Ten trampers spent an enjoyable day exploring what remained of Neavesville, a former goldmining and gumdigging settlement atop the Coromandel Ranges south of the Kopu-Hikuai highway. Neavesville started life in 1875 as a goldmining settlement, and later became a gumdigging camp. As we found out on our tramp, virtually no trace of the township remains. The Neavesville area is on private Maori land, and anyone wanting to visit the area for tramping or any other purpose will need to contact the owners,  Pakirarahi No1.B block (Neavesville), beforehand. We left The Bracken soon after 8am and rendezvoused at the summit of the Kopu-Hikuai highway before carrying on a few km to leave the cars a five-minute walk from our starting point at the Stadia Stream bridge. It was a steady two hour climb up a well-worn vehicle track through bush, much so that we had to get around numerous large puddles and had to get our boots completely covered in mud in places! A bit of map-and-compass work came in handy as there were side tracks (including some that ran parallel with the track and rejoined the track further along) and there was no signposting.

Eventually we came out to what would have been the site, a plateau to the west of the prominent rocky outcrop of Pakirarahi.  Nothing remained at all of the many shanties made of kauri palings, nor the post office and the pub which was the centre of socialising in the township’s heyday. The total silence of the plateau area was a far cry from the Saturday night singalongs in the pub to someone’s button-accordion or concertina. As we had our lunch here, looking across to Pakirarahi, we thought of the gumdiggers who would lug their provisions into the settlement, and would have three meals of flapjacks and sweet black tea each and every day.

We returned the same way back to the highway, a pleasant anti-grunt and opportunity for the Christian fellowship of social conversation. We had glimpses out to Tairua and Paku Hill, where in the old days supplies shipped from Thames would be shipped around Cape Colville and into Tairua to go up the Tairua River to Neavesville, a journey that would take a whole month! We were also able to see in one place Mayor Island out in the Bay of Plenty. Near the end we took a side track that started as a bush track along what could have been a short stretch of tramline. Later it began to descend more steeply, with the last stretch before rejoining the main track at the highway full of deep ruts, a little tricky in places.

We were out about 3:30pm having enjoyed a little-known tramping area of the Coromandel hills. Cost: $13