Te Aroha to Waihi Beach

December 13, 2023

From the mountain to the sea.

We’re out of the Holiday Park reasonably early because we have a sizeable distance to cover over a variety of terrain. The trail from Te Aroha passes through the old railway station. It’s rather desolate this morning and hard to imagine passengers alighting in excited anticipation of a hot soak, in the days when this was a major spa resort.

We start on a well compacted gravel track that has some greenery making a show in places. Our first goal is to reach Paeroa, about 20 kilometres distance. It’s another blustery sou’wester day which pushes us along at a good speed. To our right a close-ish range of hills separates us from Waihi and the sea.

Where grandma and grandpa met down the hall on a Saturday night.

You don’t get this often on a Voie verte.

Thankfully, there’s a river, a gorge and a tunnel, built for the railway that provided transportation for the gold industry, that are going to help us negotiate this geological obstacle.

Riding is pleasantly uneventful and soon we’re at the outskirts of Paeroa and the turnoff to Waihi. From here the route follows the river through the Karangahake gorge. The path becomes narrower and is hemmed in by trees as we follow the river before it enters the gorge. We stop at Karangahake for the sandwiches Ann put together before we left.

Here the river runs fast as the gorge narrows. From our lunch spot we cross a bridge spanning the river and reach the entrance to a kilometre long tunnel. We’ve done a few tunnels before, but they’re all different, so we’re not sure what to expect. This one is long, leaky and dimly lit. It’s difficult at times to see the track but we have to trust there’s not a gigantic hole looming just beyond our vision. There are no bats that we can see, and apart from being decidedly chilly, the subterranean ride adds a frisson of excitement to an otherwise quiet day.

From here we pass by the remains of an enormous concrete structure that once supported the cyanide vats for the chemical used to extract gold from tailings. The process contaminated water and animals at the time but the effects are, supposedly, not long lasting.

The trail then continues close to the river, with some rough patches attributed to the effects of cyclone Gabriel in February. There are signs that flooding covered long lengths of the trail that have been since restored.

We leave the trail at Waihi Station and from here we take the state highway out of town, mixing it with the heavy metal and rubber to the turn off for Waihi Beach.

It’s a fairly straight road, but quite busy and after 11 kilometres and a long downhill (you’ll be going back up this, I remind myself), we’re at Waihi beach and our beach apartment. Carly meets us just as we’re coming in and she’s going out. After a hurried welcome we’re in. The wind’s still gusting fiercely, but we take a walk anyway and breathe in the turbo charged ocean air.

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 188 km (117 miles)

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