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Published: December 5th 2010
Friday we headed north and east towards the Coromandel Peninsula with a stop off at Maungatautari Ecological Island reserve - a mountain that has been fenced off with a predator-proof fence & extensive predator removal inside has created a virtually predator-free reserve where native birdlife such as Kaka, Hihi & Kiwis can survive & breed. The have an observation tower & up the top we met a student studying the Kakas breeding in the reserve. We had a nice long chat about the joys of ecology fieldwork whilst the birds were being elusive!
We stopped briefly in Putaruru & grabbed a couple of pies for lunch then again to go & peer at the McLaren Falls then up to Tauranga & the coast. We then headed up the coast to the Karangahake Gorge where we stayed at the Golden Owl hostel - a lovely quiet place, right up until the family with 4 small kids turned up anyway! We went for a lovely short walk along the disused railway route up the gorge then back down a kilometre long tunnel. Lots of remains of an old battery remains where they extracted gold & silver from low grade ores using potassium
cyanide. Good nights sleep in spite of the kids. Looks like another good place to spend a few days.
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