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Home , Hauraki Rail Trail, Karangahake Gorge, Paeroa, Waikino

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new kind of gold is reinvigorating Hauraki’s A former mining towns, as two-wheeled tourism replaces digging and sluicing.

When visitors ventured into the region’s winding, verdant canyon to reach Karangahake township 120 years ago, they found a bustling, newly-formed commercial hub crammed with prospectors and pubs, barmaids, bankers and mine staff.

Present day cyclists encounter a vastly more serene scene when they pedal the . A disused railway line ambles alongside fast-flowing , flanked by native bush and passing a waterfall, the rusting remnants of gold processing plants and abandoned cliffside tunnels.

It’s remarkably accessible beauty and, thanks to hoards taking to their bikes – many on electric models – this is one of the most popular cycle paths in .

These recreational cyclists are visible year-round now, refilling their drink bottles in and , perching their padded bottoms in cafés from Thames to , helping to fill local business coffers. No doubt, they’ll collectively smash a few more records this summer, when the newest leg of the trail opens beyond the mountain of love – that’s Te Aroha – ushering them through to Matamata.

Only two years ago, a survey clocked almost 85,000 users on the Hauraki trail and it was estimated numbers would rise to around 125,000 by 2029. Within a year, counters had already recorded Bike trail boom 142,000 pedallers. Small towns are striking gold as cyclists follow scenic historic mining paths to pedal through Hauraki heartland in record numbers. No one predicted this kind of growth, including rail trail boss Diane Drummond. WORDS SUE HOFFART / PHOTOS SUPPLIED “I remember 10-odd years ago, when someone was telling me about the cycle trails, thinking ‘that’s not going to take off,’” Diane says.

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OPPOSITE PAGE Enjoying the shade with a well deserved beer at the Hotel en route.

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP The Shorebird Coast; Ohinemuri Riverside; parked up at Falls Retreat for a wood-fired pizza lunch; pit stop at the bridge.

Now she’s chief executive of the Hauraki Trail which include the nation’s first “We could see the rail trail was going Rail Trail Trust, she sees the impact first- major off-road cycle touring route to be a big thing,” Fiona says of their hand. After all, it was Diane who signed in Otago. decision to develop their restaurant, off on the $6.8 million construction bill One 3 One; a Subway fast-food franchise; Nga Haerenga general manager Janet to build the newest leg of the 160km trail. and the aptly-named Pedlars Motel. Purdey says the trails have helped dozens “VISITORS CAN LEAVE IN THE MORNING AND Last year alone, the trail generated an of communities through job creation, Fiona and Murray, who also own BE RIDING THROUGH THE STUNNING KARANGAHAKE GORGE estimated $24 million in revenue, by promoting health and recreation, a construction business in the Hauraki BY LUNCHTIME, THROUGH THE TUNNEL, ALONGSIDE GOLD including spending by both business and by sparking multiple conservation town, spotted a run-down pub for sale owners and tourists on accommodation MINING SITES WHICH DATE BACK TO THE LATE 1800s .” projects. Of course, they are also in 2013 and bought it the same day. and petrol, dining and groceries, bike hire, a fantastic way to explore New Zealand. Within 13 weeks, they’d gutted the bike repair and trinkets to take home. interior, stripped the exterior and Janet says the Diane says electric bikes have put more is now the second largest income earner reused rimu timber to line what became people in the saddle, with the burgeoning behind farming in that part of the South One 3 One – a restaurant, café and wine baby boomer cyclist demographic Island. “It’s the ultimate in sustainable bar. Naturally, cycle racks were also supplemented by families and young travel,” she says of the national trail installed outside the front door. overseas tourists. network. “Riders from here and overseas The Subway franchise was next and, “But it’s also about the location; visitors can see New Zealand with a light carbon a year later, they built their cycle-friendly can leave Auckland in the morning footprint and contribute to smaller, motel, complete with lock-up bike and be riding through the stunning out-of-the-way communities through storage, bike hire and a puncture- Karangahake Gorge by lunchtime, the money they spend.” mending service. through the tunnel, alongside gold Paeroa residents Fiona and Murray mining sites which date back to the “There was a huge need,” Fiona says Pennell have built three businesses on late 1800s. It’s close to Tauranga, of the motel development that sits the back of the Hauraki Rail Trail which Hamilton and Coromandel.” just back from SH2 and only metres collectively employ more than 20 staff. from the cycle trail. “But people didn’t When Hauraki Rail Trail opened in late In recent decades, the home of New believe it would work. No one wanted 2012, it immediately became part of Zealand’s most famous soft drink – to lease it so we put a manager in and something larger. It is among 22 great Lemon and Paeroa – has also become run it ourselves, which is the best thing rides that collectively form Nga Haerenga a magnet for antique shoppers. we could ever have done. It’s been [the journeys] or the New Zealand Cycle so successful.”

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“THERE ARE TOURISTS IN THERE EVERY DAY FOR THE SCENERY, RIDING FOODIE FINDS The four-star motel runs at 80% occupancy. “The impact is huge,” she says. “You used THROUGH THE BIG TUNNEL AND, IN SUMMER, THEY CAN SWIM IN THE RIVER Wood-fired pizza at Falls Retreat (and But it isn’t only the cycle tourists who to be able to stand in the middle of the OR UP THE WATERFALL. IT’S HEALTHY, IT’S FREE AND IT’S BEAUTIFUL.” cooking workshops and gardening classes) in Karangahake Gorge. fallsretreat.co.nz benefit from the Pennells’ investments. main street and see two or three cars on a weekend. Now, you see bikes and A craft beer or cider at the recently- “Before, there was nowhere nice renovated Waikino Hotel. people in lycra and most shops open waikinohotel.nz for families to come, or a place ladies on the weekends. You can’t get a seat Grilled sourdough sandwiches from could go for a wine after netball,” at the local café at weekends and it can The Refinery, the-refinery.co.nz she says. Now the wine bar is always take two or three weeks to get a booking Multi award-winning organic cumin seed busy after netball training or games to have a spa.” gouda from The Cheese Barn at . and local families are just as likely thecheesebarn.co.nz to dine as tourists. Teena and husband Richard are sinking Raw food and healthy smoothies from $1.5 million into the new venture, called Villa Nine Health & Coffee Shop, Te Aroha Fiona says fellow Paeroa businesses The Old Forge Kitchen in honour of the are far more busy since the cycle trail Kowhai Creamery ice cream from Fantails original building on the site. at Wairere Falls on Old Te Aroha Road. opened and both she and fellow locals kowhaicreamery.co.nz use the paths too. “There are tourists It’s a 20-minute ride from the town’s in there every day for the scenery, riding charming central domain, at the foot EN ROUTE through the big tunnel and, in summer, of Mount Te Aroha. The domain is they can swim in the river or up the home to a soda water geyser and hot Trail development has enabled trappers to reach previously inaccessible parts waterfall. It’s healthy, it’s free and springs and a historic bathhouse and of wetlands near Thames, so they can lay it’s beautiful. it is the start-point for a cluster of traps to catch stoats, hedgehogs and other walking trails that loop up and over “And there’s still massive growth to come,” pest animals. The area is one of six in the mountain. New Zealand deemed wetlands of she says. Plans are afoot to introduce international significance. a river boat cruise, which will cater The Cornes’ eatery is also an easy ride Aroha Mountain Lodge, a favourite to cyclists, from the town’s historic from the spot where gold was discovered accommodation stop for cyclists, was once maritime park. on this side of the Kaimai Ranges, owned by prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s in the Waiorongomai Valley. grandparents. A 100-seat restaurant has sprung up

Take a soak in the silica-rich waters of New on the southern outskirts of Te Aroha, Teena expects the new section of cycle Zealand’s original spa town. Te Aroha’s pools beside dairy cows and a defunct school. trail will deliver Hobbiton visitors and were the first that Māori bathed in and it was domestic weekend riders to her District councillor and Te Aroha popular with overseas visitors long before restaurant, along with day-trippers from Rotorua became a tourist destination. businesswoman Teena Cornes planned neighbouring Matamata, to build a small 30- or 40-seat daytime The northernmost section of trail, between and Te Aroha. and Miranda, has been carefully café but opted for a much bigger venue constructed to avoid the nesting sites of when the bike trail extension was “It’s going to bring a very interesting endangered bittern birds and native lizards. announced, running beyond her town mix of people every day but especially Visit Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre to find out about the migratory Arctic wading and past the eatery doorstep en route on weekends; families and semi-retired, birds that spend summers here. to Matamata. with a lot of e-bikes starting to come into the district.” Watch for glow worms while cycling through Teena says the existing trail has been the Karangahake Gorge tunnel and get off a significant benefit to Te Aroha, with the bike to weave in and out of gold mining tunnels along the historic Windows Walk. new businesses emerging to service HAURAKIRAILTRAIL.CO.NZ the cycle tourists. HAURAKIRAILTRAIL

THIS PAGE, FROM LEFT Waikino Hotel; Falls Retreat wood-fired pizza lunch; map of the trail.OPPOSITE PAGE The Waikino leg of the trail.

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