Woken up early by children running about the hostel so we have a coffee quick before getting out before check out time – a new for Daisy ????

From where the car is parked, we notice that there’s a Saturday market being hosted in Kuirau Park Saturday Market so have a little wander in hope for a coffee and breakfast

Nothing overly entices us so we get in the car and get to Boasters Coffee House and Roastery for two flat whites, a beef and pickle toastie as well as a chicken and cranberry toastie

Fueled, we head off north having a brief stop at the carpark for Wairere Falls

There’s a couple tracks you can take to get a good viewpoint of it but it’s at least 45 minutes one way and we have other plans in mind for today so save it for another visit, though not before getting a picture from the road

Not too long after this, we reach a town called Te Aroha where the road is blocked by a fuel truck… a little detour and we decide to park up and take a look

It seems that there’s an old car show being hosted as well as some tatt stalls and food trucks

The show attracts people with dogs too which is nice; we also find a version of the Italian Job here (the four Minis)

We grab a drink from Countdown (Woolworths) before heading off again – it’s not long before we make it to Paeroa where we collect a Subway sandwich to share and visit a famous landmark in the area

The Giant 23 foot high Lemon & Paeroa Bottle – this town is where the national soft drink originates as an underground spring of mineral water was found very near to the town

Some information we found out about the brand and town:

• Paeroa was recognised early for its quality of water for both drinking and medicinal purposes
• Water began being bottled by 1907 and not long after a lemon flavour was added where the distinctive flavour of this soft drink arose from
• In 1980, the production was transferred to Auckland

After we finish the Subway sandwich, we make tracks and park up at Karangahake Hall

This is the starting point before entering the Karangahake Gorge and where you can access the start of the loop walking track through the old rail tunnel

It was a place of important interest as it was historically a place where gold mining was significant

We first walk through the tunnel which was once the main rail link between the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty regions for 70 years (see the featured image)

This takes us round to a bridge and walkway right along the Ohinemuri River where we even notice a car has been wrecked and abandoned – seems someone had a terrible day!

The path leads us to the Crown Mines and the Windows Walk, which is old pump shafts that the public can freely roam through with holes in the walls to get good views of the gorge

The walk to allow us to do a loop from here back to the start of the Crown track is closed due to many landslips from storms so we go back through and go over a swing bridge that’s over the Waitawheta River that joins the Ohinemuri River

It’s not long until we make it back to the car and drive a little through the gorge to stop off and get a look at Owharoa Falls

With some drive still to go to our final destination today, we carry on and have a brief stop at a New World (supermarket) before arriving into Tairua to check into Suite Dreams

The cooking facilities here are limited but we cook up a chicken rogan josh for dinner with some garlic rotis

While watching Five Nights at Freddy’s, a lightning storm goes on which we get a nice view for and then we get to bed