We awoke this morning to one the best days weather wise we have had in the past week. It was still cool but very sunny and only a light wind. So we eagerly headed out for the Karangahaka Gorge to do a little hiking. Shortly before the parking lot for the gorge we came across Owharoa Falls and as usual, we stopped and took pictures.
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| Owharoa Falls |
When we got to the gorge we picked out hike and headed out. Guess what! More stairs. Once we got to the top of the stairs we found ourselves following the old tram track for the goldmine. This whole area was one big goldmine and parts of the old equipment are stilling lying around.
We followed the track until we came to a tunnel which is still open and accessible.
We started through and got a good few pictures out of the windows. The windows were just air and light holes that were put in at the time of mining.
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| Bridge over Karangahaka Gorge |
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| Karangahaka Gorge |
We didn’t get all the way through the tunnel as you needed a very good flashlight as it was pitch black in there with fairly low ceilings. The flashlight we had was just not strong enough and was losing strength so we turned around and came out. It was still an eerie feeling being under all that rock and not being able to see you hand in front of your face.
We got on the road again and our evening destination is Papamoa beach. We have been told it is a beautiful beach in the Bay of Plenty and the Camper Park is very nice. However, prior to getting there we made a couple of stops.
Waihi Beach was about 9 kilometers off the main Hwy so we scooted in, found the beach and had some lunch. The wind had picked up and there was considerable wave action. We watched a couple of surfers as we chowed down but there weren’t having much success. Once we finished lunch we took a few pictures and headed out.
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| Waihi Beach Looking North |
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| Waihi Beach Looking South |
Another 50 kilometers down the road we arrived at Taranga and Mt. Maunganui and we were caught off guard by the size of the towns. We had been expecting another small town and were quite surprised to find the second largest sea port in New Zealand with a population of 150,000 people.
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| Town of Tauranga |
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| Container Ship Leaving Tauranga Harbor |
Our real destination here was Mt. Maunganui which we planned to hike, The summit is around 800 feet from sea level and quite steep in places.
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| Mt. Mauganui |
So we donned our hiking shoes and headed out. If I said we handled it with ease I would be lying a little. Ok, I would be lying a lot. It was quite a climb and we took 2 or 3 rest stops on the way but we did make it. The view was worth it. It gave us a perfect view of the Bay of Plenty and the looonnnnng beach that makes up the Bay.
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| Bay of Plenty and various Beaches |
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| Mt. Mauganui Beach |
There were other views from the top and the way up that we also quite nice.
The trip down wasn’t an easy chore as because of the steepness. I found it harder on my knees going down that going up. We finally arrived at the bottom, treated ourselves to a latte and hot chocolate, grabbed a few groceries and started for Papamoa Beach. Papamoa Beach is part of that long stretch of beach we could see from Mt. Mauganui.
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| Papamoa Beach Looking North |
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| Papamoa Beach Looking South |
It was a physically tiring but mentally exhilarating day, just another of many in New Zealand.
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