FLASHBACK: Coromandel & Gold Country 4/04-07/10

Coromandel, the gold country, was a very special part of our trip. Cam & I drove up the little peninsula and caught some sun, mines, and geology lessons. We lucked out when we head into a town that was pretty far north & completely sold out for accommodations. The owner of a backpacker place found us space, luckily. We passed one place after another that had Mouri names, so different (in a great way) from the US or Australia.

We spent some time at this stamping mill that was used by government assaysors to asses ores coming out of the surrounding country. The gold percolated through cracks in the surrounding volcanic rock and could be found in fissures near quarts.

There was a working waterwheel (New Zealand's largest working one) that powered stamps that still worked. The miner who owned the mill occasionally processed ores he found, but primarily runs tours. We also took a ride on a narrow gage railroad that wrapped its way up a very steep incline (4 switchbacks and 2 reversals or something like that) with amazing views of the coast. It was really fantastic engineering & we luckily got on an afternoon train.

We traveled down the coast to Waihi, an active gold mine with a huge open pit. The tour was specifically designed to teach visitors about the process, but mostly was a PR measure. The company paid for the van, the tour guide told us of the enviromental actions taken by the mine such as saving the birds and recycling. I was particularly facinated by the iron balls that ground down the rock from the size of a kickball to a golf ball.



See if you can find Cameron in the last shot, he was standing next to this pumping house adjacent to the mine. The sky, building, and approach really make for a stunning photo. One of my favorite parts of this small town were the roundabouts decorated with warn down steal balls used to pulverize the rock from the mine that were painted place. Now that's recycling!