanish in style with a German man and a Turkish lady providing the menu. Some of the food was quite unusual but very tasty. It was all a fabulous way to spend my last day and evening here.
