Driving Creek Railway

Since I live here and can therefore technically go anywhere at anytime, I try to let visiting friends/family pick what we see when we are out adventuring. One of the top picks for Coromandel Town was the Driving Creek Railway. I had not heard of it and therefore knew nothing about it, but was willing to give it a go. So we booked a ticket, showed up on the day and set off to enjoy the ride.

The railway was not originally intended to be a tourist destination. The lines were laid by the owner of the land who was had opened a pottery shop and needed access to the clay that was up the hill. It was too high and too steep to try and transport it down to the kiln by hand, so he laid the railway for easy transport. The track was begin in 1975 and took 15 year to complete. The track became open to the public as a way to raise extra money for the owner to pay off bank loans taken out to purchase the land and to start up his pottery business.

The railway is a fully functioning business on its own, taking tourists through a Kauri forest, zig-zagging up the mountain, with tunnels, reverse points where it was easier to back up or down the track than build enough to go around forwards, and gorgeous views from the top of the hill. The tour took just over an hour, and provided history of the pottery business and railway, local history, and plenty of photo opportunities.

Pottery shop

Our train

Old, un-used track

First tunnel

Bottle wall along the track, wine bottles from the pottery shop

My favorite tunnel

Pottery along the way

Top of the hill

Pacific Coast Highway

After our cultural experiences in Rotorua we headed North to the Coromandel Peninsula. So we pulled out the map, checked our reservations for accommodation, and asked Google for the best route to get from point A to point B. Per Google, Hwy 25 was the way to go. As we got closer, signs told us that Hwy 25 is the Pacific Coast Highway. I have never driven the American PCH down the California Coast, but I figure this is a start.

I have often found while driving around New Zealand that being in the driver seat is the best way to avoid getting carsick, but the worst way to continually take in the views. This journey was no exception, as each curve seemed more breathtaking than the last. The road was narrow, winding, and at times seemed like we were literally driving on the waters edge. There was very little between us and high tide. It is not a road to drive if you are in a hurry; I would be surprised if we ever got over 60 kph (about 40 mph). But the gorgeous views were worth every minute of the drive. We drove from one quaint little fishing town to the next, beaches on one side of the road, holiday bachs on the other. I think we saw at least twice as many bait shops as we did gas stations :)

As we made our way up the coast close to our destination (Coromandel Town), we climbed to the top of a massive hill (by we climbed, of course I mean coaxed the car up, it is not the biggest fan of oversized hills). We were rewarded with gorgeous views, and a mobile ice cream van :) Totally worth it!

Coromandel Town:

Te Whakarewarewa Village

No tour around New Zealand is complete without a stop in Rotorua, so while we were making our way across the North Island, we stopped there for a couple nights (and yes, I am STILL working on blog posts from a trip two months ago, but whatever). I have been there before, but somehow manage to always find something new to do.

This time it was the Whakarewarewa Village, complete with an exciting cultural experience. I had visited a place doing a cultural experience before, but this was much better on many levels. The song and dance cultural experience (during which I took no photos this time, sorry) was far more interactive and they explained all that was going on and being said. The experience also included a tour through the village, which is still inhabited by Maori today. Much of life there is as it was before modern technology. There is very little electricity, a shared public bath, and cooking is done via steam boxes shared by all in the village. The village has a long history, including a history of guides which have done tours through the village to visitors as famous as the Queen of England and as little known as your average tourist. The village is located on fault lines so as the land shifts so must the village. We could see evidence of houses which had to be abandoned due to extreme heat from steam coming up through the earth. There were also several wonderful examples of the bubbling mud and other thermal delights for which Rotorua is known.

Entrance to the village

Bubbling mud!!

Pohutu Geyser

Steaming rocks

Main street of the village

The Catholic Church

Inside the church

The Marae--Meeting House

Guardian

Another guardian

Karangahake

One of our goals for the trek around the island was to visit a winery. Thanks to my handy dandy Lonely Planet guidebook of New Zealand, we discovered one at the end of the Karangahake gorge. The winery was located just off the highway, and was into a house which had been converted into a restaurant. There was both indoor and outdoor dining options, with the back patio having nice garden touches, and chair made from barrels. We chose to stay inside for lunch as the wind was a bit chilly. The winery owners were German, and the interior decor was simple and tasteful,  noticeably European influenced. I thought it was a lovely environment. The food and wine were both delicious (we settled on shrimp risotto, with a side of tasting a bit of all the wines on offer, six different wines). I had some nice pictures of the place, but not sure where they went to, so maybe I can share them in another post.

After lunch we went across the highway to some hiking trails to let the wine wear off a bit. The trails went alongside the river, which was alongside the highway, going through the gorge. We enjoyed some what was left of old mining sites as we meandered a couple kilometers along. We stopped when we got to the kilometer long tunnel and decided we would head back so we could get along to our next destination. I have great plans to return to this area (hopefully over the holiday break) for further exploring as there are a lot of options for hiking/biking/general exploring and adventuring.

Swing Bridge

Remains from a powerhouse for gold mining

Bridge across the gorge to the tunnel