KARANGAHAKE GORGE WALKWAY

by Maurice Boniface

14th June 2010

There were seven of us on Monday. Ken said we would walk along the Karangahake Gorge Walkway ("The gateway to the Hauraki Plains" - Te Kuaha O Hauraki).  I picked up Graham and went to Waihi Road where we went with John, Maureen and Dave.  Ken had gone ahead to pick up Norma and we met them at the end of Woodland Road. We then went to the Waikino Railway Station car park, put on our gear and set off down the path to the tunnel under the highway. We went through and up onto the old railway bridge over the Ohinemuri River which flows through the Karangahake Gorge and saw some white geese in the paddock on the other side of the river. The track then goes past the old Victoria Stamping Battery which had been built in 1897 to process the ore from the Martha Goldmine at Waihi and was brought by rail from there.  It was the largest quartz crushing plant in N.Z.,  it had 200 stampers and could process 800 tons of ore each day. We passed the concrete remains of the Cyanide Tanks which was, at that time, a new way of extracting gold from the ore. We walked along a little railway which is used to give tourists a ride around the battery at holiday times. We went around a gate then along the Walkway proper.  It used to be the railway line to the Bay of Plenty until the tunnel was put through the Kaimais.The railway lines have been taken up and it makes a nice wide walking track which has been gravelled and a vehicle can drive along it if necessary.  A girl walked past us with a dog following her, we think it must a local one because it came back and went with us for a while. The track crosses the Waitawheta Road which joins the main highway across a bridge here. We crossed an old bridge across a small stream and continued along the Walkway.  At ten o'clock Ken and Dave, who were well in front, stopped at a spot alongside the river and said it was morning tea time!  We all took off our packs and had our break.  I tried to ring Mum but there was no coverage there - Ken and I walked back a little way and I tried again but no luck.

We set off again and passed a small slip where they had put a couple of old tree trunks along the edge of the river bank.  Shortly we came to a side track to a waterfall so we went up it.  After about ten minutes walk through the bush up a small valley, we came to a high cliff with the water from the small stream pouring  down the rock face into a lovely little pool at the bottom.  Around the edge of the pool there were several tree trunks and branches lying on the ground which must have fallen down recently from the top of the cliff - just as well we weren't here when it came down.  We went back to the track and continued along the roadway.  A chap on a bike passed us with two dogs in tow - an easy way to take them for a walk!  We passed another slip which had been cleared off the track.  We passed a furniture trailer parked on the side of the track - who would want to bring furniture into here?  We came to the bridge that used to take the railway over the river into a tunnel.  It had a wire netting fence across it and scaffolding all around it with a plastic cover over each side of the scaffolding but noone was working there.  We had a look around then walked across the bridge and into the tunnel and looked at the panels telling you about the bridge and tunnel.  We decided to walk through the tunnel which is a kilometre long but is straight and you can see daylight at the other end.  There are lights along it but it's dark in between them and the floor is a bit uneven in parts and there is water dripping down in spots with it running down each side of the tunnel.  When we got to the other end it was raining outside so we stayed in the entrance looking at some more panels until it stopped.  The track goes straight out onto another bridge over the highway then over the top of a road bridge for a road that branches off the highway.  There are more panels telling you more about the goldmining operations on the side of the bridge.  We walked down to where there were a lot of concrete foundations which were from the old gold mining operations.  Ken and Dave went down some steps and looked in a tunnel which went under the foundations. There was a note from DOC saying that the bridge at the end of the tunnel was closed for painting but should be open again by 11th June.  We walked along the track until it comes to the swing bridge across the river. We had intended to go over to the car park on the other side and have our lunch there but there was a table with a roof over it just before the bridge so we decided to have our lunch there because it was a bit more sheltered from the breeze there.  We sat down and started our lunch even though it was only 11.45 a.m.!  I rang Mum and she had had hers already. It started to rain again while we were there so it was a good time for it but the sun soon came out again. I sent my text saying 'lunch beside the Ohinemuri River' and got several replies. I have been having trouble with my feet tingling and wondered how I would get on today, so Terry said in his 'Feet must be alright no need for an ambulance!'

We looked at more panels then crossed over the swing bridge over the Waitawheta River which joins the Ohinemuri here. The track at this end isn't part of the old railway line because it crossed the river further upstream and the gorge is fairly narrow in this part.  The track is pretty narrow too and hugs the cliff face.  I will attach a photo of us walking along this part.  Ken is in the front, followed by Dave, Norma, Graham, Maureen and John.  In the flood two years ago this was covered with water. The road on the other side is No. 2 Highway from Auckland and there are always cars and trucks going through - some of the drivers waved to us. We came back to the bridge with the scaffolding on it and there still wasn't anyone there.  We went back the way we had come and stopped to look at a little picnic area beside the river.  There was an old picnic table there and they have tidied up the area so it would be a nice place on a fine day. We got to place where the track goes off to the waterfall and on a seat beside it there was a girl sitting reading a book in the sunshine.  We got back to the Victoria Battery and Ken said 'Let's go and look at the kilns up the back.' We walked along the railway track and up to the kilns where they used to 'cook' the ore in eight big pits.  They have built a roof over it and a fenced platform around them so you can look down into them.  They are pretty deep and were lined with bricks, some of which are still there.  At the bottom it slopes in towards a slide at the very bottom. The pit would be filled with layers of ore and wood and then lit.  When it was 'cooked' the slide would be opened and the ore would fall into trucks under it, which were on a railway line in a tunnel dug into the hill and would then be transported to the stamping batteries. While we were there it rained once more so again it was a good place to be.  We went down to the building where they keep the train and do repairs etc. and it rained again so we waited here for it to stop and the sun soon came out.  We walked back across the bridge and through the tunnel back to the cars.  We took off our boots and then went to Norma's place for afternoon tea.  I didn't get home until 5 p.m.