Back Home On The Coast

On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to our friendly hosts at the Heartland Airport Hotel and headed to the Auckland Airport in the Shuttle Bus, where we boarded the Virgin plane for the three hour flight back to the Gold Coast and home. We had all enjoyed ourselves immensely trekking around the North Island and were moved by the genuine warmth and kindness shown to us by the New Zealanders we met on our travels. I have written this blog mainly for myself as I find over time the places I visited, what I did there and when tend to blur and blend into each other. However to those who took the trouble to read my simple musings I hope they were of passing interest. Also, because of family and work commitments, not everyone has the time to travel so perhaps to some extent the blog allowed them to walk with us in Aotearoa

                                                                      CIAO

                                                              

Cornwall Park

We left the Waihi Beach Holiday Park fairly early on the Monday morning. This was our penultimate day in Aotearoa and we were heading back to the Heartland Airport Hotel in Auckland for our last night. On the way we stopped for a ramble around Cornwall Park. This verdant expanse of land with its manicured lawns and seemingly infinite variety of trees was gifted by Sir John Logan Campbell to the people of New Zealand in 1901 following a visit by the Duke of Cornwall and has been a haven of natural beauty and recreation ever since. One could spend all day strolling and relaxing in this idyllic setting as many of the Auckland residents and visitors do. Some of the highlights are the Huia Lodge, which was built around 1903 in a mixture of Queen Anne Revival and Australian Federation styles from  kauri timber. Directly opposite is the Acacia Cottage,  built by Sir John himself in a Colonial Georgian style using pit-sawn kauri timber in 1841 and re-erected in the Park following Sir John's passing. On the very summit of Cornwall Park, known as One Tree Hill,  stands a magnificent 100 feet high Obelisk erected as requested by Sir John in his will to honour and make known his admiration for the achievements and character of the mighty Maori race. The Obelisk fittingly was constructed in 1940, the Centennial Year of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Our walk concluded along a gorgeous avenue of Norfolk Pines and red Pohutukawa trees. In the evening we took ourselves over to Mission Bay for a farewell dinner and final get-together at a superb Mexican restaurant. We had arranged to meet up with a group of bike riders from the Bushies who were cycling the North Island. These intrepid riders had had a marvelous and very energetic time cycling up and down the mean hills of Aotearoa, racing along mountain trails and doing what must be one of the most thrilling adventures and adrenaline rushes for cyclists ever by riding along the sands of the famed Northland 90 Mile Beach with the rolling surf on one side and a lofty mountain range on the other. So it was a most enjoyable finish for all hands as we swopped tales and downed a few coldies. It was a sort of collective Mission Accomplished and what better place to do it than at panoramic Mission Bay.

Karangahake Gorge

Due to a WIFI outage my post on the Waiotemaramo Loop Track experience evaporated into cyberspace, but I have been able to piece together the gist of it from my notes and thus it finds itself out of context on the previous page. Our group would have walked this track on Tuesday, March 17th. We arrived and settled in nicely at the Waihi Beach Holiday Park on the Saturday evening. On Sunday we headed up to the Karangahake Gorge for a very scenic and historic walk alongside the Ohinemuri River. Karangahake is the site of a former gold mining settlement, where the ore containing the gold and silver particles was transported from nearby mines in the towns of Waihi and Paeroa by rail. The  standard 3'6" railway track was built in 1905. We walked beside a section of this track through a one kilometre tunnel lined with concrete and up to 5 layers of bricks and which had been gouged and blasted through a bluff. The tunnel was was an oval arch shape and, for its time, was an engineering masterpiece. We crossed the gorge via a suspension bridge, which was a delight and which gave us wonderful views of the stream below. We continued on to the former Victoria Battery complex, where the ore was crushed and fed into a series of large leaching tanks. A weak solution of cyanide was then added to separate the gold and silver content. The name "Battery" comes from the extremely loud reports by the stamping presses used to crush the ore and which sounded like a volley of cannon fire. We finished by visiting the mining museum and having a fun ride along this historic railway line on a miniature train. An enjoyable end to our day.

Waiotemaramo Loop Track - Tuesday 17th March

Today we had two walks.The first was one of great beauty while the second, through dense forest, called on us to utilize our scrambling skills to the utmost. The Waiotemaramo Loop Track took us through a very pretty forest area full of tall palm trees and fantail like silver fern. Occasionally we would come across a towering kauri tree. We continued alongside a gurgling stream and slowly descended to the very beautiful 20 metre Waiotemaramo Falls. Waiotemaramo itself means "Water of the Moon". We had decided to keep going on what is known as the Hauturu Highpoint Track, which involved a steady and almost vertical climb. There had been constant quite heavy rain all morning and  the falling wet forest leaves had turned the trail into mulch making it extremely slippery, but with the help of tree roots and the assistance of our trekking poles we reached the summit and were rewarded with some stunning if somewhat damp landscape views. The Hauturu Highpoint is marked by a large wooden pyramid mounted on a tall frame and we crowded beneath it like smiling drowned rodents, pleased at our mild triumph before making our way off the bluff, this time thankfully in descent.  By this time we had been walking in excess of six hours in inclement weather with only two ten minute breaks and were keen to get home and reward ourselves with a hot shower and an apéritif.

Waihi Beach

From Mi Camp we headed north-east to Waihi Beach, which is situated right on the stunning Bay of Plenty, where we would stay for two nights at the Waihi Holiday Park. Our route took us through Rotorua and Tauranga, where we stopped for a coffee and a stroll around this lively town. Before arriving at Waihi Beach we deviated to the Kaimai Mamaku Forest as we wanted to have a look at a 600 year old kauri tree located there on the Tuahu Track and which was well worth the 20 minute walk. We looked up at this magnificent tree with a tinge of sadness as we recalled how the European settlers began logging in 1772 and this devastation continued until the 1950s thus decimating the kauri forests to a great extent. Following this stop we continued on to the holiday park.

The Arapuni Swing Bridge

We departed from the very friendly Juno Hall Backpackers on Friday morning and headed for the Mi Camp Adventure facility at Whakamaru, where we would stay overnight. The Mi Camp is a Christian Services enterprise situated in an idyllic lake setting where men and boys learn teamwork through activities such as horseriding,  kayaking, abseiling and such. On the way we stopped at Arapuni Village to have a look at the Arapuni Swing Bridge. It was a joy to walk across this 152 metre bridge,  which spans across a deep gorge and is suspended by two huge self lubricating steel cables. The bridge leads to the 1929 Arapuni Power Station on the other side, which is also of great historical interest. From the Swing Bridge there is a pleasant 6 kilometre bush walk alongside the Waikato River, which we did before continuing on our way to Whakamaru.

Tawarau Falls

We took it easy on the Thursday after our energetic Tongariro tramp the previous day. About mid morning we drove to Otorohanga,  a charming farming town nearby for a coffee and stroll around.  Otorohanga is internationally renowned for its Kiwi House,  where for the first time the general public could view this unique flightless bird in captivity. In the afternoon we took a walk through the Tawarau Forest to see its small but very picturesque waterfall. Tawarau is of particular interest as it is a virgin forest growing in karst or limestone and is the habitat of a variety of exotic birds such as falcons,  grey warblers and bell birds. In the evening a group of us dined at the rather exclusive Waitomo Hotel, where we were met by a tall statuesque African Hostess and escorted to a pannelled high ceiling dining room, where we enjoyed a gourmet silver service meal. A really pleasant finish to our day.