Coromandel Region

Bordered to the east and south by the Coromandel, Kaimai and the Mamaku Ranges, many of the lowland areas of the Hauraki Plains were still a swampy wilderness, choked with fern and scrub in the nineteenth century. Returned soldiers who had become farmers, were struggling on muddy small holdings to make a living until Josiah Firth, an ambitious farmer acquired huge tracts of land and began to improve the land. He transformed the district, clearing the scrub, draining the swamps and building windmills to lift water from the boggiest areas. Firth used an impressive array of machinery on his land at a time when farming was till largely reliant on labour. He also improved transport in the region, clearing the Waihou River of snags, and pushed through roads. The sodden plains began to turn green and today the area is richly productive with prosperous picture-book farms and one of the country's most concentrated populations of dairy cows, expansive orchards, and an array of pleasant rural towns. The soils are an easily worked, friable, yellow-brown loam that need fertilising and consolidation before they can become first-class pastures, but once they have been improved, the combination of good soils, rainfall, and sunshine creates rapid spring growth and high productivity. Combined with its proximity to its major market, Auckland City, these factors have made the Hauraki Plains and Waikato one of the most successful dairying regions in the country.

Cambridge

1cambridge

From Hamilton, head southeast 17 km on SH1 to Cambridge.
Cambridge was originally founded as a military settlement in 1864 on the banks of the Waikato River at the furthest navigable point for the British gunboats in operation on the river. Located on the site of a fortified Maori village, the Cambridge Redoubt was manned by 1000 British troops during the Waikato Land Wars, many of whom were granted land and stayed in the area at the end of the fighting. They laid the framework for the developing town with its village green (Victoria Square) and tree-lined streets. Today Cambridge remains very English in its appearance featuring an old brick water tower and the elegant wooden St Andrew's Church which dates back to 1881 on the main road. The other notable buildings are the primary school, built in 1879, the old courthouse with its elaborate façade that now houses the Municipal Museum, the post office and town hall as well as two hotels.

Karapiro

2Karapiro

Continue southeast 7.5 km from Cambridge to Karapiro. On the right off Hydro Road there is a car park and viewing area across the lake and dam as well as access to the dam and power station.
Regarded as one of the finest rowing venues in the world, Lake Karapiro is also used for sailing, water skiing and powerboat racing. The artificially created lake was formed by the construction of the Karapiro Dam and is 8 sq km in area. You can walk across the dam and view the huge spillways as well as taking the long flight of stairs down to the powerhouse. Completed in 1947, the powerhouse houses three turbines that together generate 90,000 kw.

3matamata

Continue southeast 13.4 km on SH1 from Lake Karapiro to the intersection with SH29, turn left and travel northeast 13.4 km to the next major junction with SH 27, turn left and travel 9.6 km north on SH27 to Matamata.

Matamata was the original name of a Maori pa near Waharoa, when the first Europeans arrived in the area around 1830 to trade for flax. In 1833 a mission station was opened but this was abandoned when war broke out. By 1865 one of the early settlers, Josiah Firth, had formed a good relationship with the Maori chief Wiremu Tamihana, who was to become famous not only as a statesman but as a devout Christian known to many as the ‘Kingmaker’ working to achieve peace. By 1884 Firth's land purchases had grow to 22,000 ha, his estate laying the foundations for what was to become the town of Matamata, which was subdivided into 117 farms by the Crown in 1904. Tours operate from Matamata to a local farm and 'Hobbiton' the only surviving set from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Josiah Firth's grand ideas included a defensive tower on his land.

4firth Tower

Turn left from SH 27 onto SH24 and head east 1.1 km on Broadway through Matamata, turn left and follow Tower Road 2.6 km to the Firth Tower which is on the right.

One of the earliest reinforced concrete buildings in the country, the Firth Tower was built in 1882 by Josiah Firth, the Auckland entrepreneur who founded Matamata. It was built at a time when Maori and Europeans were working together to drain the swampland that was restricting farm development on the Hauraki Plains. Firths second homestead, built in 1902 after the first was destroyed by fire, now serves as a museum with its front rooms, the kitchen, laundry and dairy all furnished with items from the late 1880s. The historic village features a number of relocated and  restored historic buildings including the Gordon schoolhouse, originally opened in 1894, the Firth Tower Church built in 1914 and the Okoroire Post Office that contains an array of historic communications equipment from the last century. The goal was built in Karangahake in 1892, there is a settlers cottage furnished as a workman’s home from the 1900’s, a barn packed with early delivery and passenger vehicles as well as displays of horse transport, a woolshed full of shearing equipment and the Mark Madill shed with a collection of early farm machinery.

Wairere Falls

5wairere falls

Continue north 1.3 km on Okuia Springs Road, turn left onto Old Te Aroha Road and drive north 6.3 km. Turn right onto Goodwins Road and drive 1 km to the Wairere Falls Track on the left.
The highest waterfall in the North Island, the spectacular 150 m Wairere Falls have been created by an active faultline in the Earth’s crust, producing a severe upthrust in the rock strata. The valley continues to sink at a rate of 2 millimeters per year while the falls, on the west side of the uplifted Kaimai Range, pour over the Okauia fault. The falls are usually visible from a number of places on the Hauraki Plains especially after heavy rainfalls. For a closer look you can climb 30 minutes from the road end on a well formed track through the forest to a lookout near the base of the this impressive two tiered waterfall. The track continues to the top of the Kaimai Ranges and another lookout point at the top of the falls for views across the plains.

6te aroha

Return to Old Te Aroha Road and continue north for 5.5 km to Gordon, then continue north for another 19.8 km on this scenic backroad to Te Aroha. The road is narrow, but in good condition and carries little traffic, passing through lush green farmland below the forest clad volcanic ramparts of the Kaimai Range.
Te Aroha was founded in 1880 and from 1883 was developed by the government as a tourist resort because of its thermal springs. The resort was easily reached by rail from Auckland, soon becoming popular and by 1885 Te Aroha was receiving more visitors than Rotorua, a situation which didn’t change until after the railway reached  Rotorua in 1894. In the early 1900s the main government spas featured bowling and croquet greens, tennis courts and other recreational facilities that were added to attract visitors intent on pleasure as well as therapy. In Te Aroha domain on Whitaker Street the bowling greens and a number of buildings and small kiosks survive from this era. Near the greens, the elaborate Cadman bathhouse (1898) now houses a museum with exhibits on mining and the agricultural development of the area. The Hot Soda Water Baths are also in the Domain which was originally gifted to the Crown by the Marutuahu chief Te Mokena Hou in 1880. Today the Mokena geyser is claimed to be the only hot soda-water geyser in the world and is usually active every half hour, spurting to 3.5 m. The oldest organ in the country can be found in St Mark's Church on Kenrick Street, the 1712 Renatus Harris instrument having been made in England by John Snelzer and shipped to New Zealand in 1927.

7paeroa

From Te Aroha continue north 20.7 km SH 26 to Paeroa.
A huge replica bottle of the the famous New Zealand beverage, Lemon and Paeroa stands proudly on the main street of Paeroa, immortalising the town's name. Located on the Ohinemuri and Waihou Rivers, Paeroa was once a busy port servicing the nearby goldfields in and around the Karangahake Gorge and at Waihi. A maritime museum has been set up at an old depot of the Northern Steamship Company to the northwest of the town on the left side of the road, while nearby a stone memorial commemorates the first European settlement of the district. Bottling mineral water was a primary business in the area from the late 19th century with popular brands including Puriri Natural Mineral Water, Wai Aroha, Waiwera Seltzer which was marketed as ‘a medicinal, invigorating and cooling draught and purifier of the blood’ and Lemon and Te Aroha which is known today is a soft drink called Lemon and Paeroa, or L&P. Named after the town where the spring was located, the L&P has been a New Zealand favourite since 1907.

8wilderness gems

Turn left onto SH2 and drive northwest through Paeroa. Continue 23.3 km northwest towards Ngatea. Turn right into River Road just before the township to reach Wilderness Gems.
Wilderness Gems is housed in a large warehouse packed with a huge and fascinating array of gemstones, crystals and fossils. There are beautiful pieces of finely crafted and polished jewellery made from the original uncut rocks, minerals, bone and shells as well as New Zealand jade. There is also a range of marbleware, kauri gum and petrified wood.

9Morrinsville

Continue west 11.5 km on SH2 then turn left onto SH 27 and head south for 45 km to the junction with SH 26. Turn right onto SH 26 and drive southwest 6.2 km to Morrinsville.
The lowland plains stretch towards the Piako and Waihou Rivers to the east of Hamilton. The Maori in this area had affiliations with the Waikato tribes and supported the King Movement. At Rukumoana Pa, near Morrinsville, a marble statue of Mahuta, the third Maori King, standing next to the meeting house. In Morrinsville township a museum on the corner of Lorne and Anderson Streets displays items relating to the Maori and European history of the district, including a large Maori canoe (waka) and a range of tools and farm machinery from the district. A pioneer cottage built in 1874, was moved from its original farm location, restored and furnished with household items from the period, to become part of the museum. Located by the roundabout on Thames Street, the huge verandahed Nottingham Castle Hotel was built in 1877 using timber from the old Cambridge Bridge as well as gin cases to make partitions. You can also follow the River Walk along the tree-lined Piako River from the southern end of the town.

From Morrinsville it is 28 km southwest on SH 26 to return to Hamilton.