Travel: And they call it a mine . . . A MINE! ⛏️

Today we woke up at the borders of a forest in Ngawaro. We’re on our way to the Broken Hills. Here they have a walk where the pathway leads you through some old mining tunnels.

Broken Hills

While we arrived at the parking we met a Czech guy Radomir. He was traveling on his own and had some bad luck with his car. So he got a rental, and was asking where we got our van. Because he thought it was way better then his car. So, we got into a conversation and did walk together some tunnels today.

If you start at the parking make sure you check the map, with all the tracks and their cool names. What kind of images do you get in your head while thinking about the names for the tracks. The names are like like water race, gem of the boom, government battery waterfall etc. We decided to combine some of the tracks to get multiple tunnels on our way. We started clockwise through the water race tunnels first up to Collins Drive and from there all the way up to the lookout. After the lookout follow the track till the waterfalls. It may seem like a simple waterfall but when you get out for an adventure behind the waterfall you will see some more pools and I hope you can enjoy the beauty of this little gem as much as I did.

We started walking and the track is following the old tracks of the railroad used for the mining trains. So, you feel like a giant dwarve digging for more and more gold while getting closer and closer to the end of the tunnels. It’s not a difficult track, but imagine those dwarves climbing up with all the mining gear? The track itself never gets boring, with lots of stairs, steeps and roots while it ascends through the tunnels.

The first tunnels are small holes I think they’re only created once to get the trains to the bigger tunnels. But the bigger ones are large enough to stand up straight. The DoC really made a lot of work for this tunnel track. The sideways in the tunnels are closed but they have view-holes in it, so you can take a sneak peek behind those wooden bars. Won’t spoil all the surprises you find behind those.

We even spotted some ‘wildlife’ in some of the tunnels. The Weta you’ll find plenty of these amazing creatures here. In other tunnels you can see some glowworms. Yep the track is still totally free 😉

Once you’re out of the longest tunnel you can go straight to the top for the lookout. With some clear blue skies, you will have a nice view here.

The way down did bring a nasty surprise for us. First time we’re seeing this on a NZ track, but there were some ropes tied up between trees right above the ground. While walking down on some steep parts you’ll overlook these. Can’t imagine people are doing these kinds of things. Seemed like a copycat thing like you see sometimes with some grass halmes at a track only way more dangerous. Come on people don’t do this you can hurt other people very bad!

In the end I think we were lucky to do the track clockwise through the water race tunnels first. Following the track in this direction you start with some smaller mine tunnels to end with the biggest one! Oh yeah, the best tip I can give: bring a flashlight or a head torch with you!

At the end (or the beginning it's a loop) you'll find this little gem. A waterfall with some pools (hidden and in plain sight. Water isn't to cold so for a cooling down after your walk bring on your towel and swimsuit for a nice swim afterwards.

Spot the Steemian

Hot Water Beach

After the tunnel fun we thought we deserved some laziness, so we went for Hot Water beach. The tide was right for us, getting high tide just before we would arrive, so we could enjoy the hole digging for hot water thing for a while.

While we got at Hot water beach, we met a nice kiwi family. They lended us the pit they digged earlier today. Yihaa for the friendly kiwi’s. Saved us a lot of work, this was really going to be some beach lazy end of the day.

While enjoying the hot water, I need to tell you a little bit about the weird feeling here. Dig your feet in the sand and the deeper you’ll go the hotter it gets. Till you can’t keep your feet buried anymore and need to cool ‘m off. Yes, this beach is crowded but oh boy this is fun. Lots of different kind of people are visiting this beach on their adventures here in New Zealand.

This digging only works actually 2 hours before and after low tide. So, in total you can enjoy this spa lazy kindness for 4 hours total. When low tide is in the middle of the day this beach is crowdy. Will there be some low tide at midnight I don’t think anyone cares! 😜

After Hot water Beach we went for a camping spot, it was already too late to go for Cathedral Cove. Guess what we will save for tomorrow while waking up? 😉