Rail Tunnel Loop Walk

KARANGAHAKE GORGE? MORE LIKE, KARANGAHAKE GORGEOUS!

11 OCTOBER 2022

Ooooh, a dark tunnel

A Beautiful Place To Be

The Karangahake Gorge, in the beautiful North Island of New Zealand, was a place we passed through many times as a kid, as we drove from the Waikato to the Coromandel to stay at the beach house. It's an incredible drive through the gorge where you're surrounded by huge sheer cliffs, lush native bush and you snake alongside the Ohinemuri River.

There are multiple walks in the gorge, ranging from easy 45-minute walks to 5-hour hikes. Our first walk in the gorge was the Rail Tunnel Loop Track which is an incredibly diverse and easy walk. We spent around 2 hours exploring the track as we stopped so much for photos and spent time by the river. The area is rich in history and there are so many ruins to explore and read about on information board.

A truck had broken down a bit further up the road from where the carpark was and we were lucky the traffic hadn't built up too much when we were arriving, as long the walk we could see the cars at a standstill along the whole road!

There were plenty of parks to choose from and there are toilets right at the entrance. The gorge is a great place to stop off at for a wee and to stretch your legs. There are ruins over the first swing bridge that kids can get out and explore and this is only a 1-minute walk from the carpark. There are also areas of the river that the kids can play in or throw rocks into.

There are quite a few bridges to cross on this track

If you're short on time, a stroll across the bridge to see what you can see is nice

The Ohinemuri River

The trees in spring are so lush and green!

And So We Begin

The girls loved running across the first bridge and it reminded us all of the swing bridges on the Hooker Valley Track in Mt Cook (minus the snowcapped mountains!). The views from the bridge are fantastic and it's really nice looking down at the Ohinemuri River as it's so clear and although it's very tempting to jump in for a swim, you'll probably break at least 10 bones trying.

Across the bridge there are the crown battery ruins to explore and where the different tracks head off in their own direction. We took the track to the right, leading up the hill which took us towards the old rail tunnel.

It's a super pretty place across the river and would be a great place to set up for the day in summer, to spend the day by the river.

Under a small green roof, there's an almost cardboard cutout type headless figure where you can stand behind for a photo. It's completely unconvincing and something tells me that it once had a head and is just meant to be part of the scenery.

The area across the first bridge

So realistic...you had me fooled Lath!

The walk is wheely interesting

You'll find lots of historic ruins in the area

Steeped In Gold Mining History

The Rail Tunnel Loop Track has so much history scattered around the track but we don't know what half of them were as there were barely any information signs which was a shame as it would have been cool to learn about each one.

The first part of the track is in the open and when we did the track in spring, it was already really hot but it's not long until you end up walking through the bush, pluuuuus there's always the refreshing river to cool off in!

The girls had fun walking up an old pipe, although Sienna slipped over at the end onto her bum but that was soon forgotten when we started talking about how hot it was and that we were DEFINITELY having an ice cream on the way home. Seriously, ice cream fixes eeeeeerthang (except dairy intolerance).

We like to go on diverse walks to keep it interesting for the girls

There are some nice shady parts along the way for those super-hot days

An old cog wheel?

And this is a.... no idea

Helloooooo Spring

The track started to become covered in bush not far from a small wooden bridge. It's nothing really to write home about but if the kids see any bridge, they have the urge to drop anything down they can find and see if it makes a sound or a splash!

At this point of the track we could really feel the sun beating down and realised that spring is in full swing (despite the -3 morning we had the previous week when we climbed Mt Maunganui!). There were a lot of bees and wasps about so we can only imagine how buzzing the tracks would be in the height of summer with these flying, stinging little creatures...

Spring is our favourite season - we love seeing how lush and full the trees are and the sound of the cicadas means summer isn't too far away. Of course, there are the beautiful blossoming flowers too. Hellooooo spring!

On one of the corners, high above the river, there was a fantastic view looking across out over the river and the gorge. This part of the river had a few rapids which made the view spectacular but be warned that this corner (and most of the remaining track) drops off straight down, so keep your little ones close by. Another family stopped on this corner too, so maybe it's 'the' place to stop. Or maybe they just thought we were really cool and wanted to be seen with us?

If there is a bridge and a river, one must throw something off

The curly branches in the trees remind us of the Goblin Forest at the Dawson Falls on Mt Egmont

A very pretty view across the gorge

Sienna taking the lead as usual

Exploring The Ruins

Unfortunately, the information boards at these ruins had been damaged so we can't actually share much about them. It looks like they were some sort of battery and there was something about cyanide so that's your history lesson for today... you're welcome.

The girls had fun exploring the ruins and walking along the walls. Even though the ruins were mostly crumbled and barely there, they actually looked really pretty covered in overgrown grass and weeds.

It's a great place to take photos too and you could get quite creative. We didn't spend too long here as we wanted to get to the tunnel!

Sad to see the info sign vandalized

Some ruins of some sort!

Sienna running around the ruins

The diversity of the walk made it fun and interesting for the girls

Bridge No.3

Helloooooo 3rd bridge! This one was a hive of activity - we had cyclists and humans passing us, we had traffic below and at one point a car even drove under the bridge which felt weeeeird as it simulated an earthquake.

The traffic was completely backed up still, so the girls gave a few royal waves to the peasants below, waiting in traffic, as we walked (glided) across. The bridge has netting across the sides so it's safe for the little ones to run a little further ahead and you're not toooo likely to drop your phone onto any cars, although I felt like I might, so I still held on real tight!

We could see the beginning of the tunnel, only a few meters from the end of the bridge and we ended up taking our time on the bridge so a few people could go on a head... faaaar, far ahead, so they didn't ruin our photos. This ended up being a really bad idea... keep reading to find out why!

It's a weird feeling standing on the bridge when a car is driving below as it vibrates right through you!

Sienna was really excited to get to the tunnel

These poor drivers were stuck for aaaaaaaaaages!

The views are endless along the track. Every corner showed something else beautiful

A Little History Lesson

We didn't mind waiting to go into the tunnel as it's a really picturesque place from the bridge itself - the spooooky tunnel entrance (ok it's not that spooky), a big block wall with pretty greenery growing up it and a wooden window frame to take pics inside.

The tunnel used to be a thriving railway line, part of the East Coast Main Trunk Line which started in Auckland and went through many towns (including the Karangahake Gorge of coooourse) and ended up at its terminal at Taneatua.

The railway line in Karangahake began in 1900 and in 1904, the breakthrough of the tunnel was complete, so the rail lines were laid. The work on the tunnel was going 24 hours a day... I bet they saw no light at the end of the tunnel on that one. In April 1905, the first coal delivery was made on the lines, to the Waikino battery site. The major players in the game were gold companies, moving gold (yasss of cooourse), coal and even quartz. The Paeroa-Waihi line opened in November 1905 and was closed in 1978 when the Kaimai tunnel opened.

Funny story about the Kaimai tunnel... in 2009, one of NZ's former PMs, Helen Clark, said that in 1975 when she was on her first campaign, she wasn't allowed to go into the Kaimai tunnel because there was a superstition that women were bad luck in an unfinished tunnel! What a bunch of eejits...

We took photos while we waited at the entrance

Dare she go in?!

Ghost Hunters Paradise

No, no no, it's not even scary! Not a whisper or howl was heard (ok, maybe we did some howling because the echos sounded super cool!) and there wer no jujus here.

The tunnel is really fun to walk along and it's actually a super busy track!! There are lots of cyclists as the tunnel is part of the Hauraki Rail Trail which is really popular for biking. Most cyclists have bells and lights, so we could see most of them coming but you got the odd few who just shouted "TO YOUR RIGHT" or "BIKE INCOMING" so none of us got run over that day. Some can still ride pretty fast, so keep the kids to the side when they're coming by.

It took us a while to get through the tunnel, not because it's 1.1km long but because we had a lot of fun taking photos and videos and taking it all in really. The railway lines are long gone and it's a flat concrete path now.

Now for the reason why we regretted letting the other people go ahead of us in the tunnel... because we didn't realise they were smoking ciggies so all we smelt the whooooole time was cigarettes.... it was rank as and there was no air flow so it just wouldn't go away!

Every 20 meters or so there are dim orange lights on the roof so there is light, but it does pay to bring a torch. Each side of the tunnel had water running along, so on really wet days this may expand to over the path and you'll need some light to see where you're walking. We keep torches and headlamps in our backpacks as we never know when there is a cave to explore! Your phone light should be fine.

In some of the darker parts, between the lights, you can see glow worms! We weren't expecting this so it was a really nice surprise. There were under 20 scattered around the roof in one area and were pretty bright considering how much light is in the tunnel.

The walls of the cave are interesting. They speak of history that we can't see, blood sweat and tears that went into creating the tunnel and the conversations of ghosts yet they also speak of modern times and a lack of respect ie the graffiti plastered all over the walls. There is so much of it which is a real shame! Is the water leaking down the walls, the tears of the ghosts of the past? No, it's just water trickling through the cracks in the rocks.

The tunnel is a really cool place for taking photos and videos. We spent ages playing around with different settings and positions inside the tunnel.

The light at the end of the tunnel seems to stay the same size until you get to the last 100 meters then you get hit in the face with sunlight and you need to adjust for a while or you become Squinty Mc Squint Face.

Once you step inside the tunnel, you can see it's not creepy at all. Or is it?

Graffiti... no surprises there, but it did add to the ambiance of the place

There was water trickling through the walls but there hadn't been enough rain lately for it to cover the path

Oh Look, Another Bridge!

Aaaah fresh air at last!! No more awful cigarette smells for us, we were freeeeeeeeee!

We met a nice lady having a rest from cycling, who offered to take our photo by the bridge and we said yes pleeeease and thank you. It's always nice when people offer, so we don't have to set up the tripod. Slightly disappointed that Lath didn't have his pink shoes on that day, so we could all be matchy matchy.

As we passed over the 4th bridge, we felt completely dwarfed by the cliffs as this particular part of the track seems to be a lot deeper in the gorge than the other parts. The cliffs and hills were soaked in green from the native bush, which makes it the perfect picture for representing New Zealand.

It's amazing to see how deep the gorge is

Yes, another bridge. Hello camera

We were experts at crossing bridges by the end of the walk

Which Way Do We Go?

Some of the signage across the bridge was a little confusing and we weren't sure whether to go straight, hard right, or just right, or go back the way we came. The signs were all there, explaining the tracks, but when you've got 4 tracks meeting at one point and the arrows are pointing straight ahead towards the river, you realise you're most likely not meant to be swimming the rest of the track.

We asked someone if they knew which way it was back to the carpark and she asked which carpark because there's 3 of them... cue the crickets! She said the stairs to the hard right of the bridge took us back to the carpark but she wasn't 100% sure. This definitely wasn't the way as we ended up at a river beach (as we like to call it).

We didn't mind so much that it was a complete dead end, as we had a lot of fun down there. The ground was flat with a large section to chill on, without tripping over rocks or boulders and the view was fantastic (aside from the line of traffic just waiting, waiting).

There were various rocks for the girls to look sort into 3 piles - the keep pile, throw as hard as you can pile and the skip pile. The girls love stones, especially Bella, so she is always searching for the best stones and gemstones to keep. We found some river glass for the keep pile and a few stones for skipping although there weren't too many flat stones to skip. The biggest pile was definitely the 'throw as hard as you can' pile!

The river at this part went deep super quick, so much to the girl's disappointment, they didn't get to cool off in the water.

They had so much fun throwing them into the river that they didn't want to leave but it was time for us to navigate our way our of there and onto the right track. We followed our nose and went right once we got to the top of the stairs, which was the right track, yay!

The stairs heading down to the 'beach'

The river was a beautiful emerald colour in this spot

Sienna throwing rocks into the river

Kids, rivers and rock throwing go hand in hand

Hold Thy Hand, Little One

The track led us through more native bush and along the cliff where some parts were narrow and you had to find a place to clamber up the cliff, just so people could get past (because I'd rather them closer to the cliff drop, than me!). There are no barriers here, so kid hand holding is a must!

We saw some mini whirlpools in action which was a great learning experience for the girls, to see how they formed, right in front of their eyes.

You can see how narrow the path to the left is and why you need to keep kiddies close!

It was nice to be back in the shade

Looking back at the track we had done

Think you'd bash a few shins boogie boarding through here!

Once A Booming Town

It's crazy to think that Karangahake was once a booming town full of life, a school, churches, a butchery, boarding houses, a bowling club, two hotels, sports clubs, dances and theatre. In 1907 there were 2000 people living in the town, when the mining industry was booming here. There's no sign of much happening in Karangahake now, except for people exploring the walkways, the traffic passing through the gorge and those stopping in for a much needed wee.

In 1875, the land in Karangahake was granted mining rights and so the gold hunt began but it wasn't until 1882 that a decent amount of gold was found and they said "Aha, we can start to mine!" (Or whatever words were actually said).

In 1889, the mining companies introduced a new process using cyanide, to separate gold from the quartz ore, which took the extraction rate up from less than 50% to 90%. They did well until the 1920s when most of the gold reserves were used up and most of the mines closed. Buuuut they opened up again in 1929 because of the rise in gold prices aaand then they shut back down again in 1939.

Interesting fact - the windows on the Windows Walk (which was closed when we went, waaaah), were put there for miners to easily chuck away the poo-poo grade 1 ore into the river below!

The ruins were fun to explore

The greenery looked super pretty creeping its way up the ruins

Not sure why the metal rods were there - for stabilization or to stop people wandering through or were they part of the original design?

And this is a....thing?

Woodstock Battery

These remains were originally a cyanide plant and a stamper battery which processed silver and gold ore from the Waitawheta Gorge.

We had no idea what a battery was (apart from the obvious) so we found out that gold processing plants got the name 'batteries' as the quartz was battered into powder by huge stampers to release the gold particles. The cyanide plant then recovered the gold using...well... cyanide.

Over time, the Woodstock battery went through many owners and upgrades due to technological advances, floods and a fire. When the cyanide plant was introduced, a new battery was built on the site.

You are able walk around these ruins, they don't look like they'll be falling over any time soon!

The ruins are 2-minute walk from the carpark, or at the end of the Rail Loop Tunnel Track

Sienna exploring the ruins

I wonder what this used to be?

Aaaand Another Bridge

This was one was a swing bridge which the girls looooved running across and jumping while mama was trying to take photos! It isn't a long bridge so we were surprised that when we hopped off the other end, that the ground still felt like it was moving for about 30 seconds afterwards. Actually when you think about it, it was probably caused by the girls constantly jumping on the bridge and our brains and stomachs being jiggled about.

Wibble Wobble Wibble Wobble, mummy on a bridge!

The suspension bridges are fun to jump on

More historic ruins

We were glad to almost be back at the car as it was a very hot day!

We spent 2 hours walking and exploring along the track

Know Before You Go

The track has a mixture of shade and exposed areas, so it's a nice track all year around
Keep little kids close on the path and there are some high drop off areas with no barriers
The tunnel is lit up but there's no harm in taking a torch with you too!
Keep an ear and eye out for bikes in the tunnel as some zip through quite fast
There are toilets at the carpark
There are multiple walks to do in the Karangahake Gorge and there is a map in the carpark showing all the trails

Mappy McMap Face

Getting There

Karangahake Gorge is just 1 hour northeast of Hamilton City and an hour northwest of Tauranga. It's a pretty drive through the countryside and even more pretty once you hit the gorge! The gorge is a one way in, one way out kinda deal so you it's easy to find. You'll turn right into the carpark off State Highway 2 coming from Hamilton, or left if you're coming from Tauranga and the carpark area is sign posted.

Conclusion

We had an awesome time on the track. It's an easy track for kids to do and there's so much to keep them entertained along the way like stone throwing, exploring the tunnel, running across bridges and exploring the forests. There is shade in a lot of areas that will keep you cool in summer and provide some shelter in winter.