On the honeymoon trail

3 April 2011

Our life feels like one long holiday, but after the wedding we spent five days travelling from Napier to Whitianga, so this became our unofficial honeymoon*.

Our first night was spent at Arapuni Dam (near Putaruru). There's a free parking spot there, very prettily placed between the one way road over the dam and the one way bridge over the head race. Unfortunately it poured with rain all evening so we didn't venture out much.

The next morning was very still and clear.

We are keen to return as there are lots of lovely walks around here and a fearsome-sounding swingbridge that's 8m lower at one end than the other.

Sunday we moved on to Waihi for a two night stay. On the road we were treated to the sight of scores of flash hot rods on their way home from Beach Hop. We might have to put that on the list to visit next year.

Waihi is a town with a giant hole in the middle of it - the Martha Mine, which is still yielding gold and silver. The town is making the most of its mining history so we had plenty to explore, including views of the mine itself.
 

The Cornish pumphouse, which had to be moved
when current work started undermining it.



The giant hole in the middle of town: Martha Mine.

 There used to be a railway right through the nearby Karangahake gorge, but now just 7km of it remains, from Waihi to Waikino. The stations have been set up as museums and an historic train runs between the two.

The train at Waihi station.

Dotted along the track there are stuffed toys in trees and on bridges and
poles for the kids to make a game of spotting.
It all looked rather macabre to me.

The rest of the abandoned railway line has been pulled up, but still forms the base for a network of tracks the Department of Conservation has built in the gorge. As well as stunning scenery, there is old machinery and mine workings to be spotted.

The railway may be gone, but you still have to share Karangahake
Gorge with State Highway 2.

The entrance to an old rail tunnel, which a walking track now goes through.

And 1.1km later you come out the other end. There are lights, but take a torch!

Craig resting among the ruins.

The next day we moved on to Whangamata. It's not very far, but what a drive - very windy and hilly, very slow driving. Whangamata had quietened down after Beach Hop, and very sunny and warm. It's one of those beautiful beach towns where the population swells from 5000 to over 50,000 in the summer holidays.

Dad told us about the first time he went there for New Year's Eve, in 1948 (he was 17). He reckons there were 90 people in town - he knows because they all went to the same party and someone counted them! Everyday about 3pm a Tiger Moth would fly over the camp and toss out a bundle of papers - it was an easier way to get the Herald to them than driving over from Waihi.

Boats in the sun at Whangamata

Craig doing running repairs to our bikes.

Impressive waves at Whangamata after a tropical storm.

And then it was off to Whitianga to start camp sitting. More beautiful views and torturous roads along the way.

Coffee stop by the water at Tairua.

*I will write more about the wedding, but just want to get the official photos first.