Plan was for another day of touring. Shortly after I got up though, these fellows were wandering around. All shore birds and the one with bright orange beak is an Oyster Catcher.
Once we were in motion, it was off by borrowed car to Kerangahake Gorge. We have been using the Lonely Planet guides and they have been excellent and this was one of their recommendations (along with the recommendation of our neighbors at the dock).
This area was the home to large gold mining operations around 1900. The gold was embedded in quartz so it was hard to extract – the quartz had to be crushed. Around 1900 the extraction process was augmented by using cyanide to leach the gold and silver from the crushed rock. All in all some 130,000 ounces of gold and silver were mined here. The area had to be a mess from the logging and extraction process. Now it is a protected scenic area. To my fly fishing friends, those are monster trout.
Deb and I went for a 2 hour scenic walk thru the gorge area and the following are pictures from that walk.
The following is a picture of the old concrete foundations from the mining operation.
More pictures from the gorge.
A narrow gauge railway originally served the mine sites. Part of the railway remains as a tourist attraction but our walk included an old 1.2 kilometer railway tunnel. MUCH longer then we thought and we were happy to get out at the other end.
These plagues show additional information about the site of the mining operations.
There was a winery across the road but it didn’t look too impressive so we passed.
Our next stop was at a station for the Paeroa to Waihi RR. Nice cafe and Deb had a great raspberry muffing and flat white.
The train came in to the station while we were there.
Finally, a shot of the old mining operation in Waiha. The mining operation is still running in another area – but just barely.
Another good day.
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