Coromandel Trip

On Wednesday 30th September 2015 my family took a 2 hour trip down to Coromandel with some friend's that asked us to come.The friends that led us to Coromandel were Martin,Feto and Feto's 3 kids.

We started our drive down to Coromadel at 8:00,after filling up the two cars with petrol.We got out of Auckland very quickly and started seeing alot of farms around.At the farms we saw a lot of cows and I think we even some brown bulls.

In maybe an hour we stopped at this place where we ate some breakfast since we didn't have any before we left.For breakfast we had sandwiches made by Martin and some bread my mum got from Baker's Delight.

After we ate we continued our drive until we reached a place in a Coromandel, called Karangahape.At Karangahape we saw a big,tall mountain in front of us immediately knowing that we were up for a long walk.We packed three pieces of fruit and some snacks in all our our bags,made sure we had water and wore a sun hat.

Before we started our walk, all us kids, were stopped by Martin and were told it's all about gold today.Martin then told us that Kangahape was a  factory where people worked with gold,that they found in mines,but got burnt down back in the days.We then walked across two wobbly bridges and started our journey up the mountain.

We firstly came across some really big steal,metal parts from the factory.The parts were old but at the same time looked like it was still good to use.We looked at the parts for a few minutes but then continued our walk.

After that we kept walking and came pass a shaft tunnel but found it was locked so we kept walking until we came across a mine cart.The mine cart was very big and was to transport gold from one place to another.The mine cart could even tilt so the gold the people found could slide out easily.But then we started walking again.

Our next stop was at a mine tunnel that we decided to go in once everyone was together and ready.In the tunnel we didn't find any gold,but only saw rocks and puddles of water.We walked on for a long time with a torch to be the only light to guide us.Sometimes we even came across dead ends and took another path.The tunnel seemed really dark and long and seemed to go on forever but we made it to the other side in the end.

We kept walking to this other place which wasn't really far,but only found that it was locked and so we stopped and had a little snack.But then we turned around and walked back into the mine tunnel and found our way back out.Finding our way back seemed easier and faster since there was only one path that went straight out.

Once we were done in the tunnel we kept walking up and made it to this really really ENORMOUS wall  which seemed to be the top of the whole factory.The wall was so big that the part we saw was only half of the wall.Around there we found this place where the workers cleaned the gold and separated it from the dirt and rocks stuck to it.

Soon after looking at that stuff we walked back to where we started, and ate some small lollies from Martin.We all then started walking again and went pass this river that had really clear water and made it to this very long,dark tunnel.The long dark tunnel was where a train use to run through.

We started our walk through the really long tunnel and came across some water leaking from the top and some gold liquid.I touched the gold liquid and it just stuck to my finger and looked at it and then tried wiping it off,on the wall.But what was funny,was that even though I tired wiping the gold stuff off I made it worse and added some black substance on top.So I decided to just leave it there and continue walking until we reached the end.

Then all of us walked on for a long time in the tunnel trying to scare each other by screaming loud and hearing our echos.We made to the end of the tunnel finally,but we were still not finished with our walk and had to go all the way back to the car park.

When we were finished at the tunnel we had a drink of water and continued our walk in the hot sun.When we were walking back I walked fast because I was kind of tired and hot from the burning sun.But not too long later I saw the bridge that we crossed and realised we were close to the carpark.

We were soon  near the bridge so I took a short cut,crossed the bridge and finally finished the walk.Everyone else behind me caught up a few seconds after and then all washed our hands for some lunch.

After we all then finished our lunch we took off and drove all the way back to Auckland.

I felt that it was cool that we got to go to Coromandel and thought that it was cool because I learnt a bit about the Karangahape Factory.