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Paeroa to Waihi map
SECTION C
Waihou River
Historical Maritime Park
2
26
Section B to Thames
Te Pai O Hauraki Paeroa
Paeroa to Waihi
A stunning trail through the Karangahake Gorge including bridges, bush clad mountain views and an 1100 metre long train tunnel.
Waihi Gold Discovery Centre Goldmine Motel
VictoriaBatteryMine Railway and Museum
25
Tirohia Marae
26 Ohinemuri River
Ngahutoitoi Marae Karangahake Winery Estate
Waikino Railway Station
24km
2 Karangahake Waikino Riverside Waikino Hotel
Accommodation & Ultimate
The Crown Mines
2
Owharoa Falls
Victoria Battery Pukekauri Rd Waihi
Waihi Railway Station To Waihi Beach Waihi Beach Top 10
Beaches Motel Waihi Beach Hotel
Windows Walk
The Falls Retreat
Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park
Old Tauranga Rd
2
Section D to Te Aroha DISTANCE: 24km
Paeroa to Karangahake: 8km Karangahake to Waikino: 7km Waikino to Waihi: 9km
Dogs on leads are permitted in the Karangahake Gorge section of the Rail Trail from Waikino Station to the old Karangahake Hall site at Crown Bridge at the northern end of Victoria Tunnel, and where the Rail Trail intersects the urban areas of Waihi, Paeroa, Te Aroha and Thames. DOGS ARE NOT PERMITTED on any other section of the Rail Trail.
100m
50m
0m Paeroa
0 24km
Kaiaua Thames
A
B
Paeroa Waihi
C Waihi Beach
D
Te Aroha
E
Matamata
Waihi
109 100m
50m
0m
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Karangahake-Waikino
To reach Waihi from Paeroa, you’ll cycle through the spectacular Karangahake Gorge and the tiny settlement of Waikino - arguably the highlight of the Hauraki Rail Trial, and particularly if you’re interested in New Zealand’s early mining history. This section of the journey takes in the Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway and Windows Walk with its ‘windows’ out to the Ohinemuri River below. Refer to www.doc.govt.nz for more information on the sites of historical interest, and the walkway. The trail takes you across Ohinemuri River Bridge 2, to the Karangahake Winery Estate where you can treat yourself to a range of tastings. From here you’ll ride the 1km Karangahake tunnel through the gold-rich Coromandel range, and it does help to have a torch. However, emerging from the dark of the tunnel and secluded from road noise, the immensity of nature takes over the senses. From here you will continue cycling adjacent to the river and can take short detours to view signposted waterfalls until you reach the must-do photo spot of Owharoa Falls.
These staircase waterfalls are easily accessed from the main road, a few metres up Waitawheta Road. Swim with care if you do take a plunge here and take a selfie or two with the fresh clean scent of cascading water in the air. It’s a good picnic spot, but you may want to wheel across the road to the award winning Bistro at The Falls Retreat, which offers boutique accommodation, delectable food and a variety of experiences where you can learn about
their paddock to plate ethos. More on that later in the guide. Union Hill can be seen on the right as travelling in to Waihi along State Highway 2 from Tauranga. Dug into Union Hill are 10 in-ground oreroasting kilns, the historic 110-year-old remnants of 13 recorded kilns, and part of a series of similar structures found throughout the Hauraki goldfield which extends north towards the Coromandel.
Ore-roasting kilns were built in the late 1880s to heat gold-bearing ore and get the gold out. The practice is over 2000 years old, recorded in Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. Construction and operation of the in-ground kilns has changed little in that time. At Union Hill each batch of 50 tons of ore was roasted for about six days, and one tonne of firewood was required for every two tonnes of ore to be roasted, so the firewood requirement was obviously considerable.
Little wonder the hills were often void of trees in these early years in the Hauraki
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and Coromandel districts, with extractive early method gold mining and kauri logging taking their toll. Ore-roasting on the Hauraki goldfield lasted no more than seven years in most cases because the source of the fuel for the kilns, the forests in the vicinity, were being consumed at an unsustainable rate (coal was not available as an alternative fuel until a railway was constructed to the mines in 1905). Today restoration of forests naturally by nature and with the assistance of landowners, Department of Conservation and community groups have changed the landscape once again. Nature has such a heartening ability to heal, and the remnants of this period of history is found on walks and rides along and nearby the Hauraki Rail Trail. Research with thanks to Waihi Arts Centre and Museum archives, adapted in part from: Moore, P.R., Ritchie, N.A., ‘In-Ground Ore-Roasting Kilns on the Hauraki Goldfield, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand’ in Australasian Historical Archeology, 16, 1998. McAra, J.S., Gold Mining at Waihi 1878-1952, Martha Press, Waihi, 1988.
Doing things differently can make them better.
Falls Retreat is more than just a café restaurant. It offers boutique accommodation, and is set in gardens that are edible.
Like so many of our rail trail advertisers, Falls Retreat has had to adapt due to the Covid-19 pandemic and owners Brad and Emma King have used this time to refine and align their values with their offerings to customers. In 2022, the Falls Retreat is not going to be the ‘drop by, no need to book’ restaurant that it once was, but instead visitors will get a much more immersive experience. The key message is – bookings are essential. It is the same amazing hospitality, and all food is made from scratch when dining here. The a la carte menu is replaced with set menus, and dining is only available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Join a pizza social on Fridays, or consider booking a workshop where award winning chef Brad shares his knowledge. You need to visit the Falls Retreat website to check out the workshops, from bread making, how to give salads the wow factor and create delectable dressings, and how to make preserves. It’s no surprise that most weekends are fully booked around summer, but Emma suggests visiting the website to see what midweek are available. If you do come during the week, the restaurant isn’t open, but the couple has created a hamper where you can self-serve from their delectable garden and eat these fresh nutrient-rich greens with a beautiful smoked chicken all deliver to your room. Continental breakfasts consist of homemade muesli and home baked bread. Book ahead!
Waikino to Waihi
Riding the Waikino to Waihi section of the trail presents you with a tough choice – whether to cycle the undulating trail from the historic rail station at Waikino or take the Goldfields Train and put your feet up. The train line ends in the township of Waihi, as does the cycle trail. Either way, the Victoria Battery Mine Railway and Museum is a place you’ll want to explore first. The Waihi Goldmining Company built the battery here in Waikino – once operating 200 stampers to crush the ore – because of its proximity to river water. It employed 200 men including Joe Kelly, who writes of his arrival, in the Ohinemuri Regional History Journal. Today a 1.2 kilometre two-foot (610 mm) gauge tramway was built by volunteers that run the railway and museum society. This snakes through the remains and relics on the six acre site, where tramway rides are available on open days. The old processing plant can only be imagined from the relics, which include the stamper mill, extensive cyanide tank foundations, and the roasting ore kilns’ tunnel, which can be viewed from above and toured underground with a guide. This is the only such place in the country open for the public to enjoy.
The ore kilns are also put to good use by miners today – though not as you might expect. The OceanaGold Waihi Mines Rescue Team host training exercises, using a dummy as their rescue ‘victim’ to practise rope rescue. Victoria Battery has between 50 and 60 members and a core group that regularly work at the museum, and they’re always keen to bring onboard helpers including guides. Anyone with engineering knowledge is particularly welcomed, as they must keep their train in working order according to legislation under the NZTA.
Goldfields Railway is based in the Waihi Station, one of the few original stations on its original site.
The whole Waihi station area is a heritage site, and inside and outside there’s photos and information as well as a mini museum inside with paraphernalia from the railway days. If you don’t have a bike, you can catch the train to Waikino for coffee, a look around the heritage sites or a meal and drink at Waikino Hotel. The hotel has been busy creating its own gin, started by publican Wayne Chowles who once couldn’t stand the smell of it after getting ill on the stuff as a teenager. He’s since launched ‘Eliza’s Claim’, made with flecks of gold flakes. If you do indulge in a tipple, the train offers a bike wagon so you can put your bike onboard if you don’t feel like cycling this section of the trail from Waikino to Waihi. A miniature railway operates at Waihi as well as at Victoria Battery in Waikino. But as at the time of writing the guide the Victoria Battery Museum wasn’t open. It was at a time when Auckland and Hamilton had been in lockdown, so hours of operation were reduced due to those lockdowns.
Check websites or facebook pages for latest updates on hours of operation. From after Boxing Day 2021, the train was expected to operate three trips a day every day, at 9.45am, 11.30am and 1.45pm from Waihi. The train departs Waikino Station at 10.45am, 1pm and 2.30pm.
