The Hauraki Rail Trail is situated 1.5 hour’s drive south east from Auckland. It follows the course of a railway line that ceased operating in the 1980s. The main part of the trail is on attractive, mainly flat, farming countryside parallel to the hills of the Coromandel Peninsular. It travels 94km from Thames to Matamata (site of the Hobbiton movie set) passing through Paeroa (home of Lemon & Paeroa the well known soft drink) and Te Aroha.
Karangahake Gorge
The rail trail branches east at Paeroa and travels through the spectacular Karangahake Gorge following the Ohinemuri River upstream to Waihi (24 km). Gold-mining began in 1878 in this area and lots of old mining infrastructure is still visible. Waihi has a large, active, open cut mine in the town.
Farm Crossing
I have lots of family connections to this area with relations involved in farming, forestry and gold mining. My mother’s family farm at Puriri, had the railway line passing through the middle of it. Today the rail trail goes through a short tunnel in the farm. Mum used to tell of catching the train into Thames (14 km) to attend her weekly piano lessons. I grew up not far from is area and during school holidays often travelled through the Karangahake Gorge, always hoping to see a steam train.
Double Decker Bridge
1100 metre log tunnel
On a recent trip to New Zealand two friends took me along the Rail Trail, one was a bike rider with a spare bike and the other had a van and was happy to transport us. The section of the trail we travelled was 17 km long, starting from the double level road/rail bridge in the middle of the Karangahake Gorge and ending at Waihi. The Rail Trail is on the upper level of the double bridge and immediately after crossing the river and the main road, it enters a 1100 metre long tunnel with lighting to assist bike riders and walkers. The exit of the tunnel takes the Trail straight across the river via another bridge. The Gorge is wonderful to explore with it’s rocky cliffs, beautiful river, waterfalls and walking tracks to old gold diggings, tunnels and other gold mining infrastructure.
We rode further up the Gorge and at the settlement of Waikino (good cafe at the railway station) the Trail separated from the still active tourist railway line and followed the Ohinemuri River to Waihi.
Ohinemuri River near Wahi
From Waihi we then travelled, with our bikes, back to Waikino, in the Goldfields Railway Tourist train. This was a delightfully slow half hour trip through farmland with much honking and waving to the people in cars from the open carriage, when next to the highway.
The Hauraki Rail Trail is well worth a visit, especially the Paeroa to Waihi section (24 km) through the Karangahake Gorge. Much of the rest of the Trail is through flat open farmland. The trail surface is fine gravel (except for in the tunnel which is sealed) and generally smooth. Between Waikino and Waihi there are some short steep pinches. The trail was damaged by a major storm two years ago and is still being repaired in places. Check the website https://haurakirailtrail.co.nz/ for maintenance work along the trail before starting out.