With my current job ending in March, I've got to be making good use of my Wednesdays off around here. A few weeks ago, I took about an hour drive to the Karangahake Gorge to enjoy a nice sunny summer day of hiking.
The Karangahake Gorge is located just about halfway between Tauranga and Auckland. It's an area filled with NZ mining history. This area was a booming minetown in 1875. There's still heaps of relics remaining in the area, which makes for some good walking tracks.
Karangahake is the site where the Waitawheta and Ohinemuri Rivers join--- the water power was key in helping this whole mining operation be successful.
Here is a photo of the Ohinemuri Suspension Bridge.
Always up for a challenge, I scurried past the easier, flat walkways and decide to trek up the Karangahake Mountain track to the Karangahake Summit, to see some awesome views of the area. It was a puffing climb, but the views were worth it.
I stopped for a breather at this view point-- the trig of the Summit is the tiny thing sticking up from the trees.
And just about 2 hours from the start, here I am at the top of Karangahake Mountain! 544 meters.
A zoomed camera shot of the river gorge down below...
I took a different track on the way down. I couldn't believe how many open mine holes dug into rock there were! Some of them were boarded up, but others were completely open! Don't worry, i didn't explore any further past the "Danger" signs! :)
Once at the bottom again, I headed on to explore some of the mining remnants. Below is what remains of the Woodstock Battery. Apparently this place had 40 "stampers" that pound the rock to extract the gold and silver ore from it.
There was also a cyanide plant here(!). Potassium cyanide was used to extract further gold/silver from the ore. KCN (yeah I remember my element abbreviations!!) is mixed with finely crushed ore. Next, that solution is drawn over zinc shavings where it precipated to form a black sludge. Finally, sulphuric acid was added to the mix to remove the zinc, and the resultant gold/silver residue was smelted into bullion gold and silver bars. Three cheers for chemistry!!!
Another cool walk was the Windows Walk, which took you through parts of an old railway tunnel. A torch (flashlight) is highly recommended!!
The Waitawheta Gorge bridge... beautiful!
Stunning colors to the water of the Waitawheta River.
There was a lovely path pretty much hugging the left side of the Gorge.
No pun intended, but it really was a GORGEous day of hiking and exploring at the Karangahake Gorge. And to boot, there was a winery across the street that stayed open 20 mins after its closing time so I could do some tastings! The owner didn't even mind I was all sweaty from my hike. :)
Cheers from your favorite Wednesday walker!
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