For Part 1 of
'The Hauraki Rail Trail: Cycling in New Zealand' click -
here
Thames Coastal Path - 6 kms round trip
The neat little coastal town of
Thames, gateway to the
Coromandel Peninsula, has a rich history of gold mining boom and bust together with
a captivating setting on the Firth of Thames. The 3 km cycling/walking path is a very pleasant, flat and easy few kilometres with views out across the Firth.
This is a Sunday afternoon, 'life in the slow lane' kind of cycle path. Slow down, admire the scenery and soak up the sea air. If you plan to cycle the Hauraki Rail Trail begin at the northern end of the path and you'll join up with the trail as you head south.
We did a round trip, starting from the Toyota car plant just south of town, meandering along past pretty seaside cottages, old gold mining relics and the local croquet club. David has played backyard croquet with friends for years so we stopped for a while to watch the locals battle it out. Played properly
Association Croquet is a diabolical game with sophisticated and uncompromising tactics - a bit like chess, played with a mean streak and on grass. I point blank refuse to have anything to do with it - it is just too brutal for me.
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| Like so many towns we have visited the gold rush had a huge impact on Thames history. |
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| I know I have published this photo before - but I couldn't resist it. I just love this guy waiting for the fish to bite. |
Thames to Paeroa - 33 kms one way
After our gentle cruise along the coastal path at Thames our plan was to keep cycling past where we had parked the car and continue for 20 kms or so south toward Paeroa. This section of the trail meanders through farmland. It is flat and easy cycling. The sun was out and we expected a leisurely ride with nothing more difficult to negotiate than the occasional cattle grate.
We have had cycling plans defeated in the past by wind, rain, illness and just plain tiredness but never before by hayfever. Within minutes of leaving Thames and crossing the Waihou River David was struck by unrelenting fits of sneezing, coughing and watering eyes: miserable for him and unpleasant for me. The culprit, we think, was a type of grass growing along the edges of the trail. It looked like pampas, a common weed in New Zealand. Whatever it was there was no point in continuing south. We cycle for leisure, fun and fitness not to torture ourselves and one of the advantages of travelling with a car as well as bicycles is we can usually alter our plans without much aggravation.
Having made it back to the car we decided to head toward Karangahake Gorge again and pick up the path from Paeroa to Waihi where we had left off a couple of days ago.
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| The cycling/walking bridge across the Waihou River or maybe not - I really should label my photos. |
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| Another mystery photo - I think it's an irrigation canal but who knows? |
Waikino to Waihi - 20 kms round trip
We parked the car at Victoria Battery, near the old station at Waikino. Victoria Battery was once New Zealand's largest gold processing plant. Today it is cared for by The Victoria Battery Tramway & Museum Society and a group of dedicated volunteers. It is open to the public a couple of days a week and offers tramway tours, underground tours and a museum. We didn't go in but it looked well worth a visit. When our boys were young we did quite a few mine tours and they were always a hit.
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| Tram ride at Victoria Battery |
This part of the Rail Trail runs for a while along the banks of the Ohinemuri River. River trails are often pretty and this was no exception. A few kilometres from Waihi the river disappeared and we hit the only section of the trail which had any hills. They were little hills though, easy to negotiate and quickly behind us.
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| The Ohinemuri River. We cycled beside this for a while. |
About the only hazard on the whole trail was crossing the railway line at Waihi. Because the trains have long stopped running on most of the world's rail trails it is easy to forget they still run occasionally on a few of them. As we came into Waihi we found ourselves cycling neck and neck with a heritage train heading toward the town. It shows how slowly it was travelling that we were able to keep up with it for a while.
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| It is easy to forget that Rail Trails sometimes cross still operating railway lines. |
The train we saw was operated by the
Goldfields Historic Railway. It runs between Waikino and Waihi on weekends and holidays. During the week the service runs if there are sufficient passengers. A sign at Waihi station gave a phone number to ring and check how many passengers planned to use the train on any given day - kind of quaint don't you think!
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| The station at Waihi. |
Fast Facts: -
Ride - The Hauraki Rail Trail - Waikino to WaihiDistance - 20kms round trip If you time it right you can catch the Heritage Train back and make this a one-way cycle.Terrain - Compacted dirt. Not suitable for road bikesDifficulty -Very easyHighlights - The very pretty scenery along the river.Useful Websites - http://nzbybike.com/hauraki-rail-trail/http://www.haurakirailtrail.co.nz/Bike Hire - Bikes are available from Paeroa and Waikino Station - click here for detailsAccommodation - We stayed at Thames and drove to Waikino to begin the ride. There was a cute little cottage right beside the station at Waihi. I have no idea what it was like inside but it looked lovely from the outside. Details are available at http://www.waihirail.co.nz/news-events/traxx-accommodation
For a brief summary of other great New Zealand cycle trails go to - http://www.newzealand.com/au/feature/cycle-trails/Do you have a favourite walk/cycle? Tell us about it so we can add it to our bucket list. Paeroa to Te Aroha - 42kms round trip
Sorry guys. We never got to this section - maybe next year!
If anyone has cycled it, leave a comment and tell us about it.
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