If I had a dollar for every time I’ve driven from Auckland to Tauranga and back I’d have, well, lots of dollars. Now that I don’t have crying babies, screaming toddlers, or kids who want to stop at every playground on the way I try to mix the journey up a little.
Sometimes I take a different route, stop somewhere along the way to explore or, if I have time, fit in a mini break. This time I’m heading to Tauranga alone for a family function at the weekend, as my regular job is term time only and it’s the school holidays, I thought I’d fit in a mini break on the way down.
My favourite way to make the 200km ish drive from my new home city to my old home city is via State Highway 2 which crosses the Hauraki Plains before winding its way through the Karangahake and Athenree Gorges. My favourite part of this drive is at the end of the Athenree Gorge where it spits you out of the hilly countryside and alongside the coast where a scenic vista awaits. To the left across the sparkling waters of the Tauranga Harbour is the Bowentown Peninsula, followed by Matakana Island which separates the harbour from the Pacific Ocean.
I’m ashamed to say in all my years travelling between the City of Sails and the Bay of Plenty I’ve never, ever, visited Bowentown. I decided on this trip to remedy that sad state of affairs and after a brief search online I booked two nights in a studio called ‘Two Bare Feet’.
The traffic out of Auckland was smooth sailing and I reached my first destination, Waihī, in around two hours. I found a carpark easily on the main street, a carpark which I have now claimed for life. In Waihī, there are no time parking restrictions, no need to pay for parking and zero parking wardens. This should be reason enough for everyone to want to move to the historic mining town. After a quick stop for food (an enormous toasted sandwich and a flat white) I wandered the 200 metres from my ‘carpark for life’ to the Cornish Pumphouse where I’d researched the not-very inspiringly named, Martha Mine Pit Rim Walk begins. At this time I’d like to apologise for the title of this blog, I couldn’t help myself.
Waihī’s name means water gushing forth (Wai: water; hī: to gush forth) possibly from springs in the area or its location on the Ohinemuri River, an east-bank tributary of the Waihou River. Waihī started as a shanty town based around a store and a hotel in the 1880s. The location between the two gorges, a route used by Maori and Pakeha alike to travel the area, would have made it as good a pitstop then as it is now.
Developments in the gold mining process in the 1880s made the effort of mining profitable and in 1889 the town started booming. Underground mining at Martha finished in 1952 and it stayed closed until rising gold prices and further developments in mining technology rekindled interest in the mine. It reopened in 1987 as an open pit mine.
While it’s still a working mine a recent addition has been the 4km loop track around its rim. I planned to finish my rimming in an hour at my middle-aged pace. I set off at the crack of midday.
The track is multi-use and suitable for walkers and bikers. For a lot of the track, you aren’t too far away from either roads or houses although they are mostly out of sight due to the fauna lining the track. For the parts out of sight of houses and roads, this solo female walker walked extra fast, imagining axe murderers about to leap from behind every tree fern.
Axe murderers imaginged = 753
Actual axe murderers encountered = 0
Anxiety aside I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and would highly recommend it as a stop in Waihī and maybe a way to burn off some energy of kids who have been trapped in a car for a couple of hours.
I knocked off the 4km walk in 46 minutes – it seems the fear of imminent death is good for my speed.
Tips:
Take some water, especially if it’s a sunny day
There are no toilets on the track – Remember the rule of 5 P’s (Prior Preparation Prevents Pissing Pants)
Suitable for walkers of all ages, prams and probably wheelchairs.
After working up a sweat it was time to get back on the road for my final destination for the night, Bowentown. Given that I have two half-written novels sitting on my laptop you’d think I’d be planning to spend this mini break working on one of those but no…. My creative muse is driving me to put metaphorical pen to paper on a rock star romance set on the French Riviera. Who am I to argue?
If you haven’t already checked out A Brief Tale, you can get this for free at www.gillianscottcreative.com
Gillian Scott Creative 