Broken Hills Hike

Last weekend I travelled to the Coromandel with one of my Coastguard friends. I have been to the Coromandel before but my friend grew up in the region and knows the area very well, so suggested we did a walk called 'Broken Hills and Puketui Valley'. 

Around the turn of the 20th century, the Puketui gold mining settlement was established in the Broken Hills Gorge. It had a post office, village hall and several shops; at one point up to 200 people were resident in the area. In 1914 the mining began to decline, as did the population, and by 1923 gold mining in the Broken Hills Gorge had ceased completely. The region is now popular with campers and walkers wishing to spend a weekend in the New Zealand countryside.

The route passes through a lot of New Zealand bushland, so it's nice to see some of the native flora and fauna. The first part of the walk was extremely steep, and we had to stop several times to catch our breath and drink some water. Relics of the old mining era are still evident, and the walking route passes by a number of the old tunnels. We had a look in a couple of them, but they were very muddy and wet so we decided not to venture too far in!

Once we had spent what seemed like an eternity climbing the steep face of the gorge, we finally reached the top. At the top of the climb there is not only a fantastic view, but also The Golden Hills Mine. The mine is a proper tunnel constructed with wooden struts for support. It has been deemed safe enough for people to walk through, and is part of the circular route. After a quick snack break, we dug out the torches and ventured inside.....

Within the mining tunnels we saw some fresh water crayfish, some stalactites and some glow worms (bright lights on the dark picture). I also took a picture of a glow worm with the flash on my camera so you can (just about) see what they look like. I really enjoyed studying the glow worms, as when I went to see them with mum in Waitomo we weren't allowed to get too close.

Once through the tunnels we walked through some more of the old mining relics known as the water tunnels. Again, the scenery was amazing, and fortunately from here on, the track was downhill!

Once through the water tunnels, the track wound down the other side of the gorge towards the Tairua River. At the base of the gorge we found a small waterfall, and also saw a rainbow leading into the river.

 

The Tairua River signalled the end of the walk, so we had another quick snack and water break, and then piled into the car. From Broken Hills, we drove over to a small town called Pauanui and had some water-based adventures there. Those tales will have to wait until the next post though as it's now bed time for me!

Orakei Basin Walk

Last weekend after a busy Coastguard duty on Saturday, I decided to 'chillax' on Sunday, and take a walk to Orakei. Orakei is a suburb of Auckland that lies between the city centre and another suburb called Meadowbank. It's probably about a 10 minute drive from where I live, but quite a good walk. They are both lovely suburbs, very green and safe to live in, but also much more expensive! The walk to Orakei Basin from our house goes directly through Meadowbank, so I took a few snaps on my way. I'd love to live there, but sadly the scholarship of a Phd student doesn't stretch to such luxury!

The walk itself begins at Meadowbank Train Station, with a purpose-built boardwalk for cyclists and pedestrians to use. The weather was pretty good last weekend, so the basin was a little busier than usual, but still quiet enough to appreciate the serenity.

After completing the boardwalk, the route swings around the corner and changes to more of a woodland trail. In the wooded area I noticed lots of Tui in the trees making their odd whistle-like calls. I did actually take a couple of videos of them calling, but for some reason they won't upload to the blog, so I've put on a video that someone else has made. The picture is pretty poor, but the sound is good, so you'll get the idea! These birds are completely black apart from a small tuft of white feathers at the front of their neck. They are apparently very intelligent, and are able to clearly imitate human speech. I've never actually heard them speak, but they have a beer on sale, so I figure they must be pretty clever; there's nothing simple about producing a good lager!

Once through the woodland, the path turns once again into boardwalk, and includes some bridges over the basin. The basin itself is used for watersports such as waterskiing, wakeboarding and paddleboarding. On this occasion there were no activities taking place, but I sometimes see people out on the water when I take the train into the city. 

Once over the bridge, the walk climbs up the hill back towards Meadowbank Station, with some amazing views of the city. After I had completed such a gruelling walk, I felt that I deserved a small treat and so made a brief pit-stop in the Meadowbank Bakery for a custard slice and cup of tea. It was delicious, and gave me the energy (and sugar high) needed to make it back to Glen Innes.

In total I was out for around 3 hours, so the feet were slightly sore afterwards. It was nothing a hot jacuzzi bath and evening in front of the TV couldn't cure though!

A Few More Coastguard Adventures

Over the past couple of weeks I've done quite a few shifts with the Coastguard, mainly on the vessels. It has been noted by several of the crews that I attract trouble, and I guess that's probably why I keep getting invited back! One of the guys even commented that he'd had more jobs in the day that I had been on the boat, than he's had in the whole of this winter combined.

Last weekend I went out on Lion Foundation Rescue, the mid-sized vessel in the Auckland fleet. It's like a small house really; it has a toilet, kitchen, shower, dining area, and room to sleep 4 people. I spent Saturday night (I didn't start my shift until 1800) watching movies and eating a delicious roast lamb dinner, all whilst bobbing around in the middle of the ocean. I must admit though, we had a bit of a rude awakening in the night when the wind and the swells picked up, but it wasn't too bad, and soon calmed down again.

The following day, we had a few jobs, nothing particularly exciting. It's most often breakdowns that we get called to, where people will require either a jump-start or a tow back to the marina. The weather was pretty awful, so everyone was surprised that we got a total of 4 jobs - 2 flat batteries, 1 out of fuel, and one gearbox failure. We managed to jump-start the two batteries and had to tow the other two vessels back home. To be honest the best parts of the shift were the roast and the scenery, the jobs were pretty routine.

This Saturday I went out on Trillian Rescue Alpha, the smallest rescue vessel in the fleet. What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in speed. I think that's why a lot of the younger volunteers enjoy crewing on Alpha the most! The weather this weekend was phenomenal, which meant the very first thing we did was take the boat to the Viaduct Harbour and have breakfast outside on the deck. I even had to dig out the sun cream! It's hard to believe we're in the deepest depths of winter at the moment.

 Not long after we'd finished breakfast we had our first call. It was to someone that had fallen on their boat and dislocated their shoulder. Not very pleasant, but after some pain relief, we managed to get them off their boat and to the waiting ambulance. We then met up with some of the other boats and did a bit of training, but it wasn't long before we were interrupted. We were called to tow a boat that was having engine issues, but unfortunately had no idea where they were. It's amazing how many people go out on a boat with no charts, radio, or any form of navigation equipment! We looked for them for a while, but by the time we had worked out where they actually were, we had been called to another job. This time the vessel had run out of fuel - but at least they knew exactly where they were!  We decided that it may be possible to tow the boat that had no fuel, and then pick up the one with engine problems on the way back. It worked quite well actually, and apparently has only been done a handful of times. The proud skipper already has the pictures up on Facebook!!

The people on the green boat had huge grins on their faces the entire way back. The comment was made that it was probably the fastest that boat had ever been!

After all our jobs, we did a bit of navigation training. I was allowed to drive the boat, and was directed to a marker in the middle of the Hauraki Gulf called Rough Rock. By this time it was getting dark, but there was still time for me to have a photo taken on the marker. I don't think that many people can claim that they have stood on Rough Rock, let alone had their photo taken on it!

After my adventure on Rough Rock, I got back on the boat (yes luckily they came back to get me), and we went to refuel. Once back at the base, we had a couple of beers in the crew room, and then went home. All in all, a successful day on the water!