34 people including a number of children took advantage of a lovely warm spring day to explore the Karangahake area near Paeroa on the northern edge of the Kaimai Ranges.  We left The Bracken at 8am to meet up with people travelling directly from places such as Papakura and Tauranga outside the Karangahake Hall at 10am. After the usual introductions and Christian karakia we set out along the Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway to the start of the gorge section. The Windows Walk through the remains of the Talisman battery and workings at the mouth of the Waitawheta Gorge has been recently done up. We began by winding our way up the remains of the Talisman Battery which in its heyday would break up mined ore to extract the gold, causing an enormous din hard to believe in today’s quiet and peaceful surroundings. The Talisman tramline running above the battery has been restored with rails and sleepers. The tramline continued through a number of tunnels, with “windows” looking down into the Waitawheta Gorge and the former Crown Tramline, now part of the Crown Track. The track dropped down from the final tunnel via wooden staircases to join up with the Crown Track, and it was time for our morning break. It was an easy walk along the well-formed Crown Track continuing up the Waitawheta River. An hour later we had a brief stop to view a small waterfall and a man-made water tunnel. We then climbed up an 180m tunnel. It was about midday when we arrived at a lovely riverside lunch spot at Dickey Flat. Alasdair used some stones picked up on the way to illustrate 1 Samuel 16:7 in which God looks not on our outward appearances but our heart within us. A plain stone picked up and simply thrown aside could in fact house a spectacular geode of quartz crystals. We were away again at 1pm ready for our grunt of the day, the Dubbo Track. This bush track climbed up to drop down and cross the Dubbo Stream before continuing up to come out on the No 7 Level Track one hour later. The sign at the junction of Dubbo Track on the No 7 Level  indicates that not only is Dickey Flat one hour’s tramp away, but also the No 7 Level! The No 7 Level Track was originally the Old County Road and is therefore a wide track on a gentle grade. As we headed towards Karangahake we had views down to Karangahake and across towards Waihi. In  one place we could look down into the Waitawheta Gorge where we had been in the morning after the Windows tunnels. We also passed several old mines. Further down we had a short break where the track met a metalled vehicle track. At the bottom we went down the Scotsmans Gully Track to come out back on the Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway. We wondered what a group of people was doing across the Ohinemuri River, evidently picnicking with their own tables etc.

We decided against going on through the old Karangahake railway tunnel and were back at the carpark about 3:45pm pleased to finish a lovely tramp packed with all sorts of interesting features. While most of us began to pack up and go home Jonathan and his dad Phillip were seen to go and cross the bridge to have a look at the old railway tunnel where up till three decades ago trains would thunder through day and night on their way to and from Tauranga. The line was closed with the opening of the Kaimai Tunnel in 1978 and some years later the Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway was opened following the railway formation.

COST: $25