The Pinnacles

It is one thing to explore prime tourist spots of New Zealand, yet quite another to venture off the beaten track and find the lesser known sites frequented by the Kiwis.  One such place described as a "must do" by the Kiwis is the Pinnancles on the Coromandel Peninsula. I made the trek with the young men from our ward. 

Thames is a small community which is the gateway to the Coromandel Peninsula and the staging point and access to a narrow road tucked behind the town leading to the start of it.  It follows the Kauaeranga river, up the Kauaeranga valley to the Department of Conservation  Visitors Centre.  The Centre houses a number of small exhibits depicting the flora and fauna of the area.   Particularly interesting were the small  animals depicted as "pests" including possums, and stoats. There is ongoing efforts to eradicate these as they prey on the endemic flightless birds. We acquired our hut pass here before carrying on another 15 kilometres up the narrow winding road to several parking areas to leave the car. 

The Pinnacles Track follows the old pack horse trails along the river, starting off with a gentle climb and gradually turning into a calorie burning continuous stepping stone exercise.  Rocks are laid out in steps reminding weary trekkers of the man hours required to lay this trail out in such steep conditions.  We had managed the trip in just over 2 hours with breaks every ten minutes on the steeper inclines.  In times past supplies were packed up to the millers and tree fellers, who cleared out hundreds of acres of kauri trees in the valleys. The track was upgraded and reinforced with steel spikes to stabilize the rocks.  It still follows the original route of early loggers a century ago.

As challenging as the uphill climb was I found the repetitive pounding of stepping down even more exhausting.  Of course the rigorous trek up the day before did not help the cause.  At 65 I was beginning to question how many more of these jaunts I am going to take on. My early morning jogs were paying off as I not only kept pace, but found myself ahead of the pack reminding myself to stop before getting to far ahead of the group.

A fun part is the swing-bridges.  These were installed to traverse the river during higher water periods.  Two are located at the lower levels and after that the work really begins. The last seemed a little further up as I recall.

With the quick rise in elevation also comes the reward and justification for a short break.  The views become more expansive with a number of sites offering splendid vantage points.  The difficult terrain required some ingenuity to avoid water trailing down the paths.  Pipes were laid across the path at intervals to allow water to drain laterally.

The hut at the top is a functional arrangement designed to accommodate 80 trekkers with kitchen facilities, ample raised decks and quite comfortable hostile type sleeping conditions. The Pinnacles themselves can be seen from the hut.  At first it looks like a daunting process to get to them, but we were assured it could be done in as little as 30 minutes. Whilst not dangerous, it's not for those who have issues with heights.   There were  some steep rock faces, several steel ladders, large rocks to clamber over and a narrow ledge to sit upon at the very top.  From the top, you can see both sides of the Coromandel – Tairua / Pauanui on one side, The firth of Thames and Hauraki Plains on the other. The view made it worth the challenge!