Visiting the Eye-Full Tower

Coromandel Town is on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. On a good day, the drive from Thames takes about 1 1/2 hours. The road snakes along the coast past pretty bays and rocky beaches filled with sea birds.

At one time Coromandel Harbour was a major port serving the region's gold mining and kauri industries. Today, the town's main industries are tourism and mussel farming. Just before entering the town, we saw the enormous mussel farms and a sign for the Coromandel Oyster Company. We heard that the mussel chowder there was excellent so we made plans to go there later for a late lunch on our way back home.

Coromandel town is filled with heritage houses. Gold was discovered there in 1852. The local Maori kept their land and collected money from digging licenses, until they went into debt and had to sell off a huge portion of their land. There is a small Mining Museum in the town.

We actually drove to this town to experience the Driving Creek Railway. We had read that we could ride on a narrow-gauge train through mountain forests and past pottery sculptures, for an hour.

The story behind this railway is quite interesting. The late Barry Brickell, a renowned New Zealand potter, initially began building train tracks to transport clay, from one area of his property to his pottery workshop. As clay ran out in one spot Barry would extend the track to source more, until eventually it was long enough that friends were invited for train rides. The tracks grew and grew and the train has become quite a popular visitor attraction. It has hosted well over 1 million passengers.

The Driving Creek Railway climbs 2.7 km from the base station that is 55 metres above sea level to the Eye-full Tower that is 167 metres above sea level, a total climb of 115 metres. With an average gradient of 1-in-24.1, or 1 vertical metre for every 24.1 metres of length, the Driving Creek Railway is New Zealand’s steepest railway.

We got there shortly after 2 p.m. and were able to board the train for the 3:15 p.m. ride. As we slowly travelled through the forests, the conductor gave a brief history of the train and facts about the ride. We went across 4 trestle bridges, along 2 spirals and a double-switchback, through 2 tunnels and reached the highest point, an observation deck called the “Eye-full Tower. We were able to enjoy the views for a few minutes before heading back down again through native forests with artworks and vermin traps lining sections of the tracks.

Unlike most other tourist railways, this railway is newly-built rather than being an old line that has been restored. It is New Zealand’s only narrow-gauge mountain railway.

Barry died 4 years ago, at 80, and was buried on a little bit of flat land on a hill beside his railway track.

We wandered around a bit and then started the wiggly trip back to Thames, but not before stopping in for a bowl of delicious mussel chowder. It was worth the wait!Read more