Te Aroha Domain with Cadman Bathhouse, now the Museum. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
Te Aroha Domain with Cadman Bathhouse, now the Museum. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
In between steaming geysers and a century of history, Eleanor Hughes finds time for an overnight trek to the summit of Mount Te Aroha.
The TV mast on its summit makes Mount Te Aroha easily discernible. We're here to hike it. But the quaint cream and orange striped clocktower and historical buildings in the expansive domain, entice me to explore the town beforehand.
Nestled at the foot of the mountain, the museum in Te Aroha Domain is housed in the impressive Cadman Bathhouse, constructed in 1898. Black, cream and rust tiles still cover the floor, porcelain toilet bowls decorated with floral designs remain. Popular from the late 1800s till around World War II - with 22 hot and cold springs - bathhouses were developed in the domain and offered therapeutic treatments for rheumatism and muscular complaints. In 1904/05 39,000 bathers were recorded, in 1960, 678 and the baths closed the next year. I read of the various springs, and peruse china produced around the world depicting the town and bathhouses in their heyday. Who knew "Te Aroha and Lemon" was produced from 1888 until the 1960s?
Inside Te Aroha Museum, once the Cadman Bathhouse. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
Heritage-listed buildings dot the domain. The restored No. 2 bathhouse is open to the public, part of the Swim Zone complex with its outdoor, heated pool. The Head Gardener's cottage, built in 1907, is a cafe, and you can soak in a wooden tub at Te Aroha Mineral Spas, which occupies No.1 bathhouse.
No. 1 Bathhouse Te Aroha Domain. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
Behind it, the Mokēna Geyser spouts steaming water every 40 minutes. Once the site of No. 4 Bathhouse, it was discovered when boring brought forth a fountain of boiling water. It's the Southern Hemisphere's only hot-soda geyser.
Back on Whitaker St, the Heritage Trail map from the i-Site, once the domain's ticket office, guides me around town. The two-storey former Post Office is spick and span with grey cornerstones and casings; the library, originally the council building, is in Art Deco style, its roofline stepped. Outside Adrian Worsley's Gallery on Rewi St, the motorbike constructed of scrap metal looks steampunk-ish. An hour's wander takes in an old miner's cottage, grand two-storey, balconied buildings, early 1900s churches and a railway station, cream with rusty-red trim, which the Hauraki Rail Trail passes.
Outside Adrian Worsley's Gallery, the motorbike constructed of scrap metal looks steampunk-ish. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
I-Site staff advise, given we're carrying packs, to overnight at Waitawheta Hut, to not tackle steep Te Aroha Summit Track but take the undulating Tūī Domain Track beginning opposite Mokēna Geyser. Next morning, we hike past an old reservoir, now a foliage-covered square hollow in the bush, and Tutumangao Waterfall splashing down a vertical rock face. Noel's Lookout gives views of town and spreading countryside. An hour later, on Tui Link Track, a sign warns of steepness. We pass a mine shaft, reach Tui Saddle and startle three wild goats that scatter. Ridge Track brings us exhausted to gravelled TV Rd, 4.5 hours after leaving the domain.
Dumping my pack in bush, I complete the return walk to the 952m Te Aroha summit in 45 minutes. The view is worth it. The sea shimmers; a largish island lies close to the coast; flat, green farmland stretches forever, hemmed in one direction by the Kaimais.
The view from Mount Te Aroha summit. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
I discover Te Aroha Domain via the Summit Track is only 1.5-hours away!
Back in bush, we follow Waipapa Track crossing bridged rivers and traversing pretty sections, with ponga lining the trail. The mainly downhill track widens near the 26-bed hut which we reach, located where Waitawheta Sawmilling Company's cookhouse once stood, 8.5 hours after leaving Te Aroha.
Walking Waitawheta Tramway through Waitawheta Gorge. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
Just past the Waitawheta Mill vertical frame saw reconstruction, where the mill operated until 1928, the river is worth the breathtaking coldness to wash sweat and grime away. As darkness descends, I have just enough energy to wander a short distance to find glow worms sprinkling a rock wall and riverbank.
The next morning, the occasional river sounds disturb the stillness as we follow it along the predominantly flat Waitawheta Tramway, which starts from the vertical frame saw. On swingbridges, I look down to concrete foundations of long-gone wooden bridges and step on sleepers from the old tramline which crosses parts of the wide track. The sheer rock cliff at Devil's Elbow, one of the sharpest bends in the gorge, surprises. Information panels along the picturesque trail tell of kauri logging and the tramway, formed in the late 1890s to provide timber for the gold-mining industry.
Bogie on the Waitawheta Tramway. Photo / Eleanor Hughes
We exit the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park and cross paddocks to reach the carpark endpoint, where we'd left our car yesterday, three hours from the hut. Te Aroha-bound, we've walked the area's history.
