Monday, October 31, 2011

Coromandel Peninsula - Driving Creek Railroad

Just 3km north of Coromandel Town is this little railroad built by potter Barry Brickell, who over a period of 30 years designed and built this 15" gauge railroad, which he used to bring clay and pine to his kiln at the bottom of the hill. It seems he became a little obsessed with railways and now it's 3km long and goes up a few hundred meters through what is slowly becoming a Kauri conservation area. They've planted about 9000 Kauri hoping that one day the area will resemble what it did in ancient times, with ancient Kauri trees being over 600 years old before they naturally fell.

Anyways, super cool stop. Can't believe this potter made the whole railway here, there's tunnels and bridges and everything. I think the trains themselves were also made to fit! Pretty cool.

They had 3 different trains, all with different names... Ours was Linx, this one was Snake.
Look at this amateur bridge! So cool. 
Oh yeah, riding the railroad, all the live long day.
Part of Coromandel Harbour! 
It's us! We're up at the top of the railroad, at "Eyefull Tower"... Love it!
Just look what you could do if you had enough time and drive! 
Double Decker bridge! Don't know if I'd drive two trains on it at once though, hmm.

3 comments:

  1. i think we were by here but ....i saw this book 100 things to do b4 u die...and in nz it listed horse back riding on pakari beach....not sure of spelling but definately is something to do before u die!

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  2. Hmm well unfortunately I'm allergic to horses, but maybe we can still visit the beach :)

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