Gold!

Weather today is supposed to be another crappy day. But the rain held off for most of the day. I had the opportunity to talk to a volunteer at an information center yesterday and she told me that I should check out a place called Karangahake Gorge. It was only 30 min from my hotel so I figured why not. This this an old mining area from back in the 1800’s to early 1900’s that is now accessible to people to walk through some of the tunnels, walk the rails where the rock would come out to be processed and even a rail cart is still left on the line. Granted some of it is really rusty but it is cool to see a part of their history. I did a walk called the Windows Walk which goes through a bunch of the old tunnels, some of which you can’t see unless you have a torch (flashlight). It was really cool to be able to walk in the footpaths of people from so long ago, knowing this is where they did their work to support themselves and their families. Thank goodness that at some points in the tunnels there were windows (hence the walk name) that looked out into the gorge area over the beautiful river and the trees. I am not someone who is afraid of confined spaces, but these tunnels were creepy! I really wanted to explore some of them but my torch wasn’t that great so I would go in as far as I could and then something stupid would freak me out (probably in my head) and I would run like a sissy to the light. Hahaha I hate it! I wanted to see some more glowworms and stuff but I just couldn’t do it by myself. Oh well.

I finished up the walk going around the bends of the river and traversing it via foot bridges that swayed when you walked. It was a really beautiful place to explore and if I am ever back in the area, I am going to bring a big ass light to explore the tunnels. Haha

After exploring as much as I could I headed back to Waihi to check out a gold mine that is still running today. Did you know that gold and silver can be find in quartz rock? They had a huge rock that was out in display, probably 4 feet by 3 feet and what comes out of it for gold is the size of a finger nail. I think it is nuts to mine for that little. But, the silver that comes out of the rock is more than enough to pay for the mining of the gold itself. I went up to the top of the hill to check out the mine, it was huge and really deep. They have upgraded how they mine, obviously, since technology has advanced and are able to really focus in on the parts of rock that will hold the most amount of gold. The process of getting the gold out is really lengthy but obviously worth it. They had a bar that weighs as much as a gold bar and that shit is heavy. Not something I would want to try and steal and get away with lol.

The rain started up again, so back to the hotel I went and started to pack up my stuff so that I can make sure all of it will fit in my bags for when I go home. I have 4 and started with 2 lol, I guess not too shabby, but still a week to go.