Tairua Camping

We've been here before! Last time we were heading this way, we crossed on the old bridge, and saw this new one almost ready to go. I couldn't help feeling a little sad - that old bridge was pretty neat with its swing-span in the middle. It was finished in 1928, making it possible for river craft with masts to travel up the river. At one time, the Waihou Riverwas navigable all the way up to Paeroa.

Once over the bridge, we pointed the Landrover towards Tairua.


Doug was not allowed to spend $2 on a hot shower so had to use our solar shower.

Tairua Motor Camp is right in the middle of town. 'Great', we thought. 'Just a short walk to the beach, and the shops.' We were better at putting up the tent this time - much better weather too.
A different story at 2 a.m! The sirens needed to be very loud to wake up the volunteer fire brigade. It took ages before they finally arrived and sped off in the fire engine. We finally drifted off again, only to we woken again by when the rescue helicopter that seemed to be looking for our tent. The sports field was adjacent to the camping ground and he landed there. It wasn't a good feeling knowing that some poor soul was being ferried off to hospital.


Doug had a few things he wanted to do at Tairua - the first was to go fishing. He tried off the wharf first thing in the morning - the tide was right, but the fish weren't biting.



The next thing on the list, was to explore some of the tracks that were suggested in his 4WD book. It was the usual story - all interesting looking tracks had gates and 'Keep Out' signs.

Further on, we found a road signposted to Broken Hill and Golden Hill Mines. Sounded promising!





The bushwalk alone, made it worthwhile.



An added bonus was coming across the relics of the Broken Hills Mine.



Further on we came to a mine entrance where work was obviously still going on. Our trusty Penquin NZ Travel Guide tells us that visitors can see demonstrations of traditional quartz-reef working method (by arrangement). Something for another time perhaps?



We probably could have entered this mine, but were too 'chicken'!

We found a track down to the river, where we ate our lunch. There was also a DOC camping ground tucked away in the trees.





Later in the afternoon we had a look at Tairua's ocean Beach. Tairua has this surf beach as well as a harbour.