A historical & crafty town nestled between the the Firth of Thames and the majestic ranges of the Coromandel.
WATCH OUR VLOG EPISODE ON THAMES PĀRĀWAI BELOW
After leaving the Seabird Coast & Paeroa we drove north and arrived at the picturesque town of Thames Pārāwai.
First on our list was to visit the lookout over the town, where there is a WW1 Memorial Monument. This viewpoint gives great perspective over the town and surrounding hills.
SATURDAY MARKET
As we arrived on a Saturday, we were lucky to stumble across the Thames Market held every Saturday between 8am and 12pm along the main shopping street; Pollon Street. It’s great market where you can find just about anything! From local produce, brick and brack, second hand books, and plenty of clothes! There are also lots of eclectic shops and some great op-shops to explore.
THAMES MUSEUM
After the markets we ventured into Thames Museum, Te Whare Taonga o te Kauaeranga. Galleries tell the stories of the pioneer trades, farming, schools and domestic life, as well as the creation of Thames Hospital in 1868. Unique to the museum is a gallery of more than 30 handcrafted kauri models of magnificent gold rush era building some of which can still be seen in Thames today. The Taonga Maori Gallery has an awesome replica model Pā and stories of Māori history. The museum is only a $5 entry fee and is definitely worth the money if you are interested in history.
SCHOOL OF MINES
Our next stop was the Thames School of Mines. This is one of New Zealand’s largest and best-preserved mining schools in the heart of the Hauraki gold fields.
“In 1867, gold discoveries on ‘The Thames’ transformed this beautiful part of the Coromandel Peninsula into an international phenomenon attracting thousands of eager gold-seekers from all over the world. It also created what was, by the early 1870s, New Zealand’s most populous town – Thames, made up of Grahamstown and Shortland.”
In 1885, Thames became the location of one of 30 national Schools of Mines, opened to stimulate the returns from mining. You have to take part in guided tour of the property which is free of charge if you join Heritage New Zealand. Our guide Elton was very passionate and informative. We learnt about the many experiments and tests that were undertaken at the school to try and help the gold mining companies. As we wandered through the original gold rush buildings, it was like stepping back in time and with the stories you can imagine the crazy lengths people went to for gold! This was a great experience and one we highly recommend if you are even remotely interested in gold mining history.
GREAT FREEDOM CAMPS
That night we decided to stay at Rhodes Park Freedom Camp which is a huge gravel car park on the outskirts of town. There is plenty of room for any sized rig, you just need to be self-contained.
There are several other free camping options to choose from in town which is great and definitely kept us in town for longer. We did look at the others but Rhodes Park is for sure the best of the bunch in our opinion and not so close to the roads.
We were lucky enough to witness a huge flock of Oystercatchers (must have been hundreds) flying over our heads which was just breathtaking.
THE GOLDMINE EXPERIENCE
The next morning we headed to the Goldmine Experience. This experience is a unique and hands-on way to discover a whole lot of mining history, chemistry, minerology, power generation and all the other skills and knowledge used by early pioneers in the search of fortune. We witnessed the VERY loud 19th century battery in operation (ear muffs provided), before our guide took us down to an old gold mine to show us what work would have been like. Afterwards you can try your hand at panning for gold and continue looking through the museum and various buildings. We would recommend this experience to anyone, especially those with kids as it should keep them entertained with its more interactive nature.
ONTO COROMANDEL TOWN
After filling our boots with history and culture we decided to hit the road again and head north up state highway 25 to Coromandel Town. Unfortunately we got stuck at a settlement called Waiomu due to a slip in the road. We visited the Coromandel in January when parts of North island were experiencing some horrific wet weather. Luckily Waiomu has a cool freedom camp right next to the water where we based ourselves until we could drive on any further. When we did manage to drive past the slip there was more flooding over a bridge so we headed back into Thames to hunker down until the storm passed and road reopened!
Although all the wet weather was inconvenient for a few days, the area was still really beautiful and we loved it! Our hearts go out to the many people whose lives have been affected by the floods.
