Tairua to Aukland and Japan

Before leaving Tairua, we went to the top of the hill to look down on the bay and sea. We could drive some of the way, but after that, it was a scramble to the top. 

Over the estuary and the town of Tairua 

The estuary (Paku Bay) looking southwest 

A panorama, starting with Pauanui Beach (left/south) and ending with Tairua Beach (right/north)

On the way down

We then returned to Auckland via Thames and along the coast of the Fiirth of Thames to Auckland airport on the west coast. 

After lunch in Thames, we found a gold mine to visit! Martha mine is run by volunteers and is very much a work in progress. The story of the mine is that in 1879, two Cornish tine miners arrived in Thames and, knowing that gold had been found in two locations, decided that there must be gold in the middle, so bought the rights to the land. They worked for about 12 years, but ran out of money and found no gold. In 1800, the site was sold to the Waihi gold mining company for a small amount and money and the obvious happened, a gold seam was found in a couple of weeks. The mine closed in 1952 and reopened again when a new prospecting licence was granted in the 1976 when the price of gold rose.  

The mine was closed in 2007 for 10 years and is now in the hands of a charitable trust: an ambitious group of volunteers with many plans and projects, most of them in progress or on hold. Obviously, finding gold is the aim, meanwhile they have a museum and the mine accepts visitors. 

We started with an old film from the 1930s showing what life was like underground, then moved on to the exhibits. The museum has a certain similarity to a junk yard

John in a cage that took 7 men underground

Fly wheel from the pit head

Gold and silver are found together, at the end of the process the metals are extracted with mercury which is then vaporised and re condensed with this device leaving behind the noble metals.

Only a few surface level tunnels can be viewed. Most are too dangerous for tourists and some of the lower mines are flooded. The tunnels go down 600 metres.

These tunnels are viewable by the public

Gold bearing quartz (but not economic)

Then we continued to the airport, along the coast of the Firth of Thames

The Firth of Thames provides good feeding grounds for wading seabirds 

John spotted a wild turkey by the side of the road and managed to get its photo just before it disappeared with its large chick

We continued on the Auckland airport where we stayed the night. Now we are on a plane to Tokyo.